Seriously, Cox Media?

I saw the Cox Media smarter advertising commercial for the first time today, and the entire time, all I could think was, Really?

The commercial, if you haven't seen it, is a direct attack at newspapers. It tells advertisers that cable advertising is "better" than newspaper advertising by taking statements like "People read newspapers" or "Newspaper advertising is affordable" and attempting to prove them wrong with statistics and claims that cable advertising is more effective, even if it is more expensive.

Really, Cox? Seriously?

First of all, the only reason why I watched that commercial and didn't change the channel was because I wanted to hear what they had to say about newspapers, and I wanted to see if they would argue against any other forms of advertising. They didn't. It was just about newspapers. Disclaimer: I am a full-time newspaper reporter. This is my first job after several internships at newspapers and working at my college newspaper. I've wanted to be a reporter since I was 5-years-old because I've always had a lot of newspapers in my house. My dad just really likes reading the news - we've always subscribed to our local paper, the Record-Journal, but he regularly picks up the Hartford Courant, USA Today and the New York Daily News for fun. We also subscribe to Newsweek, Time and Spin and pick up tabloids when they're interesting. Print media has been a staple in our household because it's readily available, and it's enjoyable to just sit back and read about what's going on.

Here's the thing. Any medium that uses advertising as a form of income is hurting because the advertising industry is hurting in this economy. When a business needs to cut costs, advertising is one of the first things to go. That being said, it doesn't make sense that Cox Media would target newspapers exclusively like they're a major competitor taking all their advertising. What is this, Pepsi vs. Coke? Also, the commercial even says that advertisers will use newspapers because advertising in them is affordable - that's true because newspapers need advertisements and want to keep prices attractive to buyers. Why doesn't Cox just make their advertising more affordable? And on that point, I don't understand why Cox needs to go after newspapers for more advertisements because they're a cable company. They pretty much have all of Meriden under their services, even if they're pretty bad. I have a ton of Internet connection problems at home, and when I ask around, other people in the area have the same problems at the same time.

On the Cox Media "Smarter Advertising" Web page, the list of related stories is about declining ratings for local news. What does that mean? Do they not want people to advertise through local newscasts? Are they just making an attack on news in general? It just doesn't make any sense.

So here are my reasons why newspaper advertising is better than cable:

1. You can't change the channel. Yes, you can turn the page, but there's usually a story or something on that page that keeps your attention for some time. The advertisement is right there, and a reader can't help but see it.

2. Your advertisements reach people anywhere. In the car, on the porch, on the beach, people can bring along a newspaper to read. Also, they read them in the bathroom. Commercial breaks are the perfect time to leave and go to the bathroom. While people do spend a lot of time in front of a television, they do have to leave at points, and they're not going to leave during their favorite show.

3. It's more affordable. Especially when businesses are struggling and cutting costs, it makes more sense to advertise in a way that's cost effective.

4. It works. It's cost effective because it's affordable and works. People see advertisements. If they're inserts in the paper, they can't help but look at them.

5. It reaches more people than you think. Take my college newspaper, for instance. We had a circulation of 9,000, but a lot more people read it because it would get left on a dining hall or library table. I always pick up a newspaper and read it when I'm in a waiting room. I don't usually watch TV when waiting for something. Families share newspapers. Also, some classifieds in newspapers transfer to their Web sites. That means there are even more readers.

6. People need their news. People read newspapers because they want to know what's going on. Especially with local papers, it's usually the only place they can go to find out what's going on in their town. If there's a local election coming up, how else will they know about the candidates? And it's their elected local leaders who determine a lot of stuff that actually matters to them. They really don't need to watch another reality TV show.

7. People are attentive when they're reading newspapers. You actually have to read the paper to get the news. That means that they're focused on the page at hand. Can you really say that about someone whose TV is just on while they're making dinner or doing work?

8. People look for things in newspapers. They go through the classifieds to find things or look for jobs. They're looking for coupons. They're actively seeking out these advertisements. With television, it's the opposite. It's just forced on them, and, once again, they can change the channel or get up.

Here's the link to Cox Media's terrible rationale: http://www.coxmedia.com/GainesvilleOcala/advertisingmore.aspx?ID=DA_814852.

And here's the related article that showed up on the side bar when I went on the page: http://www.coxmedia.com/GainesvilleOcala/advertisingmore.aspx?ID=DA_1151368

Final Decision on Tinted Windows

Not worth it. Take a look at this video - it's their performance of "Kind of Girl" on Rock After Dark:

Yeah.
I wanted so badly to like them, I really did. Hanson's been my all-time favorite band since I was 10 years old, and they're a great favorite band for a number of reasons (post on this coming later). So when I heard that Taylor Hanson was doing a side project, the first thing I thought of was that time I waited in line to see them in New Hampshire (yes, I drove from Connecticut) and sat there for about six hours in a misty rain and had usual conversation with the regular Fansons. One mother said that she won a lunch with Tyler Hilton, who opened for Hanson a few years ago, and Tyler said Taylor would be better off doing his own thing. Um, after hearing Tinted Windows, I disagree.
Tinted Windows is a power pop superband that's made up of Taylor Hanson, James Iha from the Smashing Pumpkins and A Perfect Circle, Adam Schlesinger from Fountains of Wayne, and Bun E. Carlos, the drummer of Cheap Trick. It's a weird grouping, as the band admitted in a Spin interview. Because of each member's success in other bands, one would think they would gather some old fans for this new group. They might, but it's going to be hard because this sound is different from all their former groups, except for maybe Fountains of Wayne, which has a little more power pop. However, all the "Whoa-ohs" from Taylor and James sound very strained and just look weird coming from them. Even the song feels superficial, a song about "the kind of girl you can't get enough of ... whoa-oh." There's really not much to it, and it really makes you question the motives of these talented musicians from rather successful bands.
Because Hanson is my favorite band, I do wish Taylor the best of luck. Who knows? Maybe they'll catch on. All those bands do have dedicated fan bases, and there could be a market for shallow attempts at power pop where the drummer is way too good for the rest of the band. But for this Fanson, who does enjoy other music by the way, it's just not good.

