Promotions is full of highs and lows. The “lows” I refer to as Mary Richards Parties because whenever she had a party, it ended up being a disaster. Our MRPs suck in the moment, but hopefully later you can laugh about it. Like my Exposé show for 14 people.
Some are the client’s fault. Some are just a freakish alignment of the planets, and some are just “I told ya so” moments. I had a contest with Wendy’s that I told the Sales Manager no one would enter, but she insisted that “this is the way they want it done.” So we did it, no one entered, and then the client went Neanderthal on us for not having any listeners. We were the #1 FM in the market.
So… It was the 4th Of July 1993, and I was at the six-month-old Wild 107 in San Francisco. I was a one-person Promotion Department, so I knew it was going to be a long holiday weekend of parades, events, and generally going out and crashing festivals. I’d finagled, through a charity, a ten-by-twenty footprint next to their setup at the fireworks at the Marina.
There were going to be about 600,000 people milling around throughout the day, so this was killer (and free) visibility for the station. And then I was informed that I’d need to pull out at noon, AND drive an hour to Concord for a three-hour car dealer remote.
I explained that no one buys cars on the 4th and that the audience would be out enjoying the holiday with their families. I was told I was wrong. I asked if the salesperson was going to be there and was informed that he’d be out enjoying the holiday with his family.
So, no one showed up. Not one. And of course they crapped on us for doing a bad job of promoting their event.
I got back to the Marina five plus hours after leaving. My contact from the charity asked where I’d gone to. I explained, and she said, “No one buys cars on the 4th of July.”
Ya think?
And now on to some 4th of July Dumpage. There should be a couple of things in here that you can use no matter what your budget/body situation is.
The Best, Simplest, Low-Costest, Sponsorable 4th Promotion From 2015
Hot 99.5 in DC sent interns and promo staff to hold spots for winners at the Capital fireworks. If I can avoid sitting in the sun, battling skeeters and sweating in a porta potty, that is one heckuva prize.
“Petriotism” People love to trick out their dogs. Cool. Post and share. Jammin’ in New London is one of the stations that has done Chihuahua Races for Cinco de Mayo. What if you had decorated dogs do a dash?
“An All Day Street Blitz” Don’t forget that the 4th of July is an all-day holiday, and is not just fireworks at night. This is a major “family” holiday, and there will be loads of people outdoors enjoying the day off.
Target where these people are going to be and make sure that you have presence there. Beaches, parks, theme parks, and sporting events are a few of the obvious places to be. There will also be many community celebrations and parades during the day. Try to hit as many of these as humanly possible. A good idea would be to put someone on the project of researching where and when these will be happening. Put your staff on notice that they’re going to be working. You’ll want every warm body available on the streets.
Arrange a schedule of call-ins and postings from as many of these festivals as you can. If every 30 minutes or so, all day, there’s a check-in from a different fair or celebration, that’ll give your station a real omnipresent sound: you’ll sound like you own the Fourth of July, and are out at every community joining in the fun. Keep this mindset for the evening; even though you want to be at the BIGGEST fireworks in town, you should have people checking in from various fireworks displays around the area, which leads me to…
“Cracked Out Countdown” Every station is going to be doing something with their music. Wired in Philly did the Cracked Out Countdown. Song #17 into Song #30 into Song #2.
“GOOD Morning Ev’rebuddy” Dave Ryan at KDWB found fun ways to torture Rob Morris when he was Program Director. One 4th of July, they awakened Rob and Mrs. Rob with a 6:30a fireworks display on the front lawn of their suburban home.
“Pets & Fireworks” A lot of animal shelters invite volunteers in to read to the pets who annually get freaked out by all the bangs and booms.
“Rockstars & Stripes” One of the stations did Foo Fighters tickets and six packs of Red Stripe beer for July 4th weekend.
“July Fools” B-95 in Fresno once did their 4th of July live from Millerton. The community parade and fireworks were all live on the station. The problem? Millerton didn’t exist. It did…until they damned a river and it was now below a reservoir.
“(Insert Food Item) Eating Contest” If you are serious about a morning show bit that will get you some TV time, this is the weekend to do an eating contest. Ice cream. Hot dogs. Cotton candy. It doesn’t matter. TV crews eat it up. (Sorry.)
