(By Paige Nienaber) Launching a radio station. There’s a lost art. Another MIA methodology is asking people to wear your brand or make a banner and bring it to a concert in hopes of getting backstage passes or ticket upgrades.
If there are 15,000 people all gathered for a night of music, why wouldn’t you want to puke your logo all over them?
I will say that K-102 in Minneapolis has trained their audience to do this and at most country concerts in the Twin Cities, when asked, a lot of listeners will trick themselves out for a chance to meet the artist or get better seats.
“But it’s a fancy upscale show. People want to look good and now advertise the station.” I totally get that.
One option is booty patches: you stand at the gates and offer to slap these on people. And then you wander around and spot them.
In the case of KUBE, the stickers were individually numbered for contesting the day after the show. This helps cut down on the number of people leaving them on the walls of the venue as they stream out after the concert. I saw CBS in the Twin Cities use the patches with devastating effectiveness at a Dierks show.
Venues have really cracked down on bringing banners and signs into the show, but they can’t keep you from doing it outside.
At a Billy Idol show in the Twin Cities, I found someone in the mezzanine with a great banner and awarded them with backstage passes. I thought that it would be cool to do it in front of a crowd of people. Which it was. However, another banner-bringer believed that their creation was superior and threatened to knife me.
Good times.
In the case of N-Sync, there were about a thousand banners outside the Target Center and KDWB wisely had the two guys who ran the parking lot booth be the judges… and be the focus of hate and anger.
Again, how often do you have the opportunity to market to thousands and thousands of people?
And now, on with the Dumpage.
Friday Morning
Mother’s Day will be in almost Full Effect (as the kids like to say) by then. A lot of you are in full MD Mode right now. And since most Hallmarks are driven by the morning show, you kinda need something for Friday morning. Visual is always better because visual is one step closer to TV coverage.
- Facebook Googlizing – A couple of years ago the Morning Hot Tub in Ottawa had pop-ups of them reading “50 Shades O Grey”.
- Topics, Round One – From the lovely and talented Kate McGwire. So far this week they’ve planned: Love lessons learned from mom (good or bad), weird fears mom instilled in us, and mom confessions.
- The EPT Ambush – Happening “somewhere” where a guy who is mid-bombscare due to a crazy girlfriend will either be able to sleep better at night or start looking for daycare.
- The Place To Be – One of the TSM stations is going to be out at a garden center on Friday. Why? Because it will be like a grocery store on the day before Thanksgiving.
- Kinda Like “Fathers Day Freak Out” – One of the CHR shows is giving a listener 95 seconds to get their unsuspecting mom on the phone to cry and swear. “Messin’ With Mom.”
- Topics Round Two – From Sherri K: We’ve done: Awkward movies to not watch with mom, brutal gifts mom doesn’t want, momisms, TV moms… all that fun stuff!
- And Dolly Parton – From Fritsch at Q-102 in Cincinnati: “What’s in Jeff iPhone… Mom’s Day Edition.” We gave the caller 3 song options that may be in Jeff’s iPhone, songs that his mother would have yelled at him to “Turn that music down!!!” You pick the correct song and you win. We had some quirky songs. One winner was “Here You Come Again” by Dolly Parton.
- No Test Tube Required – From a Station To Remain Nameless: We are getting a surrogate mother for our new guy. His mom is coming on today to say she’s worried and sad that she can’t be with him. So, we find a mom, let his mom pick her from our finalists and they have a mom’s day out on Sunday (show, dinner, etc.) with audio for Monday.
Moms Who Are Bombs
From WJBR in Wilmington, DE where they reminded you that sometimes parents can be embarrassing.
Trashy Mother’s Day
With many stations doing warm and fuzzy acknowledgements to this upcoming Hallmark Holiday, one way to make the message that stands out would be to do the opposite.
All moms were in high school at one point. And even college. Periods that sometimes brought out the most exciting parts of their personalities. Maybe you have kids post or share their mom’s more trashy moments from that era of their lives with the hope of winning her a $10 gift card to the Dollar Store.
