• Get involved.
    We want your input!
    Apply for Membership and join the conversations about everything related to broadcasting.

    After we receive your registration, a moderator will review it. After your registration is approved, you will be permitted to post.
    If you use a disposable or false email address, your registration will be rejected.

    After your membership is approved, please take a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself.
    https://www.radiodiscussions.com/forums/introduce-yourself.1088/

    Thanks in advance and have fun!
    RadioDiscussions Administrators

Someone At WBZ Wasn't Paying Attention....

J

Joseph_Gallant

Guest
The title sponsor of WBZ-1030's "Traffic On The 3's" is Subaru.

So I was listening to them at 2 P.M. this afternoon (April 18th) to get the latest news concerning a man who had stolen an SUV, slammed into several cars in downtown Boston, and finally was shot by police.

After that lead story, it was 2:03, and time for the usual "Traffic On The 3's".

And this is how the report was introduced: "This is New England Subaru Dealers 'Traffic On The 3's', sponsored by Toyota!".

And indeed after the traffic report, there was a Toyota commercial.

Someone who schedules commercials at 'BZ obviously wasn't paying attention.
 
> The title sponsor of WBZ-1030's "Traffic On The 3's" is
> Subaru.
>
> So I was listening to them at 2 P.M. this afternoon (April
> 18th) to get the latest news concerning a man who had stolen
> an SUV, slammed into several cars in downtown Boston, and
> finally was shot by police.
>
> After that lead story, it was 2:03, and time for the usual
> "Traffic On The 3's".
>
> And this is how the report was introduced: "This is New
> England Subaru Dealers 'Traffic On The 3's', sponsored by
> Toyota!".
>
> And indeed after the traffic report, there was a Toyota
> commercial.
>
> Someone who schedules commercials at 'BZ obviously wasn't
> paying attention.
>

WBZ has been doing this for a long time. It's not uncommon. Silly, I agree, but I imagine the sales department and Subaru of NE have an "understanding" that they may have the "naming rights" to the feature, but it can be sold to other entities including other automotive brands.<P ID="signature">______________
"You need your head."

--Todd Rundgren</P>
 
> WBZ has been doing this for a long time. It's not uncommon.
> Silly, I agree, but I imagine the sales department and
> Subaru of NE have an "understanding" that they may have the
> "naming rights" to the feature, but it can be sold to other
> entities including other automotive brands.
>
That's about right - Subaru is the title sponsor (most likely negotiated with Metro), and WBZ has the option of selling the adjacent commercial and giving that sponsor the courtesy of a billboard in the traffic report. Therefore each entity can make money from the segment. Most of the title sponsorships I deal with have exclusivity (I'm a traffic manager), but perhaps in this case Subaru just wanted to make sure it's name got out there 6x per hour for 14 hours per day.
 
am sure listeners are laughing!!

> That's about right - Subaru is the title sponsor (most
> likely negotiated with Metro), and WBZ has the option of
> selling the adjacent commercial and giving that sponsor the
> courtesy of a billboard in the traffic report. Therefore
> each entity can make money from the segment. Most of the
> title sponsorships I deal with have exclusivity (I'm a
> traffic manager), but perhaps in this case Subaru just
> wanted to make sure it's name got out there 6x per hour for
> 14 hours per day.
>
 
an oxymoron

like jumbo shrimp...

The station may legally be able to do this, but I think it muddles both advertisers' messages, and adds to the clutter. Nobody wins...
 
> > WBZ has been doing this for a long time. It's not
> uncommon.
> > Silly, I agree, but I imagine the sales department and
> > Subaru of NE have an "understanding" that they may have
> the
> > "naming rights" to the feature, but it can be sold to
> other
> > entities including other automotive brands.
> >
> That's about right - Subaru is the title sponsor (most
> likely negotiated with Metro), and WBZ has the option of
> selling the adjacent commercial and giving that sponsor the
> courtesy of a billboard in the traffic report. Therefore
> each entity can make money from the segment. Most of the
> title sponsorships I deal with have exclusivity (I'm a
> traffic manager), but perhaps in this case Subaru just
> wanted to make sure it's name got out there 6x per hour for
> 14 hours per day.

Was the Toyota mention specifically for Boch Toyota by any chance? The New England Subaru franchise is owned by Boch as well, so if that were the case, the money's all going to the same place anyway.
 
I'll bet there are going to be some angry calls from unhappy ad-clients.

Or not...

> The title sponsor of WBZ-1030's "Traffic On The 3's" is
> Subaru.
>
> So I was listening to them at 2 P.M. this afternoon (April
> 18th) to get the latest news concerning a man who had stolen
> an SUV, slammed into several cars in downtown Boston, and
> finally was shot by police.
>
> After that lead story, it was 2:03, and time for the usual
> "Traffic On The 3's".
>
> And this is how the report was introduced: "This is New
> England Subaru Dealers 'Traffic On The 3's', sponsored by
> Toyota!".
>
> And indeed after the traffic report, there was a Toyota
> commercial.
>
> Someone who schedules commercials at 'BZ obviously wasn't
> paying attention.
>
 
Joe's right, this is sloppy sheduling, and unacceptable for a market this size.
Whether or not this is a routine, is not the point.