“What Are You Doing On The 4th?” As amazing as autoposts about Cardi B’s new earrings are, it would be nice to actually reflect what’s happening in your market, on that day, in that moment. For June 20th, the First Day of Summer, 97 Rock asked people to snap and share what they are doing and ten people got concert tickets for Darien Lake. So do it for the 4th.
Why?
- Why not?
- Because we can.
- Because anything is better on a summer holiday than “Arby’s is making a meat carrot.”
“Windependance Day” A possible moniker in case you happen to have a ton of tickets for contesting.
“3, 2…1!” What about giving away the chance to push the button that starts the fireworks? That would be cool! Remember, the best prize is a prize that money can’t buy.
“O.P.P.” One of the stations did O.P.P. (Outdoor Pool Party) Check-Ins for the 4th weekend. You don’t need a street team. You take calls and let the listeners paint the picture of a holiday weekend. Geez. It IS rocket science.
“F.M.L.” Fireworks, music, liquor. That pretty much sums up the 4th.
“Superiority In Sound” Rent/trade as many sound systems as you can get your hands on and set one up at every major fireworks display in the market; playing the music loud as soon as the sun goes down. On the air, encourage your listeners to bring their radios to whatever fireworks they go to because they’ll all be synched to the music that your station is playing. Most of the fireworks will be going off within a few minutes of each other, so clear the spots and program some upbeat and thematic music for the evening.
“Ramboing The Fireworks” If there’s a major fireworks show at a stadium or other “structured seating” venue, treat it like the biggest concert you’ve ever done and pull out all your “concert-stealing” tricks.
Banner every fence, wall, and building on all of the roads leading to the show. Don’t forget that there will be a major traffic jam afterwards, so program some music for the people driving home (maybe do a spoof instant replay for those who missed it and play 30 seconds of explosions), and on site, be sure to work the lines of cars. When Mickey Johnson was at Hot 101.5 in Jacksonville, I was there for the fourth, and we completely stole the show from the competition, who were sponsoring a huge stadium fireworks display.
We parked the van at an intersection that every one of the 10,000+ cars would have to drive by. We handed out thousands of stickers and personally thanked everybody for coming to our show. It was huge.
“A Floating Fireworks Party” Is there a large body of water adjacent to your market’s “big” show? If there is, then that’s a great place to watch the fireworks. Rent a yacht and invite a hundred or so of your listeners out for “the best seat in the house”. Make it a classy evening and have dinner and dancing on board. ‘PGC got a 600-person party boat to host a viewing party on the water near the mall in Washington. WIOG in Saginaw did this up in Bay City. What a seriously cool prize.
Another kind of “floating” would be in the air, which is what KSFM in Sacramento did when they lofted a couple of pairs of winners on the Sony blimp for an airborne viewing site of the Cal Expo fireworks. They even had dinner in their skybox.
“It’s All Fun Until Someone Puts Their Eye Out” They played badminton with fireworks on the morning show at KDWB in 2005. There’s something in my inner-8-year-old that loves it. Magic in Colorado Springs actually shot bottle rockets across the atrium at the Rock station’s studio.
“Weekends” I hate to be repetitive, but sometimes it’s worth it: this is a real great opportunity to haul out the Wheel of Meat because this is a very popular day to barbecue.
KUBE in Seattle did a Red, White, and Boom Weekend. The “red” was a case of Coke, the “white” was a KUBE t-shirt for wearing to the fireworks, and the “boom” was a six-pack of CDs. All the winners of this package qualified for a car stereo system. Got cash for giveaways? Then this would be a Red, White, and Green Weekend.
Don’t be boring with your methodologies. Incorporate the sound of shells exploding or fuses sizzling into your contesting. This also might be a chance to do Beat The Bomb. One station did an Old School weekend and called it Blasts From The Past. Z-90 in San Diego did a Bikini Jam Weekend and gave out swimsuits to their female listeners. And it was huge. Or do a Boom-tique and giveaway Fouth Of July clothing: a station tanktop, sunglasses, flipflops, a swimsuit and a tourniquet for when you blow your hand off playing with fireworks.
KOB-FM in Albuquerque did Red, White & Blond and had tickets to see Christina Aguilera.
