Muddy Waters
King Bee
Blue Sky Records
1981
Muddy’s last record. And one of my favorites.
Marketing Budgets to Meet Changing Consumption
Franchise Consumer Marketing Conference
I’m thrilled to be moderating a timely panel at next week’s #FCMCon titled, Build Your Budget to Meet the Customer’s Changing Consumption.
Joining me are two Rock Stars in the franchise marketing space who will share their ideas and experiences in building marketing budgets with an eye on changing consumer media consumption:
Terri Snyder is the EVP, CMO, and Board Member at Checkers & Rally’s and has an impressive history of leading marketing at franchise and global brands such as Dominos, Pizza Hut, and TGIFridays. I had the pleasure of interviewing Terri recently for my Social Geek Radio podcast and found her insights and trend-spotting abilities in the restaurant space to be second to none!
Sally Facinelli is the Vice President of Strategic Growth at Silvercrest Advertising and has been working in franchising for 22 years. Growing hundreds – if not thousands – of franchise brands and businesses means Sally will have fantastic ideas to share on marketing budgets in this changing space.
Please join us on Wednesday, June 20 at 3pm at the Intercontinental Hotel in Buckhead in the Hope 1-2 rooms. For more details or to register for the conference, please check out Franchise Consumer Marketing Conference.
Pre-Game with the WFN!
On the eve before the FCMCon, the Atlanta Chapter of The IFA Women’s Franchise Network is hosting an event that you won’t want to miss. The topic is “Training within Franchise Systems”, the speakers are excellent, and the networking opportunities will be fantastic!
The Atlanta WFN is the biggest and best chapter in the nation with an executive team that puts together great educational programs and community service events all year!
Get details and register now. See you there!
New York Playlist
The most important part of any travel for business or pleasure is planning out the proper soundtrack for your trip. With the 2018 International Franchise Expo starting this week, I wanted to share my playlist of my favorite songs by New York artists, recorded in New York, or about New York.
- Love Supreme – John Coltrane
- Take The A-Train – Duke Ellington
- Blue Monk – Thelonius Monk Trio
I can’t decide on which classic jazz song should lead off. I settled on all three of these.
- Pennies from Heaven – Louis Prima
Face it, when you set foot in New York, you feel as excited and sugared-up as Buddy in Elf.
- New York, New York – Frank Sinatra
I don’t really like this particular song, but I feel like I must include it.
- Piano Man – Billy Joel
This song always painted such a perfect a picture of an old piano bar in the city. I can smell the beer on the microphone.
- Personality Crisis – The New York Dolls
- Psycho Killer – Talking Heads
- I Wanna Be Seated – The Ramones
- One Way or Another – Blondie
If I could go back in time, I would go straight to 1977 at CBGB.
- Shattered – Rolling Stones
Bite the Big Apple…
- New York Groove – Ace Frehley
Great tune! That is all.
- Angela – Bob James
Soft jazz song that you will recognize as the theme to the gritty NY sitcom Taxi.
- In The City – Joe Walsh
More theme music – this time from the cult classic film The Warriors!
- Double Fantasy – John Lennon
I can’t choose just one song from this album that defines New York City for me.
- Fairytale of New York – The Pogues with Kristy MacColl
Yes, it’s a Christmas song. But it also paints an amazing picture of New York City. It’s beautiful & ugly as well as sad & happy all at the same time.
- Unplugged in New York – Nirvana
Recorded in New York but not really a NY record. It’s the best live album ever, so I just look for any reason to put it on any list.
- New York Minute – Don Henley
Layers and layers of good stuff here.
- The Great American Nightmare – Rob Zombie
It’s been the theme to The Howard Stern Show for 20 years. That’s pretty New York.
- New York State of Mind (Live) – Billy Joel
Two Billy Joel songs on this list? Yep.
And, go for the live broadcast version from the post-911 televised Tribute to Heroes concert.
And for those wondering where Bon Jovi and Bruce Springsteen are … I’m sorry, I just can’t.
#TBT #Vinyl Alice In Chains, 1995
Alice In Chains
Alice In Chains
Columbia Records
1995
Layne Staley’s last studio record is brilliant.
#TBT #Vinyl John Mellencamp, The Lonesome Jubilee, 1987
John Mellencamp
The Lonesome Jubilee
Mercury Records
1987
His best. That is all.
