Nov 1-30 “Amaryllis Month”: Contact the Huntingtons Society of Canada for info at www.hsc-ca.org.
Nov 1-30 “Cardio Pulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) Awareness Month”: see www.heartandstroke.com
Nov 1-30 “Community Safety and Crime Prevention Campaign.”: See www.safety-council.org for info.
Nov 1-30 “National Diabetes Month”: For info, call Jeremy Brace 416-408-7071 or see www.diabetes.ca.
Nov 1-30 “Movember”: During November each year, moustaches, or “mo’s” sprout on thousands of men’s faces around the world. These men raise funds for men’s health, specifically prostate cancer. For info see http://ca.movember.com.
Nov 1-30 “Lung Cancer Awareness Month”: To increase attention to lung cancer issues – early detection, increased research funding, and increased support for those living with lung cancer. Call the Lung Cancer Association 613-569-6411. Email cbishop@lung.ca.
Nov 1-30 “National Lifewriting Month”: An opportunity to celebrate ourselves and our families by committing our life stories to writing. Preserving our autobiographies in writing allows us to know ourselves better and to share our stories with future generations. For info email lifewritingmonth@turningmemories.com.
Nov 1-30 “Peanut Butter Lovers’ Month”: Celebration of North America’s favourite food and #1 sandwich. Info at www.peanutbutterlovers.com.
Nov 1-30 “Vegan Month”: Vegans choose to neither eat nor use any animal products (eg. meat, poultry, seafood, dairy products, eggs, leather, fur, etc.) For info call 1-877-GO-VEGAN.
Nov 1 “All Hallows or All Saints Day”: Roman Catholic day commemorating the blessed, especially those who have no special feast days. Halloween is the evening before All Hallows Day.
Nov 1 “National Family Literacy Day”: To showcase the importance of family literacy programs. Call ABC Canada Literacy Foundation at 416-218-0010 or 1-800-303-1004. emailinfo@abc-canada.org. Web www.abc-canada.org.
Nov 2 “Plan your Epitaph Day”: A forgettable gravestone is worse than death. Check out www.hardiehouse.org/epitaph [click on “The Last Word” link] to get a list of famous quotes on gravestones around the world. Call Lance Hardie at 707-822-6924 or email sunrise@hardiehouse.org. Web www.hardiehouse.org/epitaph.
Nov 2 “Sadie Hawkins Day”: Inspired by Al Capp’s “Li’l Abner” comic strip where women take initiative in asking men out on dates.
Nov 3 “Daylight Savings Time Ends. Standard Time Resumes”: Standard Time resumes at 2am on the first Sunday in November in each time zone. “Fall back” one hour.
Nov 3 “ING New York City Marathon”: 38,000 runners from all over the world gather to compete with more than 2.5 million spectators watching from the sidelines. Call 212-423-2249. web: www.ingnycmarathon.org.
Nov 3 “Sandwich Day”: 1718 John Montague, The fourth Earl of Sandwich was born in LondonEngland. He was the first Lord of the Admiralty, Secretary of State, and Postmaster General. He was also an avid gambler, and is said to have invented the sandwich as a time saving device while engaged in a 24-hour gambling session in London in 1762
Nov 3 “Zero-Tasking Day”: Today is the day on which daylight saving time ends – when we turn our clocks back and “gain” an hour. Instetad of filling that extra 60 minutes with more work and stress, use that hour to do nothing but breathe and relax. For info call Nancy Christie at 330-793-3675 or email nancy@communityofchange.com.
Nov 4 “Common Sense Day”: A day celebrating common sense, on Will Rogers’ birthday. Rogers said, “Common sense ain’t all that common.” Call Bud Bilanich, The Common Sense Guy 303-393-0446. email Bud@BudBilanich.com. See www.CommonSenseGuy.com.
Nov 4 “Mischief Night”: Observed in England, Australia and New Zealand, it is the eve of Guy Fawkes Day, an occasion for bonfires and crackers to commemorate failure of the plot to blow up the Houses of Parliament Nov 5, 1605.
Nov 5-11 “Veterans’ Week”: See www.veterans.gc.ca for details
Nov 6-12 “National Senior Safety Week”: see https://canadasafetycouncil.org.