“Fireworks Database” Get a client to sponsor a fireworks section of your website that would have info on all of the fireworks displays in your listening area, plus community festivals, parades, and celebrations. This is all information that your station should have anyway, to help you plan out your street attack for that day. This would be a nice resource for you to provide listeners, and maybe you can do it in conjunction with a TV station or newspaper for some added publicity.
“A Declaration Of Jamdependence” Do a “Declaration of Jamdependence” that you can run in promo form the week of the fourth. Make it a Mission Statement for everything that your station believes in, ie, the most cash giveaways, concert tickets, non-stop music, etc.
“Backyard Barbecuing” 102 Jamz gave away an at-home barbecue for a winner and 20 friends once.. The station showed up at the winner’s place, brought all the food, and did all the work. Or take it to the streets and have a Grill Patrol out cruising people’s cookouts and picnics at their homes, stopping by to drop off some chips, charcoal, condiments, and other necessities. Maybe call it the 21 Bun Salute. A bunch of the stations just had home runs with this for Memorial Day.
“Picnic Packs” Speaking of picnics, Picnic Packs would be great prizes that week. Hook up with KFC, Popeyes, or Churches and get some buckets of chicken. Any deli-style restaurant should be able to help you with this, too.
“Reunions” In some parts of the country, this is a big weekend to do family reunions. Either go and visit some with food and prizes, or host your own reunion. Like a 102 Jamz Family Reunion for all of their family (listeners). Have music, free food, games like sack races… you get the idea. Or have one of your longest and most established announcers have a reunion.
“Cool Prizes” It’s usually scorching hot on the 4th, so you might want to concentrate your weekend theme and giveaways on the weather. Q-102 in Philly once did a Cool Down Weekend and gave away styrofoam coolers stuffed with prizes like a tray of ice, a packet of Kool Aid, tickets to see a movie in a nice air-conditioned theater, passes to a waterpark, a CD from Coolio, and one of those little hand-held battery-powered fans. Everyone qualified to have the station pay off their electric bill. Live in SFO did “Chill ‘N Grill” for Memorial Day. Meat for the grill and tickets to chill at BFD.
“Indepen Dance” Instead of just ending your Fourth of July when the fireworks are over, host a post-fireworks blowout at a club. Do some topical club contests and drink specials to tie in with the holiday.
“Red, White and Spew” Theme parks pack ‘em in on the Fourth, and this is a fun name for a coaster marathon. These things are invariably massive home runs.
“Red, Lite and Blue” This was Extreme/Las Vegas’ promotion for 2002. Winners got Red Hot Chili Pepper tickets, Lite beer, and lap dances.
“Red, White & Brew” Most music features and countdowns for this holiday are pre-packaged, syndicated lameness. Where will people be listening to you? Hopefully? At backyard gatherings where there will be copious amounts of malted beverages. What if your countdown was the top songs to drink beer and barbecue to?
“Sticker Stop” Wild in Tampa did this in ‘17. They took over a massive parking lot adjacent to the fireworks at Raymond James and stickered everyone who pulled in for the best viewing spot near the stadium.
“Uncle Jam” Encourage people to bring radios to whatever fireworks they go to, and blast your station. Their incentive? Special undercover Uncle Jams will be on the prowl looking for people tuned to the station at fireworks, parks, beaches, and festivals, and will be passing out cash to people they catch listening.
“House Parties” This was a form of the Grill Patrol that one of the stations did in 2019 when they hosted a dozen backyard barbecues over the holiday weekend, and they supplied the grills, charcoal, and all the food.
“World’s Largest…” This is usually a good starting point for planning a promotion; what’s the biggest thing we can do with, say, Valentine’s Day? KUBE in Seattle did the World’s Largest Blind Date. For the 4th, how about The World’s Largest Ice Cream Sundae? This fits into the fourth vibe. What else can be large?
“Club Promotions” With everyone taking work off and relaxing the weekend of the Fourth, you can be guaranteed that the clubs will be packed. WPGC had four gigs and gave out passes to all of them in something that they called Firecracker Four Packs.
“Invasion Of The Party Crashers” This has been done by Wild in SFO for New Year’s Eve, and Tampa did it for the 4th. Basically, people emailed the station and let them know where they were going to be celebrating the holiday weekend. The station hit pool parties and barbecues, dropping off food and drinks. WPGC did this but had a cool hook: instead of just showing up with X number of hotdogs and X number of buns, they took orders from the winners and acted as Personal Shoppers for them, buying what they requested.