> WBZ has been doing this for a long time. It's not uncommon.
> Silly, I agree, but I imagine the sales department and
> Subaru of NE have an "understanding" that they may have the
> "naming rights" to the feature, but it can be sold to other
> entities including other automotive brands.
>
 
Re: an oxymoron

> like jumbo shrimp...
>
> The station may legally be able to do this, but I think it
> muddles both advertisers' messages, and adds to the clutter.
> Nobody wins...
>
WBZ wins, The ad exec wins, Infinity wins.
 
> am sure listeners are laughing!!
>

So you think Joe Average Listener even notices...or cares? NO WAY! Only the radio geeks who live, sleep, eat and breathe this stuff notice...and perhaps an advertiser or two who will complain about this type of situation and then place their identical looking print ads in the local paper right next to another car dealer and think it's "good placement."

Listeners want information, music, or whatever their needs are at the moment. In this case, they got traffic info...and nothing more than that likely stayed with them (if even that).
 
Someone pays WBZ for this. No mistake

> And this is how the report was introduced: "This is New
> England Subaru Dealers 'Traffic On The 3's', sponsored by
> Toyota!".
>
> And indeed after the traffic report, there was a Toyota
> commercial.
>
> Someone who schedules commercials at 'BZ obviously wasn't
> paying attention.


Sure, me and my radio savvy friends laugh at this long time taboo but WBZ laughs all the way to the bank. We were brought up not to put competing advertisers in the same break if at all possible, it was beaten into our heads back then. This may be the first time you noticed it with WBZ traffic reports but, as others mentioned this has been in place for years already.

That's how it is and no sponsors cancel because of it. The clients PAY for the spots and probably pay more for placement in the Subaru Traffic reports.

Programming can be SALES driven, haven't you noticed? It's the bottom line that matters. The salespeople who take in those commissions are happy about this and so are the bean counters.

No listener will tune out because there is a Toyota spot in a Subaru Traffic report. In fact, I don't think the average listener cares who the sponsor is as long as they get their traffic on the 3's. (a few exceptions, what was that pro/anti abortion spot causing stations grief a few years ago??)

If it doesn't make listeners tune out and it brings in money then what is the problem?


<P ID="signature">______________
Mark Coney</P>
 
Re: an oxymoron

> > like jumbo shrimp...
> >
> > The station may legally be able to do this, but I think it
>
> > muddles both advertisers' messages, and adds to the
> clutter.
> > Nobody wins...
> >
> WBZ wins, The ad exec wins, Infinity wins.

Well, CBS, but sure.
 
> The title sponsor of WBZ-1030's "Traffic On The 3's" is
> Subaru.
>
> So I was listening to them at 2 P.M. this afternoon (April
> 18th) to get the latest news concerning a man who had stolen
> an SUV, slammed into several cars in downtown Boston, and
> finally was shot by police.
>
> After that lead story, it was 2:03, and time for the usual
> "Traffic On The 3's".
>
> And this is how the report was introduced: "This is New
> England Subaru Dealers 'Traffic On The 3's', sponsored by
> Toyota!".
>
> And indeed after the traffic report, there was a Toyota
> commercial.
>
> Someone who schedules commercials at 'BZ obviously wasn't
> paying attention.
>

well, obviously however they scheduled the toyota spot
it worked because you recalled it in your post. the
subaru sponsorship deal is for a programming element
which is their traffic report. technically the subaru tag is
not part of the commercial pod. it's not a :30 or :60 spot and
did not run adjacent to the toyota spot. in most cases,
the buyer requests pod exclsuvity, especially if it's the
first or the last spot in the pod which are
premium. the scheduling software will run the bump out so
there would never be competing brands for the same product
in the same pod if the buyers makes exclusivity requests.
it's the still the norm in radio and less so
in tv. these days you can see 2 different car ads in the same tv
pod and sometimes adjacent to each.

you're making a big fuss out of nothing, but that's what you're
known for on these boards.

in print advertising, car ads always run together so it's
no big deal. at car shows, which is another form of advertising,
cars are all displayed in one big exhibition facility.
 
Re: an oxymoron

> The station may legally be able to do this, but I think it
> muddles both advertisers' messages, and adds to the clutter.
> Nobody wins...
>

The one that really irks me is the "tomorrows technology" feature WBZ runs. It's narrated by one of the WBZ news anchors and is presented as a feature, but in reality nothing more than an informercial for Toyota.
 
The true President of Iraq says don't wait another minute to check out the great deals at Bernie & Phyl's. Or you will surely die!

> The title sponsor of WBZ-1030's "Traffic On The 3's" is
> Subaru.
>
> So I was listening to them at 2 P.M. this afternoon (April
> 18th) to get the latest news concerning a man who had stolen
> an SUV, slammed into several cars in downtown Boston, and
> finally was shot by police.
>
> After that lead story, it was 2:03, and time for the usual
> "Traffic On The 3's".
>
> And this is how the report was introduced: "This is New
> England Subaru Dealers 'Traffic On The 3's', sponsored by
> Toyota!".
>
> And indeed after the traffic report, there was a Toyota
> commercial.
>
> Someone who schedules commercials at 'BZ obviously wasn't
> paying attention.
>
<P ID="signature">______________
The ladies dig men with big beards.</P>
 
Status
This thread has been closed due to inactivity. You can create a new thread to discuss this topic.


Back
Top Bottom