Nov 7 “National Men Make Dinner Day”: Have a local chef share easy-win recipes men can make at home. Call Sandy Sharkey at BOB-FM at 613-738-2372 or e-mail ssharkey@939bobfm.com or www.menmakedinnerday.com.
Nov 8 “Abet and Aid Punsters Day”: Laugh instead of groan at incredibly dreadful puns.
Nov 10 “Edmund Fitzgerald Sinking: Nov 10, 1975. The ore carrier Edmund Fitzgerald broke in two during a heavy storm in Lake Superior. There were no survivors. A great excuse to play that Gordon Lightfoot song!
Nov 11 “Remembrance Day”: Canadian public holiday to honour those who died in WWI and WWII.
Nov 11 “USA: Veterans’ Day”: Formerly called Armistice Day
Nov 13 “World Kindness Day”: This day represents the pledge to join together to build a kinder and more compassionate world. For info call Random Acts of Kindness Foundation at 800-660-2811, email rakinfo@actsofkindness.org, or see www.actsofkindness.org.
Nov 14 “International Girls Day”: A day to build confidence in girls and celebrate the power of girls to realize their dreams. Call Heidi Roy 905-748-1897 or email dircomm@kappadella.org.
Nov 14 “Loosen Up, Lighten Up Day”: A day to remind people of all the benefits of joy and laughter. Call Stephanie West Allen, 303-935-8866 or email stephanie@westallen.com. See www.westallen.com.
Nov 14 “World Diabetes Day”: For info see the International Diabetes Foundation at www.idf.org/worlddiabetesday/
Nov 15 “George Spelvin Day”: The anniversary of his theatrical birth. The name is used in play programs to conceal the fact that an actor is performing in more than one role. The fictitious Spelvin is said to have appeared in more than 10,000 Broadway performances.
Nov 16 “United Nations: International Day for Tolerance”: To commemorate the adoption by UNESCO member states of the Declaration of Principles on Tolerance in 1995. See www.un.org.
Nov 17 “Unfriend Day”: Inspired by late-night talk show host Jimmy Kimmel, Unfriend Day is the day on which Facebook users take an honest inventory of their friends list and eliminate all those who aren’t true friends. By making cuts, they will be able to devote more time and energy to the people who really matter in their life. For info, call Jimmy Kimmel Live at 323-860-5918 or email trrevor.x.duvall@abc.com.
Nov 17-23 “Bullying Awareness Week”: This year’s theme is “Stand Up! (to bullying)”. See www.bullyingawarenessweek.org.
Nov 20 “Name Your PC Day”: Hey, why not? People name their boats, and there are a lot more PCs than boats these days.
Nov 20 “United Nations: Universal Children’s Day”: A time to honour children with special ceremonies and festivals and to make children’s needs known to governments. For info, www.un.org.
Nov 21”World Hello Day”: 35th annual observance, in which everyone who participates greets 10 people. The idea is that everyone says hello to ten people they do not know before days end. Check out www.worldhelloday.org.
Nov 24 “Celebrate Your Unique Talent Day”: We all have at least one extraordinary – and many times weird – ability. Call Shannon Hurd for more info at 720-920-9256, email uniquetalentday@yahoo.com, web www.youruniquetalent.com.
Nov 24-30 “Better Conversation Week”: Have better, more satisfying conversations by following simple guidelines. Call Dr. Loren Ekroth 702-214-6782. email loren@conversation-matters.com. See www.conversation-matters.com.
Nov 24-30 “National Games And Puzzles Week”: Sell a remote to a toy store. For information and ideas call Beth Muehlenkamp at 800-524-4263, e-mail bethm@patchproducts.com or www.millionminute.com.
Nov 25 “United Nations: International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women”: Observed on the anniversary of the 1960 murders of the Mirabel sisters in the Dominican Republic. See www.un.org.
Nov 28 “United States: Thanksgiving Day”: Legal public holiday in all states.
Nov 28-Dec 5 “Chanukah”: Jewish Feast of Lights or Feast of Dedication.
Nov 29 “Electronic Greetings Day”: Save a letter carrier, save a tree, save a stamp! Today’s the day to send your greetings the free, electronic way, via the Internet!
Nov 29 “Sinkie Day”: “Sinkies” (people who occasionally dine over the kitchen sink and elsewhere) are encouraged to celebrate this time-honoured, casual-yet-tasteful cuisine culture. Email Norm Hankoff, Intl Assn of People Who Dine Over the Kitchen Sink at normh@sinkie.com.