“Festivals” Obviously, there are a lot of fairs and festivals this holiday weekend. In Orlando, 102 Jamz nailed down a mammoth festival in Kissimmee the previous January. The station was out there for “Unlimited Ride Night” and then came back the next evening for the fireworks. They worked out a deal to have the airstaff record the PA announcements that ran on the speakers throughout the event, ie, “If your child is lost, please go to the Events Tent,” etc. You’ve got all these recognizable voices, you may as well use them.
“High Up Viewing Parties” Taking a page from the KSFM blimp promotion, where is there an above-it-all viewing platform in your market? A revolving rooftop restaurant would be one place. In Austin, The Beat did a rooftop party at a club down on 6th Street: party central in that market. The airstaff dressed up thematically (Uncle Sam, the Statue of Liberty) and they had hotdogs, “samburgers” and “explosive-ritas” for $1.04. Seriously? Anything you do to get the listeners off the grass, out of the crowds, and with access to a flushing toilet would be big.
“Pooling Your Resources” If you have access to a big pool, you’re halfway to a great event. Jammin’ 102.5 in Sacramento did a Secretarial Pool Party at the Red Lion for Secretaries Day. Power 102 in El Paso had a Beat The Heat vibe and took over the pool at the Hilton for an all-day blowout with the listeners. I once rambo’ed another station’s 4th event at the Sheraton in Phoenix, and they had really packed ’em in. They had a reggae band, a barbecue, water volleyball, and lots of frosty drinks.
“Speed Trap Weekend” This is, like Memorial Day, a big weekend to travel by car. 98PXY opened up the phones and people tipped the audience to where the cops were lurking. In much the same vein, gas prices will still be a huge hot button, so have gas to giveaway every hour. Maybe declare “Independence From High Gas Prices”.
“Red, White & Blue Moments” KOOL in Denver did patriotic vignettes and salutes to the troops. Got some very, very nice e-mails from local soldiers who were listening online over in Iraq.
“Googlizing” How could you Google-ize the website for the 4th? Maybe photo-shopping the jocks photos so they all had bloodied, bandaged hands. Or at least have them all holding sparklers. Or having rockets crisscross the screen, exploding, with the appropriate bang SFX and “oohs” and “ahhhs” from the crowd. And Charlie/Jude from Y-101 in Jackson suggested doing your logo at night in sparklers, getting on video, and making it the de facto start page on the 4th.
“Red, White & Free” One of the stations did a Red, White & Free Weekend. They happened to be sitting on tickets to five different concerts. The winner picked one of three envelopes (red, white, and blue), and they won whatever ticket was inside. The promo was done by a redneck fireworks stand operator
“Cracker Packing” Fireworks are illegal in many of your states. Like in Minnesota, where all we can get are the cheap kind that don’t have any oomph. So we drive across the river to Wisconsin and pour millions into that state’s coffers. The highway patrol sets up at the bridges and pulls cars over randomly, confiscating their swag. What if you did a “Cracker Packing Weekend” and “the GM is having a big party for all his friends at the country club, and has sent the intern staff across the state line to get rockets and firecrackers for the bash”? The contest would be the highway patrol pulling over the van every hour and taking the fireworks. They also shake down the interns for free tickets. You win whatever tickets the intern has “crotcheted” in their pants.
“Celebrating Famous Fourths” One of the PDs suggests doing a countdown of the greatest #4 ranked songs on the 4th. THAT is a new one. Finally: Jane Child will get some love.
“Bikini Wax Weekend” Wild in Oklahoma City once combined mixing and bikinis for a Bikini Wax Weekend to start the summer. Listen for the “rip” and a scream to call and score a swimsuit from a very very nice, upscale women’s sportswear place. They got them…for mentions.
“Getting In The Last Word” Don’t forget that it’s never a waste of banners to go and hit the overpasses that lead out of town on Friday afternoon.
“Red, White & Boo” Sometimes the best promotions are mix-and-matched with other holidays’ “cliché bits”. Christmas Wish became Valentine’s Wish at Power in Miami. What if you did your Wednesday the 3rd broadcast from a haunted local location? Why? Why not? These broadcasts are always huge.
