Drewdaism

How Do People Use The iPod?

I was with a client last week who said to me that "my boss believes that most younger demos are only listening to their iPods.  That is the only place they get their music.  This makes marketing to them through music incredibly difficult."

This is not the first time somebody in the marketing community has said this to me.

While the younger demographics do spend a lot of time with their iPods, the device really functions as a music EXPERIENCE tool rather than a music DISCOVERY tool.  In other words, the iPod doesn't help you to find new music.  Rather, you listen to music that you already found elsewhere and then experience it through the iPod.

For the younger demographics, finding new music is critical.  Those demographics always want to be ahead of everyone else.  In order to find new music, they have to go away from the iPod to get it.  There are many sources they these demos are finding music and most of these are advertiser supported such as radio, online radio, social networks, and online music video channels.

Research backs this up too.  We subscribe to MediaMark Research, a great source for qualitative data on our listeners.  When you cross reference online radio and iPods, online radio listeners are 94% more likely than the average person in the US to have bought an iPod in the past 12 months.  This is a clear demonstration that listeners are not just dependent on the iPod for their music and have a need to find it in other areas. 

When you walk an advertiser through this logic, you see the light go off.  Usually, the will run home and ask their kids or their younger co-workers and they will verify this.  Then, we get a call saying "Ok, clearly I need to put some money towards online radio for reaching these demographics."

By the way, older demos do the same thing.

Don't get me wrong, I love my IPod.  When the IPod Nano came out several years ago, I was one of the first to buy it.  It is still going strong for me.  However, my playlist does get tiresome after awhile, even being 300 songs deep.  And when it does, I look for new music...away from the iPod.

Off the Cuff-links

There is nothing funnier to me than off the cuff, unscripted humor.  Everytime Richard Lewis appears on Larry David's show "Curb Your Enthusiasm," he demonstrates an incredible ability to just riff, and many times catch Larry off guard and make him laugh.  When the camera captures this, it is super television and is so real.  The clip below is one of my favorites and a great example of Richard's quick thinking when not scripted.  The lines he delivers so well are around "Klansman," "bowel concern" "porpoise," and "squirrel." The setup: Larry hires Richard's girlfriend to work in his office and things don't seem to be working out. 

What's New Is Old...Again

Interesting article in yesterday's New York Times business section on 60's music.  Specifically, the article focuses on how advertisers such as Bank of America, Geico and General Mills are all using music from this decade to not only connect with the baby boomers, but also with younger consumers as well.

This article is a great follow-up to my post from a few days back entitled "What's New Is Old."  In there, I speak to the fact that many of today's emerging rock artists are reaching back to their classic rock roots when recording music.  Josh Rabinowitz, SVP Music at Grey Advertising, says this about 60's Music:

"The songs appeal to a younger demographic as much as they do to boomers, he said, because they are reminiscent of the “indie-inflected” songs heard on TV series like “Grey’s Anatomy” and in films like “Garden State.”

The article is linked here:

NY Times: "The 60's As The Good Old Days"

Client of the Week....

Ah, the media business can be so fun....here is Erin Collier "at work."

Let's guess what Erin was singing here:

a) "Groove Is In the Heart" by Dee Lite

b) "My Way" by Linkin Park

c) "The Sweet Escape" by Gwen Stefani

(Photo credit: Erin Collier)