The Amtower B2G Market Report

The Amtower B2G Market Report
Volume 3, #22, June 7, 2004

(Sign up for your free subscription at http://www.FederalDirect.net and if you like this, please pass this along to your colleagues. To unsubscribe, email me at amtower@erols.com). Past issues available at http://www.federaldirect.net/newsletterarchives.html)

In this issue…
1) Amtower Off-Center Observations
2) The Good, the Bad and the Ugly: Focus in Radio
3) Events
4) SmartPay Small Purchase Card Update

AMTOWER OFF-CENTER OBSERVATIONS

Item: Two new sections will be appearing very soon at FederalDirect.net. The first, showing up later this week, will be the End Of FY Tactics commentary by some industry veterans, starting with the use of radio. The second section will follow in a week or so, and it will be interviews from some thought leaders in our market about the direction Federal procurement is moving, and how we can adjust our marketing to the changing arena.

Item: GSA is investigating CACI for Schedule abuse in relation to the Iraqi prison scandal. After all the rule changes regarding Schedule use over the past few years (BPAs worth $500 million, etc) GSA is playing the Claude Rains role from Casablanca: GSA is shocked to find gambling at Rick’s, but will still make certain to obtain the IFF. While CACI may not be blameless, I cannot help but recall a story about the fox guarding the hen house.

Item: Is it possible that CACI will be made a scapegoat because of the Iraqi prison scandal? Of course. The ambulance chasing Hill denizens will soon be out in force, each with his/her television camera heat-seeking implant turned on full force, armed with a full load of adjectival babble. Shakespeare warned us about these people four hundred years ago in MacBeth: “tale(s), told by an idiot(s), full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.” Any topic likely to garner television face time, regardless of how shallow the knowledge base, you can bet the mortgage money the politicians will be there in droves. Invariably the television personalities will know as little as the politicians, but this will not stop them from attempting to make points where none are needed.

The CACI episode, like others, will be one of the themes of the upcoming campaign. While the television talking heads, most sycophants leeching off the right or the left, will proclaiming the race(s) open and the candidates off and running, some of us in the contracting community know it is more apt to say they are loose and dangerous.

Why? Because the CACI episode is likely to lead to another round of “procurement reform.” I said it nine years ago and I will say it again: FASA 5 will be Brooks 2. We have enough laws. Let us simply begin to enforce the ones we have, and perhaps rid ourselves of a few so nebulous as to mean nothing.

It is a good thing I have a strong sense of humor, otherwise I would go into a massive depression during every political campaign

Not that I have an opinion.

THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY: FOCUS ON RADIO

Busy season has officially begun. So with this issue, we will begin focusing on several marketing media, starting with radio. I have asked several friends, each an experienced professional in the government market, to give me their respective views on a variety of topics. Included in the group is Anne Armstrong, Publisher of Federal Computer Week; Lisa Dezzutti, president of Market Connections; Fred Kuhn, Managing Director of Government Executive; Steve LaSueur, Editor of Washington Technology; Eva Neumann, president of ENC Marketing: Steve O’Keeffe, president of O’Keefe and company; David Powell, Vice President of the Federal Business Council; Elizabeth Shea, presidnet of Shea hedges Group; and Tom Temin, Executive Vice President of Post NewsWeekTech and editor of Government Computer News. I also have some initital comments from Jory Stieber, Regional Account Manager , NewsTalk 630 WMAL\630wmal.com Email: jory.stieber@abc.com, and Patti Cochran, Local Sales Manager, Classical1035 WGMS FM (sister station of all news WTOP, 1500 AM). Patti can be reached at pcochran@classical1035.com

By the end of this week, I will have the entire radio article, with views from our guests, posted at FederalDirect.net. My commentary will be there as well.

Jory Stieber: Radio ads do result in the recall of ads, copy points, and brand names. The effectiveness of Radio ads differ significantly from ad to ad, suggesting a wide variation in the quality of Radio ads. The effectiveness of Radio ads is highest when the ad is longer and contains early and frequent brand mentions with relatively few different ideas within the ad, and is aired in a shorter pod or at the beginning pod. Radio ads can, and often do, cause images to appear in the listener's mind.

