For this week’s Programming To Win column, Jacobs Media consultant Bill Jacobs examines the parallels between The Beatles and Steve Jobs. Aside from their shared love of the word “Apple,” what lessons did the late Jobs learn from the Fab Four? And most importantly, how can they be applied to radio?
Bill Jacobs
By Bill Jacobs
Bill Jacobs has been a consultant with Jacobs Media for more than two decades. He’s a big fan of both the Fab Four and the iconic Apple CEO who changed the way we enjoy music. February is Fab Four month at Jacobs Media, and Bill brings some insights into how the Beatles and another icon, Steve Jobs, have a lot in common.
We’ve written about Apple and Steve Jobs many times in this space – and for good reason. Everything about the company and the man continues to point to just how groundbreaking and unique both have been in American culture and technology.
The products, of course, speak for themselves. New iPhone releases, like the most recent ones for the 5S and the 5C, are not only very cool, but they are met with massive publicity, pre-sale buzz, and rampant enthusiasm from Apple fans.
And this year, there is much anticipation about an as-yet-to-be-named product that many observers are calling the iWatch. While there are other digital/fitness watch products on the market now based on Fred and Paul’s trip to CES last month, there is a great deal of expectation that Apple’s version could start “the next big thing.”
And that’s a big difference between how Apple does it and how other companies develop, create, and market. Most product releases are met with yawns, but when Apple comes out with something new, it usually is preceded by rumors, speculations, and yes, more buzz. Steve Jobs’ quest was simple – to create something “cool”- and he certainly did that as well as anyone who’s ever lived.
But the other aspect that sets Apple apart was Jobs’ vision of his company’s master plan based on – of all things – The Beatles:
“My model for business is the Beatles. They were four guys who kept each other’s kind of negative tendencies in check. They balanced each other, and the total was greater than the sum of the parts. That’s how I see business: Great things in business are never done by one person. They’re done by a team of people.”
And while he lacks the charisma and sheer cult of personality of Jobs, it’s a philosophy that current CEO Tim Cook has embraced as well. Last year, he cut loose one of his more abrasive executives Scott Forstall for refusing to sign a letter apologizing for the shortcomings of the company’s mapping service. But he’s also brought in new “band members” to fit the philosophy of the company, including Craig Federighi, who had previously worked with Jobs at NeXT.
The Beatles and Apple (interesting that the Apple name was also the Beatles’ record label, isn’t it?) have something else in common – they were both “first movers.”
In the world of marketing, that means not only being first into a market segment, but also having significant impact on the culture of the moment. In both cases, it’s hard to argue that first-mover status. The Beatles spawned an entire “invasion” of music from Great Britain, impacting pop culture, styles, and even society in the ‘60s. And Apple’s influence on our lives, starting heavily with the iPod and working its way into essentially creating the market for smartphones and tablets, has spurred a tech revolution that is still underway. You might say that both created their markets and worked hard to maintain a leadership position.
But as noted, it takes a team and it takes chemistry. The Beatles had Brian Epstein and George Martin as key players in their success. And Apple continues to hone its team in the post-Jobs era.
Whether it’s a multi-national corporation like Apple or a ma and pa radio station in Iowa, staffing is always a challenge – but it’s also an opportunity – for all brand managers.
Radio has lost a sizable percentage of its workforce due to downsizing and attrition, so doing more with less is at the heart of the industry’s challenge. Another is the need for managers to motivate staffers, to discover and utilize their hidden talents, to include them in the process, and to keep that sense of “team” not only alive, but at the heart of their station’s value structure.
And these two challenges intersect – a leaner workforce means it’s even more important that existing staffers stay positive, are properly motivated, have their skills and input included, and feel like integral players in building the brand. Conversely, there’s no room (or time) for negative energy or tendencies that may have been tolerated in the past and companies should always be looking for opportunities to upgrade whenever possible.
Pardon the sports analogy but as Spring Training begins, we will hear a great deal about the value of so-called “5 tool players” (athletes who can run, have power, hit for average, throw, and catch) and that’s the mentality stations have to employ, too. But it may also be time for managers to evaluate their own leadership skills whether it’s in station get-togethers (jock meetings, brainstorms) or outside the building (bowling, watching a football game together, pizza and beverages).
Sustaining success is a challenge, and ultimately the Beatles threw in the towel. Apple continues to innovate, but always feels the pressure to come up with “the next big thing.”
By all accounts Steve Jobs was one tough guy to work for and while all that most people see from Apple are the physical products it produces, the real secret sauce was his management style, influenced heavily by the Fab Four. Pete Best? Weak link. Yoko Ono? Negative tendencies. The Beatles from 1964-1970? Like a brand new iPhone, it didn’t get any better than that.
For nearly two decades, Bill has quietly become one of Rock radio’s most respected radio programming professionals. He emerged from Michigan State University with a Master’s degree in Telecommunications, and then became a Research Analyst for the USA Television Network. He later joined Eastman Radio in a similar capacity. Bill was lured back to radio and joined Jacobs Media as a consultant in 1987. Since then, he has designed the programming for countless radio stations, has contributed to the company’s most impactful radio promotions, and most importantly, has become an expert in the specific needs and challenges facing small and medium market radio stations.
