New HD Radio Campaign Criticized

Spot Check

Two major radio industry figures have publicly expressed concern over the effectiveness of the HD RADIO ALLIANCE radio spots, going as far as recommending that the new campaign be stopped in its tracks.

In his latest blog, DAVE MARTIN noted that after $400 million in air time were spent to promote HD radio, about a half-million receivers have been sold, with the HDRadio.com website attracting around 33,000 visitors per month. "Should these receiver sales and site visitor numbers prove to be even close to correct it is fair to suggest we have a serious problem," he concludes. "Either radio is not an effective media to get the message out, the wrong communications channel to use in selling radios and driving web traffic or the messaging is not right. My conclusion is the messaging is wrong, clearly not effective."

Why does the Alliance feel they have to market HD radio by selling against AM/FM radio?

Taking issue with the imminent 2008 campaign is FRED JACOBS who writes in his blog, "In a sort of snarky approach, the campaign features a humanized radio talking to his owner about why HD Radio product is so attractive and not worth the bother. But in the process, traditional radio is repositioned as old-fashioned, repetitive, and lame.

"Why does the ALLIANCE feel they have to market HD radio by selling against AM/FM radio?" he continues. "(Of course, those are the same stations that are expected to invest millions of dollars of their precious air time running these commercials.) ... You have to hear these commercials a few times before you really get a basic understanding of what they're trying to accomplish, while they throw AM/FM Radio under the bus."

Read MARTIN's entire post here, while JACOBS' rant can be seen here.

Judge for yourself; listen to the HD RADIO ALLIANCE's new campaign spots here.

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