#TBT #Vinyl The Nixons, Foma
The Nixons
Foma
MCA Records
1995
One of my favorite short-lived bands from the 90s: Oklahoma City’s THE NIXONS. Great record and great live band.
Social Geek: Twice Per Week!
Last week I took a leap forward with the Social Geek Radio podcast. I will be hosting TWO shows per week.
I have recently met so many interesting marketers and franchise industry pros with fascinating stories that one show per week just isn’t enough! And I have a few other people to thank for inspiring me to take Social Geek Radio Season Nine to the next level:
THANKS to my new team at Social Joey for feeding my brain with all kinds of new ideas that are ripe for podcast discussions. The founders of Social Joey remind me that the most important thing in any business is the serve your audience and customers. I hope I am providing some value to anyone who listens.
THANKS to the three smartest digital marketers I know: Mike McDowell, Liane Caruso, and Jim Buckley. These three keep me informed (and honest!) about the latest trends in social media, digital marketing, and franchise marketing.
Mike, Liane, and Jim will be a big part of the new Social Geek Radio as regular contributors, alias The Digital Marketing All-Stars. Any success I’ve had in life or business is due to surrounding myself with the best and brightest people. I could not be more fortunate to have such great friends who are willing to jump into these conversations and keep it fun.
Lastly, THANKS to Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook for always giving us something new and controversial to discuss.
Check out the latest show where we analyze last week’s Zuckerberg testimony and make some predictions on Facebook’s future!
#TBT #Vinyl Kansas, Leftoverture, 1976
Kansas
Leftoverture
Kirshner Records
1976
From 1976, when Classic Rock was Progressive Rock, album art was really art, and Don Kirshner had a record label. Yes, that Dan Kirshner. Later pressings were on CBS / Columbia / Sony labels.
The Loop, 1977-2018
The Loop. WLUP-FM. FM98. Later, 97.9 FM.
As of this week, The Loop is gone from our radio dials. I rarely feel sad for dead celebrities, but I am a bit heartbroken over the passing of The Loop. For those of you not in the Chicago area, it was the greatest rock station in the universe. More on that debate later.
Sure, The Loop hasn’t really been “The Loop” for a decade or two. I’ve lost track of the ownership changes and lately it’s been programmed by some automated robot, or even worse, a Millennial who wouldn’t know the difference between Bon Scott and Brian Johnson.
There’s no Steve Dahl, Johnny B, or breaking cool Tom Petty records anymore. It’s pretty much full of 30-year-old Def Leppard songs lately like every other lame classic rock station owned by a failing conglomerate in America. I haven’t bothered to tune in for many years. And you haven’t tuned in either; if we had, The Loop may have survived. It’s just another underperforming media property being sold and dismantled.
Influence on My Life
The Loop was the most influential radio station in the universe from ’79 until about ’84. Well, in my universe anyway! My biggest influencers from the world of radio in my childhood were:
- The iconic one: WLS
- The fictional one: WKRP
- The real one: The Loop
The Loop influenced me in many ways from adolescence through adulthood. It was my friend in times when I had no friends. The Loop was a factor in my wanting to work in (and my obsession with) radio. Without The Loop, I would not have wanted to be a rock jock, and therefore would never have met my wife and therefore we would not have our daughter! Wow!
Without The Loop, there would be no Steve Dahl. Without Dahl, there would be no Howard Stern. Without Stern, there would be no Social Geek Radio. Okay, that last one is a stretch, but throw me a bone.
The Best?
Many people in Chicago will tell you that WXRT was much more influential and far superior to The Loop. Don’t get me wrong – someday when XRT inevitably folds, I’ll be writing about that brilliantly-programmed entity too.
As far as the availability of the Loop’s or XRT’s music, a few channels on Sirius XM currently fill that void for most of us Gen Xers who are not dead or have not relocated to Texas or Florida.
The Loop hadn’t been cool for many years and wasn’t yet old enough to be retro chic. But now that it’s officially gone, perhaps it will be cool to wear The Loop t-shirt again. I just hope it still fits.
#TBT #CD #Vinyl : AC/DC, Back In Black, 1980
AC/DC
Back In Black
Atlantic Records
1980
Prized possession: one of my all-time favorite albums, signed by the AC/DC lads when we met about 20 years ago. I asked Angus Young to please sign it to “THE Jack”. That cracked him up.
#Imadeangusyounglaugh
#TheJack
