IMKTG REPORT September 3 2001

Opportunities monday, september 3rd, 2001

Greetings execs,

you've been reading about
magazines closing, execs
getting ousted or quitting
due to high levels of M&As,
& to top it all off, the
global advertising is actually
further down the toilet
than first predicted.
what the heck is going on?

nothing. wall street is
run by a bunch of idiots
and main street is run by
a bunch of lemmings. it's
only those few that stand
out by taking a risk that
will prosper in this sort
of economy where the only
way to go is up.

CONTENTS:
1. MEDIA: why content is still king
2. EVENT: CRM expo
3. MANAGEMENT: employee loyalty?
4. SECURITY: building your brand through trust

********* al berrios media *********

MEDIA: There are 2 companies
in radio and music broadcast:
Clear Channel, which owns
1,200 radio stations & Viacom,
which owns 180. Clear Channel
also owns the largest concert
promoter in the country, SFX,
while Viacom owns MTV, MTV2,
VH-1, BET, & the BOX. Even
bigtime record labels are be-
holden to the power of these
two to market their artists.
In 1996, this wasn't so. Ra-
dio was local & listenership
was up. Today, after gov de-
regulation & the advent of
nationally syndicated programs,
radio listenership has actually
decreased by a whopping 13% in
a decade, according to Arbitron.
And to top off all this, it
seems that this 13% is only the
general pop. African American
and Latino based programming has
been gaining tremendous audience
& ad strength in CA, NY, and FL,
making programming for this demo
the defacto for future radio
programming across the country.

bottom line: what does this have
to do with the internet? adver-
tisers desperately need variety.
although the idea of a one-stop-
shop for your media needs sounds
good, it isn't in practice.
competition breeds innovation,
and that's what really increases
ROI. although the idea of an in-
ternet radio company is a lot
more interesting now (netradio,
clickradio), the gold mine in
this radio market is in offering
content. The big boys need good
content to syndicate so lots of
listeners tune in. the smaller
guys offer niche programming but
clamour to be as big as the big
boys w/mass appeal programming.
just imagine your content reversing
the decline in radio listenership.
that's the hope of new radio
offerings by XM Satellite Radio
Holdings & Sirius Satellite Radio,
who are the first two entrants
into "cable" radio, pay for com-
mercial free content beamed directly
to your car. Content is still king,
and if your content is innovative
enough to capture the diverse in-
terests of the various demographics
that compose radio listeners, then
industry consolidations like this
are no threat to your business.

read more:
Crains New York Business Aug 27th issue
Advertising Age Aug 27th issue

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********* al berrios event *********

CRM: this year's CRM expo
over at javitz was b-o-r-
i-n-g! it was dead. execs
just decided to stay home.
it's unfortunate too, since
the expo had lots of things
to teach marketers. for
example, what's the diff
b/w sales and marketing?
NOTHING. marketing is
responsible for making
product move, and w/o sales,
it can't move. problem is
many marketers don't want
to admit that, and are too
busy bullsh!tting their way
around the company, while
salespeople do all the
work. Damn right i'm being
hard on marketers. think
about your last experience
at Blockbuster. You go in,
the sales clerk sees you
looking, asks if you need
help, you say no, he leaves
you alone to await your request.
if you say you do need help,
(s)he promptly assess your
likes & dislikes, and recom-
mends something you end up
loving. next time you're
there, not only do you go
directly to that person, you
take an extra movie b/c you
trust this person's recommen-
dations. think about this
experience. the blue & yellow,
the movie sounds at the store,
the way the movies are dis-
played in alpha order, w/
new releases marked red.
marketing dictated all these
things, but none of it would
have worked if it wasn't
for that clerk finishing off
the marketing effect, causing
you to buy. i'll be honest,
i used to be the first one
advocating the diff. however,
when you're forced to sell
w/marketing & sales knowledge,
you fully appreciate the under-
lying truths of both & how they
relate.

bottom line: ok, now that you
know that, what's the diff
b/w a promotion and marketing?
a promotion is something that
gives your business a quick
boost, whether in traffic or
sales. it's not really designed
for any long-term growth.
marketing is the umbrella under
which promotions, p.r., adver-
tising, and event marketing
fall under. yup, advertising
is just a form of marketing, not
marketing. now that you're armed
with this knowledge, why is media
so important to marketing? b/c
your marketing message needs
distribution. it's fine and dandy
if you have the ultimate marketing
idea, but how will you communicate
it to the rest of the world?
with so many choices, radio, tv,
internet, outdoor, how can one
decide? that's what experts
are for. they guide you through
your choices, and based on your
brand, suggest the best for you.
this year's expo was all about
that... CRM. it's not just about
emailing your customers asking
how they're doing and offering
them a discount for their birthday
coming up next week. it's about
knowing what to say (pr, promo,
event, commercial) and how to
say it (newspaper, radio, email).

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********* al berrios management *********

MANAGEMENT: another lesson
from the CRM expo: customer
loyalty starts w/employee
loyalty. keep them happy,
give them increased respon-
sibilities, rotate their
duties, reward excellence,
punish slackers.

bottom line: money may be
important, but doesn't come
close to making an employee
feel as if they're part of
your organization. the
happier they are, the better
they will treat your customers,
as well as less occurances of
lawsuits, sabotage, espionage,
and theft. do you feel that
McDs has happy employees? just
think about the service you get
each time you go? and then
they have the nerve to say
they want to see us smile.
Simon Marketing clearly
doesn't (and no longer does)
have loyal employees.

top
********* al berrios security *********

SECURITY: just as important
as your privacy commitment
to your users, everyone needs
to know that you're taking
steps to protect the info
they give you. just this week,
HOTMAIL was cracked into
twice with one line of code.
naturally, microsoft claimed
it was a test, however, it's
an underlying reason why
their PASSPORT network, which
i discussed last week, just
doesn't seem to be taking off
as naturally as they'd like.
I'm a big advocate of Eudora
software for email. Although
Microsoft Outlook can just
about manage anything, haven't
you ever wondered why you get
all the viruses running loose
out there? Cybercriminals devote
most of their time to taking
down the big boys and unless
you have a super tech person
managing your system, it's not
worth using outlook.

bottom line: don't use outlook.
no seriously, if you collect
info, please make sure you
protect it. let your users
also know the steps you take
to protect their info. it
does make a diff in the long
run to your brand establishing
it's own credibility & trust.

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********* al berrios iMarketing *********

Disclaimer: The recommendations, commentary and opinions published herein are based on public information sometimes referenced via hyperlinks. Any similarities or likeness to any ideas or commentary from any other sources not referenced is purely coincidental. al berrios & co. cannot control any results occurring from advice obtained from this publication nor any opinion(s) conveyed by any reader of this publication.

(c) 2001-2005. All Rights Reserved. al berrios & company, inc. Published by al berrios & co. This Report may not be reproduced or redistributed in any form without written permission from al berrios & co., subject to penalty.

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