Mother’s Day Imaging
CLEARLY not from my home growing up, but from Cat Thomas and Y-98 in St. Louis:
Y98 SALUTE TO MOMS
- REMEMBER WHEN YOU WERE LITTLE AND EVERY WEEK THE LAUNDRY FAIRY CAME TO MIRACULOUSLY CLEAN YOUR CLOTHES? THAT WAS MOM! HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY FROM TODAY’S BEST MUSIC MIX…Y98!
- (Female voice: SERIOUSLY! PICK UP YOUR ROOM!) AHHHH… MEMORIES! HAPPY MOTHERS DAY FROM TODAY’S BEST MUSIC MIX… Y98!
- WOULD YOU BE WHO YOU ARE TODAY WITHOUT HER? (Female vo: LET ME ANSWER THAT FOR YOU…NO!) SHE’S RIGHT! HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY FROM TODAY’S BEST MUSIC MIX…Y98!
- (Female vo: Ahhh…LOOK AT MY LITTLE BUGGY BOO IN HIS NEW OUTFIT!) EMBARRASSING? SURE! LOVE HER WITH ALL YOUR HEART? ABSOLUTELY! HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY FROM Y98!
- CALL YOUR MOM! SERIOUSLY… PLEASE CALL YOUR MOM! THIS MOTHER’S DAY MESSAGE IS BROUGHT TO YOU BY TODAY’S BEST MUSIC MIX…Y98!
- ALL SHE WANTS IS A HUG, A KISS, AND A “THANKS MOM!” SO GIVE IT TO HER! HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY FROM TODAY’S BEST MUSIC MIX… Y98!
- THIS WEEKEND’S BIG BLOCKBUSTER IS THE FAMILY SUPERHERO! MOM! HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY FROM TODAY’S BEST MUSIC MIX… Y98!
More Sumbrellas
One of the stations is going to do the Selfie Summer theme and have a big backdrop at events for Instagramming hashtagged Selfies. I love this frame that JACK in Buffalo has used for photo taking during the summer.
Another station is going to do “The (Dial Position) Things To Do This Summer” Summer and make it all about the gazillion things that market offers for recreation, with accompanying tickets. Kind of like the Summer of 10,000 Tickets.
The Ticket Tap Out
KDWB was the first station to do The Summer Of 10,000 Tickets which really really sounded huge. What is the 2015 version? The Ticket Tap Out. We have so many tickets that you’ll have to beg us to stop giving them to you. There’s not enough room in your drawer or purse to hold them all.
The What The Hell Question
Dallace Jade at Magic in Colorado Springs has been doing “The What The Hell Question” for years and it’s kind of like “Are You Smarter Than Staci?” at KS95: people set their clock by it. She takes a caller and asks them the kind of question about them or their relationship that would generally elicit a “What the HELL?!” response.
A Buncha Songs
JACK 96.9 took The Double Play to the next level.
When they play “In The Air Tonight” by Phil Collins, call and win $1000. If they play it and follow with Queen’s “We Will Rock You”, call and win $2500. If they play those and follow with EMF’s “Unbelievable”, call and win $50,000.
‘Raduation Parties
“Rad” is a thing right now. Not sure for how long but it is.
In the next couple of weeks, there will be Senior Skip Days in many markets. Unofficial days to just not go to school for the almost-grads. I’ve seen several night talents who have just worked the phones and social media, figured out where schools/classes are going to be skipping to, and just showed up. They didn’t encourage the kids to skip. They just happened to roll past Lake Independence while 400 18-year-olds from Bloomington Jefferson were grilling and water skiing.
There are all-night, supervised parties thrown in quite a few school districts. Again, why WOULDN’T you want to pop in at 3 am and become part of the biggest night of their lives up to that point?
Spread The Word
One of the promotions that Radio used to do back when it was fun was “What Would You Do For (Prize)?” like JACK in Vancouver just did with sending winners to see Aerosmith in Vegas.
When the Wilds in SFO and Tampa launched, we asked people to “Show Us Your Wild”, or, basically create giant garish displays of the moniker.
Jesse and JD at CJAY in Calgary pulled it off as Spread The Word. This… is amazing.
Paige Nienaber insults/consults more than 100 radio stations on Fun ‘N Games (Marketing & Promotions). Find him at CPR Promotions. Read Paige’s Radio Ink archives here.