During my initial meeting with each new client I first discuss my client's advertising expectations. I attempt to explain how radio is effective and how because it is not tangible the effectiveness is harder to determine. In my opinion, if radio was not effective then it would not be proven, by way of rating periods, to be such a successful medium. As in radio, direct response, pre-selling and pre-qualifying leads all hope to convey a Company's trustworthiness and awareness as a result of their medium. Radio can (and should) reinforce direct mail, print and other forms of advertising. Radio works in conjunction with the sales departments by helping brand the Company's name and products. This gives the Company a better opportunity to open up a line of communication with the sales consultants who are calling for B2B or B2G.

Patti Cochran: With over 400,000 civilian feds plus all the military personnel in the area, the Washington, DC metro area is unlike any city in the world in terms of advertising. Mass mediums become niche vehicles for reaching feds. With such a high concentration of decision makers in one area, a company has a number of efficient and targeted marketing opportunities such as print, radio, trade shows and direct mail. Technology such as the Internet and email is even making it more efficient to reach this audience.

Washington has some of the worst traffic in the country with an average one-way commute of 32 minutes. Washingtonians spend a lot of time in their cars. This along with this fast-paced city’s thirst for news and information is why the most listened-to radio station in the area is WTOP (107.7 fm, 1500 am, 820 am). WTOP reaches over 1 million people a week including over 110,000 federal employees. This area’s commute also creates stress which is effectively quelled through the relaxing classical programming on sister station, WGMS (103.5FM). Classical1035/WGMS enjoys a 57 year heritage in Washington and shares dedicated federal and Capitol Hill programming with WTOP. These two stations are among the only radio stations in the country to have dedicated federal programming and a reporter with an office in the Capitol. With features such as the Pentagon Report, Homeland Security Update, and Ask the CIO, WTOP and WGMS provide a number of targeted opportunities for reaching federal decision makers. Radio offers a strong complement to print advertising. Radio’s advantage is that it’s intrusive and reaches your qualified federal target directly. In combination, print and radio offer federal marketers a multi-media advertising campaign.

EVENTS

FEDERAL CHANNELS: Selling and Marketing to the Government
Date: July 19, 2004
Time: 8:00 a.m. to 4:45 p.m.
Location: Fairview Park Marriott, Falls Church, VA

The Federal Marketplace has undergone significant change in the past few years. Federal Channels 2004 will feature sessions on the most recent changes to the federal business environment and the best methods for using those changes to your advantage. This is a really good informational and networking event, with something for people of any skill level, novices and professionals alike. The FBC staff spends lots of time putting together a good program, and they always have great presenters. See full details at http://www.fbcinc.com/federalchannels/default.asp

SMARTPAY SMALL PURCHASE CARD UPDATE

New statistics are finally available on the SmartPay small purchase card program. For the first seven months of FY 2004, there has been a total of $9,399,785,923.69 spent. This is approximately $540 million ahead of FY 2003, with five months to go. There are currently 314, 712 cardholders, about 18,000 fewer than the same time last year, and there have been about 350,000 more purchases this year, even with fewer cardholders.

If spending continues to hold at this pace, total spending for FY 2004 will be between $17 and $17.5 billion.

These statistics are just for the small purchase card, not the travel or fleet cards. The Department of Interior has an integrated card, so there are some travel dollars included.

**

As always, your comments, questions and suggestions are welcome.

Thanks
Mark Amtower

The Amtower B2G Market Report is published and copyrighted by Amtower & Company. It combines our former newsletters into a single, bi-weekly newsletter for companies targeting the government marketplace. Contact us at Amtower & Company, PO Box 339, Ashton, MD 20861-0339 (301-924-0058). This material is copyrighted and may not be duplicated, reprinted or otherwise replicated without written permission of the publisher. EMAIL subscriptions are free by request: sign up at www.FederalDirect.net.


Site maintained by Dragonfly Design