
(By Paige Nienaber) On game days, the Minneapolis newspaper will do a matchup comparison between the Vikings and whoever they’re playing that week in Passing, Running, Defense, Special Teams, etc. to see who will own elements of the game.
Generally, you can’t win if the only thing you’re better at is punting.
In broadcasting, it kind of behooves us to be able to call audibles. If a QB went out on the field with every play he is going to run, he’d end up being fed through a tube and wearing one of those halos that’s bolted into your head.
It’s always good to know where you can take plays from, too. That’s why I came up with The Promotional Positions and when I launch a station I ask the team to do a comparison, ie: what can we steal right out of the gate and what can we move over to our side? Also, what does the competition own hands down so it would be futile and a waste of time to even try to battle them on it?
Shameless Plug #327: The Encyclopedia Of Radio Promotions literally has one thousand sellable ideas and can be purchased here.
So here are the positions. Now, some of these may have no relevance to you or any other station in the market, like, “Paige, no one has done a car giveaway here since 1997.” Cool. I get it. Every market is unique.
The most important thing? Be honest with yourself.
Lay it out: Us vs. Them
- CASH
- GROUP CONTESTS (being creative with them
- TRIPS
- CARS
- MOVIES
- MORNING SHOWS (What you do with yours)
- CLUBS
- CHARITY
- HIGHSCHOOLS
- COLLEGES
- CONCERTS (owning shows that come through)
- CONCERTS (presenting/producing)
- STREETS
- STICKERS
- REMOTES
- DIGITAL
- SOCIAL MEDIA
- AT-WORK
- WEEKENDS
And now on with the Dumpage.
Dots
There I said it. If you don’t love Dots, you are clearly an elitist vegan glitterati communist. Jack in Edmonton is doing a candy bracket to support my opinion.
Second-Chance Prom
These have always been great NTR opportunities. The first that I saw was at the Oldies station in Honolulu where the airstaff dressed as chaperones. The punch was spiked. They had an old “woodie” station wagon in the building for backseat photo ops.
And then it just kind of lost its vibe as an event and became a club night.
Energy-FM in Myrtle Beach has brought it back the way it was meant to be.
Ignite Hope
I’m jaded. “Old” is inferred. So it’s really fun to occasionally see something that makes me say, “Holy blurg, that is COOL.”
Ignite Hope is something that Desert Valley Media is involved with, with Phoenix Children’s Hospital.
It’s an annual Christmas event with Santa and all of the activities you’d associate with it. And then, as the sunsets, with lit candles everyone walks a short distance to the hospital and carols to the patients from outside.
How cool is that?
A Disney Trip
These are great GREAT prizes. So it would be sad to waste them with some lame digital entry.
Hot in Knoxville froze a Mickey in a block of ice and webcammed it. The contest was to guess how long it took for him/her/it to melt out and fall to the ground. According to Joey Tack, the Disney rep thought it was the most creative contest she’d seen and the next time there was a Request For Promotions in her region, she shared it as an example.
The Top 40 in the Twin Cities did a board game tourney at one of the malls. 100 families competing against each other in an elimination tourney of kids’ board games. The easy kind with dice or spinny wheels. No skills. The winning family got the trip. The rep was ECSTATIC.
Turkeys
With all of the Hallmark Holidays, it’s good to dissect them and look for what we can “play with.” Christmas? Holy crap. Toys, travel, snow, elves, shopping, Santa, sleighs, trees, sweaters, ornaments.
In the States in a month, it will be Thanksgiving and your #1 source of comedic and non-comedic pleasure is turkeys. Let’s look at these, shall we?
- Free Turkeys – You can totally overthink prizing. A free turkey the week before Thanksgiving is a great great prize. This is why Power 96 in Miami has regularly gone out with a freezer truck and handed out thousands of them, causing all sorts of traffic trouble. Mix in San Antonio? Just got a client request to help give away a bunch.
- Turkey Shoots – We’re obviously in a mature medium so it’s been fun to see a few stations take one of the talent, dress them up as a turkey, and let them loose on a driving range while listeners with paintball guns peg away. Hit the poor bastard and win a bird.
- Yes, Turkeys CAN Fly – As done by stations in Atlanta and Houston where they hung little paper accordion-style turkey centerpieces under bouquets of balloons and released them upwind of the market filling the sky with flying turkeys. Retrieve one and bring it in for a free frozen foul.
- Hold Hostage – Free Willy. Best food drive ever. Take a turkey, sentence him to death, and execute him live on the air the night before Thanksgiving if you don’t hit your goal.
- Turkey Drops – As done by Power 106 in LA when they dropped a hundred paper turkeys on a crowd of qualifiers from a helicopter.
- Turkey Races – Done by KLUC in Las Vegas with interns blowing a pile of numbered paper turkeys down, around, and back in the halls of the radio station. The first to cross a line in front of the conference room won a $40 turkey.
- Deep Fry One In The Station Vehicle – One of Tommy Chuck’s greatest ideas. Ask him about it.
- Turkey Bingo – As done by KOB-FM in Albuquerque. They gave out numbered grids, let loose a turkey and if he plopped in your square, you won a turkey.
- Turducken – Create your own culinary masterpiece.
- Turkey Punch – An annual feature by Billy The Kid at Kiss in Dallas. Listeners call in with their gripes about Thanksgiving plans and travel and Billy would let them metaphorically punch one for stress relief. Great SFX. This is one of those bits that people anticipate.
- Turkey Bowling – And finally, 94.9 in Cincinnati gets TV coverage every freaking year when they invite listeners out to bowl frozen turkeys.
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.