Nov 30 “Computer Security Day”: Reminds people to check the security of their computers and data at both home and work. Talk with a computer security expert about how listeners can avoid unnecessary invasions of privacy. Host a demonstration of security tips, software, etc. as part of a remote at a computer store. Visit www.computersecurityday.com or email computer_security_day@acm.org.
I volunteer my time each year to help organise the speakers for the Ontario Association of Broadcasters one-day conference which this year will be held in Toronto on Thursday, November 7th at the Toronto Airport Marriott Hotel. This year we asked OAB member stations what content they wanted at this conference, and many of you asked that we continue the sales training seminars and find a qualified speaker who can help sales reps grow their traditional radio sales, but also help them with digital strategies. We looked around the world and found Matt Sunshine from the Centre for Sales Strategy, or CSS as it is better known. Matt works with both traditional media and online/digital clients in markets across Canada and the US. He was Group Director of Sales for Susquehanna Radio and GSM for their Dallas cluster before joining CSS in 2006.
Matt promises to deliver actionable ideas that sales reps can take back to their markets and start using immediately. The half day seminar will focus on ideas and best practices to grow traditional radio sales as well as how to generate digital revenue. You will hear why digital is important, how it’s growing and get some great ideas to grow your digital sales. I talked to Matt recently and asked him about CSS and how he helps sales reps to be more successful.
Tell us about CSS: The Centre for Sales Strategy is a company that has been around for about 30 years and our goal is to turn sales talent into sales performance. The Centre for Sales Strategy has a 93% client retention rate of our own customers and our average customer has been a customer of ours for 8 years. We help stations execute a sales process that grows revenue and ensures repeatable sales. We believe the formula for sales success is: sales talent + sales training + sales tactics = sales performance. Do you have the right people and are you providing them with the right training and do you have the right tactics in place? If all three of those things are right then you will drive overall sales performance.
Tell us about your sales process: When we explain our sales process most people agree that it is simple and easy to understand. But the success is found in the details and doing every step of the process. We have found that there are seven steps to a proper sale as follows:
But the real success comes when you become really good at each one of the seven steps.
What is the biggest challenge for sales reps in 2013? Getting the appointment. I am in front of a different radio sales department two to three times a week and by far the number one issue is getting a quality appointment. The second biggest challenge is to get an assignment to work on.
How does a radio sales rep stand out from the crowd selling products and services to the local retailer in 2013? This is one of the topics I will cover in more detail in Toronto in November. In the “old days” you had to look professional and have a valid business reason in the mind of the client to earn an appointment. Today you need more than that, and you need to be solving their problems and not yours. You also need to be persistent and we have some research that shows you how many times you need to approach a client over a specific number of days in order to increase your success rate. We’ll also talk about third part referrals, success stories, floating a preliminary idea, having a capabilities brochure, using social media effectively, looking at how you appear on Linked In, getting an inside coach, having a personal marketing resume are some of the things you can do in order to stand out, to establish credibility and get the attention of the people you are trying to meet with.
What can a sales rep expect to get from attending your sales seminar in Toronto in November? They will walk away with actionable, practical ideas they can start using immediately. Not only will I share with them a sales process that actually works, but also I am going to give them some tactics at how to prospect more effectively and how to do a better job of selecting prospects. Also, I will give them some ideas on how to earn more appointments, given that is one of the biggest challenges facing sales reps today.
What are some of the things sales reps need to be doing to truly uncover the client’s needs and earn their business? In simple terms they have to stop selling and start solving. If you ever sit on the other side of the desk and let a sales person come in and present to you, chances are they will talk about themselves, their station and their products and services which may also include digital offerings. It’s a lot of pitching, and some more experienced reps will disguise the pitch by asking some questions about the business, but they quickly make it about the station and not about the client. Most clients see right through that. The client cares about his business and how he can meet his goals and objectives, and unless the radio sales rep is helping the process, the client will tune out. Therefore, the sales reps need to slow down during the discovery phase, and ensure they uncover needs and get an assignment. But all too often, because the sales rep has budgets and is required to close business, they rush the process. They may end up getting some business that has little or no chance of ever renewing, or even worse, they leave a lot of money on the table.
