Negative Advertising

If you haven't checked out the Houston country battle lately, it's time to do some listening and thinking about what you'll hear.

For several years on KKBQ/Cox PD Johnny Chiang has been saying things like:  “We play the most music guaranteed in Houston, KILT plays the most commercials, up to 15 just last hour! We are the new 93Q.”

Now, something new on KILT/CBS PD Mark Adams' imaging:  “Did you know the other station talked about KILT 28 times yesterday? [Various mock announcer voices] Yesterday, in the 12 noon hour, Kilt played… In the 4 o’clock hour, Kilt played… Friday morning, Kilt played… Kilt played… Kilt played… [V/o] Wow. WE don’t even talk about us that much!

It's a political year.  Barack is already talking about Mitt and Romney is responding in kind about Obama nearly every day.

We all say we hate negative ads and yet, admit it, just as I do, you love watching Frank Luntz conduct focus groups for Fox News which will take what real people say, whether factual or not, and turn them into effective messages which get votes.

The difference, of course, is that an election is one day when a candidate needs specific people to be passionate enough about an issue to take a specific action.

Let's watch the Houston numbers in the coming months and see what these new tactics do to real listening, in addition to perceptions, which drive elections and diary ratings but do they impact actual usage, 24/7 too?

Obviously, Johnny and Mark appear to think they do!