The current issue of my Radio Advertising Letter discusses:
• The best question(s) to ask before creating a new radio advertising campaign
• How to solicit helpful client feedback
• A critique I did of a radio commercial submitted by an advertiser.
This post is for my subscribers to use to add their own comments, thoughts, rejoinders, etc.
October, 1995:
I began the month by making my first trip to New Zealand, leaving L.A. on October 2 and arriving in Auckland on October 4. (It’s a 13-hour flight, and there’s a 20-hour time difference.)
Brent Impey and Janine Bliss had arranged for me to speak at the I.B.A. (Independent Broadcasters Association) Convention. Both Brent & Janine suffered countless faxes from me as we arranged the itinerary. These days, people who foolishly invite me to visit their countries suffer endless emails.
When the O. J. Simpson story first broke, I was in Belgium. I am the only adult American not to have witnessed the slow-speed chase up the 405 Freeway…which runs less than a mile from my house.
In fact, I assume the exit O.J. took that day is the one I took at the end of this trip to get home from the airport.
Why do I mention this? The jury’s verdict was announced two minutes before I got off the plane in Auckland (6:00AM local time).
Being able to prove I was out of the country on both occasions, let the record show I cannot be blamed either for the murders or for the verdict.
"But The Client Insisted..."
A Loyal Reader writes:
Dan, could you offer something about battling salespeople who constantly offer spot ideas based on songs on our playlist? And they want to use that song in the background. They’re not buying my copyright infringement argument, so can you offer something I could use as ammunition?
If your salespeople have no objection to breaking the law and your station management requires you to do whatever the salespeople/advertisers want, even if it’s illegal, when you are forced to create a spot like that first hand the salesperson a form you’ve created that says:
“I have instructed (Your Name) to create a radio commercial for (Client Name) using the copyrighted song, (Song Name). I have been informed by (Your Name) that such usage without first obtaining a special license from the copyright holder exposes (Client), (Radio Station), and (Group Owner) to legal action by the copyright holder for copyright infringement, and I hereby agree to indemnify (Your Name) against any financial penalties and/or losses resulting from said infringement.”
You also could download my book about copyright infringement in radio commercials. It includes two pages you can print out and show to your clients.
But that still won’t stop salespeople who will break the law if someone offers them money…