Some stations are finding that 30% more clients do not renew. Why is that and how can they reduce such a high rate of attrition? You need to have the expectation conversation with the prospect very early in the process. We suggest you do that after you have discussed the idea, but before you build and present the proposal. Setting the client’s expectations is often the area where reps fall short which creates issues down the road. You need to have a realistic conversation to determine what the client expects to see happen from this campaign. How will they measure the response and determine the success and the ROI? Knowing how the success will be measured allows you to include that in the proposal and you should see more renewals because of this.
Why is digital becoming more important to radio? Because that is what the consumer wants. The average consumer is spending more time online and they expect a radio station to have a strong digital presence. As marketers, our job is to connect our advertisers with our audiences and smart radio station operators realise they have two audiences – one is listening to the radio and the other is online. So today we sell audiences and connect them with our clients. Some radio stations have tremendous number of people on their websites and listening to the audio streams online, and advertisers want to connect with those people. One of the real benefits of digital is that you can truly measure and track ROI for the client.
So how should radio stations be selling their digital? We encourage stations to educate clients on the station’s digital capabilities as a way to deliver a solution that solves the client’s needs or problems. We think this is a better way to go. Radio stations have a tremendous opportunity to sell integrated solutions, but they need to focus on solutions using both traditional radio assets as well as their digital assets. This results in better results for the customers and helps drive more revenue. The clients that we work with who sell integrated solutions are seeing solid results and the stations are generating significant revenue as a result of this approach. The stations that struggle are the ones that do not place a real value on their digital products and who pitch it to everyone so they can tick a box and say they pitched digital, but it becomes more trouble than it’s worth.
How does a rep go about developing their digital elevator speech? There is not a canned response to this question and, frankly, there shouldn’t be because we don’t want all the reps from various organisations telling the same story or it might sound phony and insincere. So each rep needs to develop their own 60 to 90 second response and not give a 15 minute speech. We suggest you include an example or two of how your station’s digital products solved a problem for other business owners. The more we can tell stories, and particularly success stories, the better off we will be. People want to hear examples of how digital actually works and they want to be part of the success of digital. But you have to know your digital capabilities and you need to know how to convey that to a prospect so it solves their problems and not yours.
How should radio sales reps deal with Google AD words and the other Search offerings that are being offered to our clients? I tell clients that if it’s working for them then they should keep doing it. But if it’s not working for them, then perhaps we might be able to help them reach our local audience. But even if it is working for them we have a huge number of local website visitors that they might like to reach and further increase their customer base. Remember, “search” is like the old yellow pages. My toilet is overflowing and I need a plumber so I type “plumbers in (city)” into a search engine because I have an immediate need. Search is a powerful marketing tool and is great when used effectively, but it is not all of the marketing a business should be doing. It is just one component of the marketing that a business needs to do. The same applies to all the other social media tools that are out there and being offered up as a way to connect to consumers. It is a marketing tool but the business needs to know which ones are the right ones for their business and how to use them effectively. As a sales rep you need to know what each of these products are good at doing, and what they are not good at doing. Remember, your job is to uncover the prospect’s problems and then offer solutions that work. Sometimes they may include recommending using some of these tools, such as advertising on Facebook. You will become trusted and valued in the mind of your prospect because you are thinking about their needs verses thinking about your needs.
How should a station measure success with a digital campaign? Look to create a dashboard of what measurables will be used to judge the success of the campaign. All too often a customer will look at one metric. They might focus on click through rates. But they should also look at conversion rates, impressions and then should look to see if they had more store traffic, if sales went up and they should look at what the digital campaign was focused on. Looking at just one area is like looking only at the time of possession in an NFL game. That is only one aspect of the game. Looking at a variety of metrics will better determine if the station delivered on the agreed upon expectations.
How should sales reps deal with creative for digital? Frankly, they are the same in a lot of respects. Asking some basic questions of the client will help regardless of where the creative is running. For example, after a potential customer sees or hears your message, what is it that you want them to think? What do you want them to feel? What is it that you want them to do? Also take a look at their website and see what the user experience is like. Is it easy to navigate, how does it look on a computer, on a tablet and on a mobile phone? Is the content fresh and relevant and is it being updated frequently? There is no point in building a great digital ad to drive lots of potential customers to the client’s website if the client’s website is hard to navigate, is not up to date and it is not easy for them to communicate with the retailer. If, for example, it’s a Lasik clinic, can I schedule my appointment right on the website? Do they have live chat on the site and will someone respond quickly to questions? You need to know all this so you can help the client and to ensure the campaign will be successful.
