Behind the curve

Michael Hedges July 29, 2009 Follow on Twitter

Impulse is both the great builder and killer of media brands. It has its moment in the brand life cycle. But strong brands are not static brands; the impulse and ego that drive one level of creativity must evolve.

Few media brands have the strength of NRJ, the French national hit music channel. It is the corner-piece of Jean-Paul Baudecroux’s NRJ Group. It is in trouble.

Over the weekend Le Monde cited a rumor, circulated widely for weeks, that director of the radio group Christophe Sabot was out. Two weeks ago the quarterly Médiamétrie national radio audience survey was not kind to NRJ. (See details here) An interview with NRJ Group Managing Director Maryam Salehi in Les Echos (July 28) confirms “there is effectively a procedure for dismissal against Christophe Sabot, but no negotiation takes place between our lawyers.”

Sabot returned to NRJ Group a year ago from Lagardére’s radio group. He had been NRJ’s program director in the good old days. Over the course of five years or so NRJ Group has been through two CEO’s – M. Baudecroix, himself, returning last year – and about a dozen other top executives, many dumped for failing to turn around NRJ’s audience losses.

It’s worth reflecting on the challenges faced by media companies with aging brands, particularly those built on young audiences.  NRJ hit the French airwaves in 1981 and rose through the next two decades to become the dominant music radio brand in France and one of the most significant radio brands in Europe. The formula was simple; play the hits, be fun and take it to the streets.

The teenagers who flocked to NRJ’s music and style in the 1980’s now have their own teenagers. It’s a problem faced by every ‘hit music’ radio brand; as the next generation of listeners arrives with different tastes the core audience, too, changes its listening interests. While NRJ is far from dead, it is behind the curve.

The management challenge is more difficult. Media companies – radio broadcasters in particular, it seems – are pained by maturity. When every energy (no pun intended) is invested in the growth phase of the business cycle different management skills are required for the next phase – management. That does not mean – as we see in the publishing sector right now – bringing in the accountants to cut every possible cost center. It does, however, mean an adjustment.

For that adjustment to be strategic and, then, meaningful attention is necessary to the brand as it currently exists, not necessarily forgetting all that has gone before but putting that in terms of present reality. The fundamental question changes from ‘how do we get back to the top’ to ‘what do the people who like us the most expect us to do’. That growth phase media brands are largely ego driven is one reason growth phases media brands attract so much attention in the marketplace. Mature or management phase brands check that ego at the door. If not, the door revolves and revolves until the next phase arrives.