Interview – Fru Hazlett, Group Sales Director, Capital Advertising

Capital Advertising, the new Capital Radio sales outfit formed from the disbandment of Media Sales and Marketing (subscribers see Capital Buys Virgin Radio), opens its doors today and sales director Fru Hazlett is hopeful that the new outfit will be able to be successful not only in its own right but will also help to grow radio as a medium.

However, with the Capital/Virgin merger currently under close scrutiny by the Monopolies and Mergers Commission it looks as though the Capital Advertising party could be spoiled before it has even begun. Hazlett dismisses this, however, saying that in no way was Capital Advertising planned solely to facilitate the Virgin takeover. It was, she says, already being planned as Capital had decided it wanted to move away from third-party sales to an operation where everybody had a “passion” for the product and “knew the brand inside out.” Capital Advertising will not be selling for other stations as it is keen to concentrate solely on the stations the Capital group owns.

Whatever happens with Virgin, Hazlett is extremely keen on the idea that radio sales houses should work together more in order to increase radio’s share of advertising revenue and make planning and buying for the medium easier. Instead of cannibalising the market, major players should look to be taking revenue away from other mediums: Hazlett believes outdoor is particularly vulnerable to this. The way the major sales houses have co-operated with the World Cup ’98 sponsorship deal is an example of the way Hazlett thinks radio sales can move forward (subscribers see Radio Sales Houses Join Forces For World Cup).

Centralisation in the radio industry is also very important, though Hazlett says that this needs to be worked on harder than it has been in the past (many stations are still “singing from different song sheets”). She believes that examples of this include the work which is being done with the RAB to standardise daypart names and the way Capital uses the same trafficking system across all of its stations. The improved accountability this will provide is also, Hazlett says, a key part of growing radio as a medium. In fact, she says that a large part of the responsibility of this will fall to Capital because it has always held a prominent place in the UK commercial radio industry.

So confidence is high at the new sales house: whatever happens with Virgin and however many new stations launch, Capital Advertising is looking for success – not only for itself but the commercial radio industry in general. Work still needs to be done however and Fru Hazlett appears as ready as anyone to acknowledge that more hard work will need to be done if commercial radio really will grow to become the medium it has the potential for.

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