How do you set the client’s expectations when selling digital? It is the same way as you do it for traditional advertising. The problem is that most sales reps currently do not have the expectations conservations at any time during the sales process. You need to find out from the client what type of sales they are looking to see as a result of this campaign. How many people are they looking to come into the store? You need to establish actionable and reasonable expectations. Ask, “What two or three things would you like to see happen as a result of this campaign?” Repeat this back to the client and state that if the following two or three things happen you would be happy and you would want to repeat this campaign next month or for the next 12 months. Not every client will be the same, but it is much better to have this conservation prior to presenting the proposal than afterwards, because then you are looking like you are trying to cover up for yourself or the radio station.
Conclusion: If you are in radio sales I encourage you to sign up for this half day of powerful learning. The cost is just $99 if the station you work for is a member of the OAB and $129 if it is not. The price includes lunch and the keynote speaker. This will be a practical hands-on-training for Sales people focusing on selling traditional broadcast as well as digital. You will learn how it works, how to sell it and just as importantly how to sell against it, when required. Sales reps will leave the seminar with actionable ideas they can immediately start using in the field. This is a great investment for any radio station and any sales rep. If you are not in sales, but know someone who is please help them by forwarding this article to them. More information about the OAB and the OAB annual one day conference can be found at http://www.oab.ca/
This is the question posed by the CRTC as they seek input from viewers, consumers and content creators. They call it Let’s Talk TV: A conversation with Canadians. The official release says:
The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) needs your input to shape the future of your television system. Canadian television must deliver compelling and diverse programming in an age of digital technology marked by an abundance of channels and on-demand content available on many platforms (cable, satellite, the Internet, mobile devices). Your input is vital to helping us shape your television system into one that meets the needs of Canadians as consumers, creators and citizens and that is adaptable for years to come.
They are tying to make it as easy as possible for the public to share their views and have even created a YouTube video.
Read more about the process and find out how you can be involved here
That was the big message after Day One (23 October) of the Radio Ink/Jacobs Media DASH conference in Detroit Wednesday as auto manufacturers, content providers and radio CEO’s discussed the importance of focusing on content and simplifying connectivity. While the smartphone is that key connection between the consumer and the automobile, having to spend time connecting the device still seems to give radio a slight advantage at the moment. Consumers, especially the younger generation, have no patience. They want things now and if that means having to go through several steps to connect to TuneIn, iHeartRadio or Slacker, they move on. With radio, consumers understand they hit a button and their favorite local station comes out of the speakers. Just listen to the challenges Pandora is having with the connection issue.
Read the rest of the story and what the experts say radio needs to be doing here thanks to Radio Ink
The Harper Government leaked over the weekend some of the items they plan to detail in the Throne speech that will be delivered from 4 p.m. on Wednesday (October 16th). One of the most talked about items today both on social and traditional media is a plan to force cable and satellite TV providers to offer consumers “pick-and-pay” services.
But this needs to be seen for what it is, the beginning of a long election campaign which will end when Canadians go to the polls on Monday, October 19, 2015, providing the current minority government last the full term. Without wanting to sound like a cynic, these throne speeches tend to be short on detail and lack a time frame for implementation. Don’t be surprised if it is 12 to 24 months before you see any changes to your monthly cable bill. It may also be an opportunity for the Tories to change the story and draw attention away from Senate scandals and toward more consumer-friendly pocketbook issues.
If this “pick and pay” model ever comes into being it could see consumers paying for only the cable channels they want and not be forced to purchase a bundle as currently happens with most cable companies. Industry Minister Moore said “We don’t think people should be forced to buy bundled television channels when they’re not interested in watching those channels and those shows. We should have a pick-and-pay model when it comes to television channels.”
But don’t be surprised if consumers end up paying about the same as they currently do, which is about $75 a month for cable. You may have the luxury of deciding which channel you want, but there will be a price per channel of anywhere from $4 to $6 a channel per month. So using the high end of this pricing model would end up choosing 12 channels and still paying the same about per month.