4/19 - Of Montreal and Janelle Monae!

This show was so fun. As soon as Janelle Monae took the stage to open for Of Montreal, Toad's Place was just loaded with energy. In a recent Spin feature on her, she said that she's been blessed to have people be too afraid of asking her how she'll fit into the mainstream. We're blessed too. I like that she's different with her front-pushed hair and jockey outfits. Her music was dancey with a touch of Outkast and a whole lot of herself shining through. At one point in the show, she painted a picture on stage and handed it to the crowd.

As Of Montreal started their first song, I almost thought that Janelle outdid them. However, as they moved on with their set, they were incredible. Totally freaking out the bouncers. With their guys in stretchy pink costumes to hobbits to a tiger doing unspeakable things to someone else in a stretchy black costume, it was a crazy party on stage, and that party feel really spread to the crowd. Especially when they performed some of their more popular numbers like "A Sentence of Sorts in Kongsvinger" or "Gronlandic Edit," which are both very danceable with recognizable and repeating background beats, they got the crowd going. I was surprised they didn't play "Heimdalsgate Like a Promethean Curse" for obvious reasons of what might have been going on in the audience, but I was very happy with how much they played off Hissing Fauna as well as Skeletal Lamping. This was probably one of my top 5 concerts, and my boyfriend and I danced more than we ever danced before.

The Ting Tings - 3/16

I know, I know. Very late update on this concert. It was a busy month. I can't wait to graduate. Anyway, The Ting Tings put on a great show and reminded me exactly why they're one of my new favorite bands. From their fun dance tunes to their extra brass instrumentals done by girls in funky wigs, it was an all-around good time. Also, the fact that they picked Hot Tub as an opener to tour with them was a fantastic idea. I love girl-fronted bands, which is partially why I love the Ting Tings. I also love energy - another quality of the Ting Tings. And here's Hot Tub from Oakland, Calif., embodying all of that. I loved that they were three multicultural girls just rapping and rocking out.

2/20 P-Funk

I got down just for the funk of it. George Clinton and Parliament Funkadelic had a show at Toad's place, and it was one of the most interesting Toad's experiences I've ever had. The show was good. At times, some songs dragged on repetitively, but really, that's what a lot of the crowd wanted. They just kept on dancing. And the crowd was so diverse in both age and backgrounds, which also made this interesting. George Clinton is the man. They played their hits. They played some covers. They added some soulful singers. Clinton's granddaughter came out to MC and rap about marijuana. P-Funk turned a concert into an all-out event, and they gave us the whole funk and nothing but the funk.

2/12 Darwin's Meditation for the People of Lincoln

I don't think I've ever thought of a concert as a work of art, but "Darwin's Meditation for the People of Lincoln" was exactly that.

The piece featured Daniel Bernard Roumain (DBR), who can really shred a violin. If you didn't think rocking out on a violin was possible, listen to DBR, man. I don't want to call it just a show because it was an entire composition with several elements coming together to celebrate the 200th birthday of Charles Darwin and Abraham Lincoln, who were born just hours apart. It included narratives that juxtaposed Darwin and Lincoln's lives together, and the music varied from passionate salsa to soulful funk to emotional classical music. It all came together perfectly, and UConn was really lucky to have gotten this show on the day of Darwin and Lincoln's actual birthday.

2/7 - Eve 6

I wish I brought a camera to have a photo for this post, but the show was right after a men's basketball game, so I was kind of on-the-go and forgot to bring one.

Anyway, Eve 6 brought back memories of being in seventh grade and mad at the world singing along to "Inside Out." It brought back memories of loving "Here's to the Night" because it's how we feel when we're "embarrassingly sentimental" as lead singer Max Collins described it. It was good. I haven't really listened to them in a while, so I was really surprised to see how many songs I actually knew and could sing along to. I have a feeling everyone else in the audience was feeling the same thing because it seemed that everyone could sing along to their radio singles and TRL hits. It took the band at least a song or two to get going, I think, because after a while, they really got into the songs, singing and playing a little harder. That just wasn't the case with the first two songs. The band did everything right, though. If they needed time to warm up and get into the show, they were right to play a few songs before the singles that everyone wants to rock out to. Actually, come to think of it, maybe it was the singles that everyone sang along to that pumped the band up. Either way, the show got better through the set. Also, I love when bands rotate new songs with old popular ones because it really keeps the crowd going, and Eve 6 did that.

Lights Resolve opened for them with a long set, and they just didn't do it for me. I mostly wanted it to end. One of the drums was mic'd too closely, and despite the singer describing one song as a dance tune that you'd "shake your ass" to, it still sounded pretty "I'm trying to be rock, and really, I can only head bang to this even though it's not really that hardcore and what you'd think to head bang to," which was pretty much what all their songs were. Also, there was a lot of "Oh Oh Oh"-ing to the songs, and lyrics that were trying too hard to be emotional and spiritual like "the angel cries oh oh oh oh [etc]."