What Google Didn't Understand About Radio Advertising

Don't misunderstand. I like Google. I use it every day to search the Internet. Google provides the infrastructure for this blog. Google is a genuine American success story.

But Google was a fish out of water when it entered the broadcast radio business. Google spent millions to learn a lesson that almost any mom-and-pop radio station operator could have taught them over a cup of coffee: some things you just can't automate.

Radio advertising is about relationships, not widgets.

Successful radio ad campaigns are built over a period of time on a foundation of communication, collaboration and creativity, processes not reducible to automation.

I suspect most of the individuals or companies whose first experience in radio advertising was to gamble on Google were disappointed with the results.

The advertiser who insists on buying an advertising schedule on the basis primarily of rate or ratings sets himself up for disappointment. Almost invariably he'll conclude that "radio doesn't work."

Well, not that way, anyway.

--------------

Addendum Friday the 13th

Wall Street Journal observes: "Google devalues everything it touches" -