Back in 2011 the C.R.T.C encouraged cable and satellite companies to adopt this “pick-and-pay” pricing model when it unveiled new regulations aimed at preventing television broadcasters from restricting consumer choice. Companies such as Rogers experimented with an à la carte pricing model in the winter of 2011-2012, offering consumers in London, Ontario a “skinny basic” package for about $20 a month. They charged an additional $26 or more to customers who wanted to pick 15, 20 or 30 extra channels. Companies such as Videotron in Quebec are moving in the pick-and-pay direction, largely because consumers are shying away from traditional TV and are instead watching over the Internet.
If you have flicked through the channels recently you will notice a lot of channels running the same content either at the same time or a few hours later depending on which province the channel originates from. The argument for the current model is the revenue derived from bundling some good channels with others that are unpopular allows those fringe channels to stay in business. But in a free market those channels should succeed or fail on their ability to attract both an audience and advertising revenue. If there were fewer of these fringe channels perhaps that revenue would be spread across other media and radio could benefit.
Recently, our cable, internet, home phone contract came up for renewal, so we went shopping and talked to the two companies that offer services in our area. Having done some research on-line our preference was for the company that televised a number of the high school football games in the area because one of my sons plays on his high school football team (go Patriots!). However, it was clear the sales person at this cable company had very little room to move and the price was the price even bundling phone, internet and cable together. So it was off to the other company who were more eager to do business. I can report that we struck upon a very knowledgeable sales rep who saved us money and coached us on how to save even more money via the “retention specialist” we phoned while in the store. In the end we dropped the home phone and got an upgraded fiber service for cable and internet for less money than we had paid previously. I only tell you this because at the time it struck me as odd as to why they would do a deal that only ties me to them for 12 months. Perhaps they knew this throne speech was coming!
The challenge for the telco’s is that more and more consumers are saying goodbye to the land line, saving between $30 to $48 a month. Many are also saying goodbye to cable service altogether. We have friends who 12 months ago cancelled their cable service and get everything they need from Netflicks or the internet. They pay $7.95 for Netflicks and pay about $40 a month for lots of internet bandwidth. We have other friends who use Apple TV and others who have installed an HD external antenna to pick up a number of the “free to air” digital channels. So with a little effort and research the average consume has options to get all the content they want without shelling out more than $30 a month.
What will be interesting when all the details finally come out of this “more consumer choice” election promise is if the cable channels will still be required to carry CBC as part of a mandatory basic package, or will it be a true pick what you want service. In short, don’t hold your breath, and don’t be surprised if your cable bill is still about the same long after the next election.
By the way, both Canada and the USA pay some of the highest fees for cable, internet and cell phone service in the world. In many cases we actually pay much more for inferior service compared to their global counterparts.
In his book, The Fine Print: How Big Companies Use ‘Plain English’ to Rob You Blind, Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter David Cay Johnston makes the following points:
Two other things to look for in this speech on Wednesday is a cap on domestic cellphone roaming fees, which should come as no surprise given the Conservatives have made it clear they want to see more competition in this space. “We think roaming fees have been a long standing concern for not only consumers but for competition within the telecom sector,” Industry Minister James Moore said in an interview with The Canadian Press.
Also look for some information about a plan to ensure air travelers are somehow compensated when they are inconvenienced by airline overbooking.
I predict the Government will take a leaf out of radio’s book tomorrow and this speech will do a good job of “teasing” and building TSL (time spent listening). Don’t be disappointed it it is many months before we know the exact details.
Radio Executives have been preaching the benefits of radio for years trying to increase their share of the advertising pie. Radio reaches 90%+ of most Canadians in any given week, and about the same number in the USA according to Arbitron.
Radio is considered the go to medium for timely news and local content especially when disasters strikes, radio is attracting only about 15% of the advertising pie.
But recently one of the Advertising agency heavy hitters is telling the industry that radio is a great medium to reach consumers with because of its power, intimacy, and relationship it has with consumers. Benjamin Palmer is one of the most respected voices in the world of interactive and digital, so when he talks people then to listen. He is CEO of the Barbarian Group and agency that looks after the likes of Pepsi, GE, Samsung, and Bloomberg. read what he has to say about radio in an op-ed piece in Advertising Age here.