The Scribble with Jeremy Bradley

Having been a broadcaster and public speaker for decades, Jeremy Bradley recalls some of the odd invitations he's received to address audiences as a host and emcee. From the weird food-court meetup, to the "come speak at my house" invite and the granny's club luncheon, JB has had plenty of opportunities to entertain the masses.

It's a mixed bag of stories on the show. Jeremy Bradley talks about the frustration of depositing $1.47 at the bank. How did a simple transaction take upwards of 30 minutes? "This is why people don't go into a bank branch anymore," he said. JB talks about critical changes that impact the customer experience and reinforce his belief that "customer service ain't what it used to be. It's gone, it's dead, businesses don't care." In his frustration, JB had plenty of time to people-watch. "While I was fuming in line, I had time to observe my surroundings." He talks about a shocking moment between a mother and her baby.

Neighboring ain't what it used to be. Jeremy Bradley talks about his desire to have friendly relationships with his neighbors like he did at his parents' house when he was growing up. JB talks about how times have changed, especially in his community, where people/families keep to themselves and don't socially interact. He discusses how, over the 19 years he's lived in his house, only one set of neighbors has made an effort to have a friendly relationship. "When a new family moved in, I'd glance over every once in a while when they were outside and hoped to catch someone's eye to do the nod and go to the fence to say hello," he said. "It never happened. They lived there for almost 10 years and I never knew their names. Not so much as a nod from them -- ever." JB does talk about the trouble he's had with people living next door. Oh, the roaming cat.

It's a common complaint: customer service ain't what it used to be. Jeremy Bradley goes on another rant about how the "customer experience" is anything but positive nowadays. There's the ongoing debate over tipping and why customers are expected to "reward" staff for doing their job -- such as walking back and forth with food and drinks. He also talks about how front-line staff do little to make customers feel welcome. JB recounts one experience at a store: "She handed me my bag with two fingers, holding it out like it was a dirty diaper." It was the oddest employee interaction he'd had in a store. Later, JB talks (and laughs himself to tears) about his recent food craving.

We hear there are so many open jobs but qualified people applying for those roles can't even get an interview. Jeremy Bradley reviews his listeners' job resumes to see what they're doing wrong to not hear back from places looking to hire. One listener has taken creative steps to disguise her age, thinking that might be turning off recruiters from considering her. Then the big question: Are companies relying too heavily on AI screening after posting a job? The irony, JB says, is computers are more in charge of human hiring than humans are. 

It's one thing to get freebies as an "influencer" but that doesn't pay the bills. Jeremy Bradley once again takes on so-called "content creators" and how they see the hobby as a life-long career but don't treat it as a business for long-term success (meaning: money). Later, he calls out celebs who cry about getting little pay from TV residuals for shows they were on 30 years ago. "You were an actor on a TV show. You did the job once and you got paid for it. You didn't write it, you didn't create it, why do you expect to still be getting paid for it?" JB asks. By comparison: "I've been a syndicated columnist for 20 years. I don't expect newspapers to keep paying me every time someone reads something I wrote 15 years ago. I was paid for it then and that was the deal."

Jeremy Bradley, a trained journalist of over 20 years, takes issue with the future of the news business -- and it looks bleak. "I realize the industry has partially done this to itself," he opens. JB talks about the blurring of lines between fact-based journalism and opinion commentary. Just because someone can set up a camera and make a convincing point, doesn't make it factual -- or true. Journalism, for the most part, is outlining who, what, when, where, why and how. "The minute you inject your opinion into the reporting, it taints the story because it's no longer factual. Audiences don't recognize the difference anymore." On the flip side, he says, news personalities want to be social media famous and have cheapened the once-respected craft of journalism. "What do we gain from watching the busty meteorologist put on her makeup and show off her skin-tight dress before today's newscast?"

Many companies have a slogan and a jingle to match. What about an original song? What about over 600 original songs? Jeremy Bradley talks about the creative marketing approach for his coffee company. He outlines how a 24-7 streaming music station has boosted coffee sales. Buff Boy Brewing Co. went from a basic coffee line five years ago, to become a lifestyle and entertainment brand with a content app and a broadcast radio station. "You really have to figure out ways to build on your brand that make sense," said Jeremy Bradley, a radio broadcaster of over 20 years. "We'd already been running an underwear company and we thought coffee would be great because so many guys drink coffee in their undies. From there, we realized people listen to music while drinking coffee in their undies. So, we created a soundtrack of songs -- each about our coffee and tea flavors -- in a variety of genres and programmed a station called Buff Radio at buffradio.com. It costs us nothing in advertising and it's literally 24-7-365 of free marketing. Plus, we make money from music downloads and plays on streaming platforms."

Everywhere you look online, someone is trying to sell you something. While ads seem to be more specifically targeted than ever, a lot of times it's a total miss. Jeremy Bradley has a laugh about the mismatch of ads and how they end up being a waste of money. "I'm not even in Edmonton but I'm getting city council candidate ads for their election," JB said after scrolling his Facebook feed. "That's someone who doesn't understand digital ads and is wasting so much money." Later, JB talks about getting shown ads in Chinese for his phone provider. How effective is social media advertising? Or, is it more beneficial to engage your audience and spend zero on ads? JB confidently shares his experience.

Document, document, document. That's Jeremy Bradley's advice when dealing with companies. Having been a consumer columnist and commentator for decades (look up "Winnipeg Cheapskate" in Winnipeg Free Press and SpeakFreewithJB.com), JB said it's one thing to keep emails or screenshots or correspondence, it's another to record and document everything. "I prefer a phone call with people identifying themselves on the recording. That's stronger evidence than saying, 'I talked to someone last week.' Give them the date, the time, tell them you have the audio of it. You'll often be taken more seriously." JB said he has hours of recorded calls from customer service situations that warranted escalation. "If you become unhinged and scream, you won't get anywhere. If you speak professionally and have your notes together and everything documented and present it cleanly, they'll take you seriously. Usually." JB also talks about one company that wanted him to sign an NDA for a hush-money payment. His response definitely put that company in its place.