(By Paige Nienaber) We’re back, so to speak, and coming out of a weather event that caused a lot of havoc in the mid-south. Winter storms are kind of like Halloween, awards shows and the Super Bowl: they can be major social media moments. So, when everyone is hunkered down in their homes, play to them. Ask questions. Share images.
Here is Jeff Jaxon at 106.5 The Wolf in KC living in the moment last Saturday.
If you haven’t done the frozen T-shirt or “throwing hot water in the air” bits, they can be great content. You can also just stick a beverage on the ledge outside the studio and have people guess how long until it will explode.
In Minnesota, you use your patio furniture as snow gauges. Here is a unique spin on that from Kennedy at Mix in Boston where she used a chiropractor’s kid’s skeleton that she named “Calista”.
So if it’s going to snow and blow and freeze, you may as well have some fun with it. And now on with the Dumpage.
New Year/New Career
People do more than pledge to stop or reduce unhealthy behavior every January. Some people make decisions to take different paths in life. That could be a new field of work or education or even starting a new business.
One of the Alpha clusters has some laptops and are doing it as “New Year/New Career.”
KSON in San Diego has done it as “Employment After Deployment” and gave returning service men/women job training, clothes, gas cards… whatever they would need to segue into a job in civilian life.
Selfie Scavenger Hunts
There are some prizes, like Taylor tickets, where you can really have fun and – here’s the important part – get excited winners and maybe create some talk.
For a past Taylor tour, 103.7 The Q in Birmingham did a Selfie Scavenger Hunt. They posted a long list of things to get your photo taken with a point system based on degrees of difficulty. Nick Saban was 500 points. The person with the highest point score won the tickets.
Similar to the point system in regards to “Live With.” A shot on the evening news was worth 500 points.
Lyricosis
K-Hits 101.5 in Sacramento actually did vehicle wraps with misheard song lyrics. C-103 in Moncton has turned it into a feature.
Mine? “Oh Mickey, it’s a pity you don’t understand, you take me by the heart when you touch my thyroid gland.”
The Best Idea Of 2025 (So Far)
Just as election night audiences hate when the networks make a call before the PST checks in, I’d probably piss off a lot of people if I didn’t wait another 361 days, but, for now…Ashley Gorniak with El Dorado Broadcasters vaults to the front of the pack.
The Super Bowl is February 8, so you’re going to have a lot of promotional room being taken up by Valentines Day. One way to address it and sell it would be a bracket. You could do “Best Wing Place”. That would work. “Best Sports Bar”? That would get you some impassioned votes.
But since a BIG part of the Game is the entertainment, Ashley suggested a bracket of past performers. I’d go with Prince followed by Springsteen and then Gaga.
“Today’s Corporate-Required Video Of A Dog Playing With A Baby”
Jay Kruz at Mix in Cincinnati had a great line in regards to a station’s seemingly unending litany of horrible celebrity news auto-posts: “It’s kids and pets. How difficult is that to understand.”
And he’s right. One of the stations had an eight-day string of auto-posts about celebrities. Over 60 posts. And not a single “like”, comment, or share. Then they posted a photo of a dog in a kiddie pool with a toddler. It got three shares, 18 comments, and 51 likes.
Gee. Ya think?
So what if you created a social media feature called, “Today’s Corporate-Required Video Of A Dog Playing With A Baby.” It seems that the company had retained Coleman Research and after a six month study of algorithms, patterns, and habits, they established that 39% of all social media posts are about dogs playing with babies and “They’re making us do one a day.”
Obviously, it’s social media. It’s not bomb disposal. Have some fun. Take a shot. See what happens. I’m sure that whatever you post will get more engagement than. “The truth is finally out about Shelley Long’s departure from Cheers!”
‘Tis The Season
Lent is in a month and in a lot of markets that’s synonymous with “fish fry.” So a lot of stations have done lists of where and when as a resource for the audience.
Pool/Leisure/Hot Tub Clients
In some cold weather markets, this is NOT a busy time for them and they’re getting plans in place.
One of the mid-Atlantic state stations has a client that sells pools, hot tubs, big grills, and other backyard toys. This is some of the stuff they’re going to throw at them. (In Promotions I always threw a dozen ideas in a pitch because the odds were that one of them wasn’t going to suck.)
- Memorial Day: The Leaky Kon Tiki. Homemade boats made from things like milk cartons. And then a race in a pool using a giant fan for propulsion.
- What if you created a video character who is a Poolfluencer and discusses in weekly/monthly videos everything from barbecuing to floaties.
- Speaking of Floaties. Do that as a social media contest. “In the beginning, there were Selfies…” A pic of you and your fam with inflatable pool toys.
- There’s Yacht Rock. What if you came up with Pool Rock and a playlist for playing at your pool/tub?
Playing To Your Strengths
You should always know what your advantage is over the other stations in town. And then use it. For instance, there are a lot of stations that make great videos but the Hubbard cluster in Minneapolis really stands out. They’re branded promotion has been “Double Your Paycheck” for years and here are a few from the past.
Are You Ready for Double Your Paycheck?
Crisco’s Checks (A 2020 Double Your Paycheck Film)
The Doubling: A Double Your Paycheck Short Film
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.
