Great radio has always been grounded in topicality, especially “celebrity stupidity.” Morning shows would have been devoid of content in the early-mid 2000’s without Britney, Paris, and Lindsey.
The Coldplay Kiss Cam thing went kablooey last Thursday based on what you saw during a quick troll of social media. It was heartening to see some morning shows have something, anything, up by the next morning.
And now, on with the Dumpage.
I once did a session at Conclave that was well-received: how to take something like a cooler of ice or a pair of tickets and maximize what you can get out of it. In that spirit, today is the first of a four-part series called 100 No/Low Budget Promotional Ideas.
I’ll do 25 a week through for the next several weeks. Questions? Hit me up.
- Fakebook – As done by KOB-FM for No Doubt meet-and-greets, they created a fake Facebook person. Go and friend everyone in Albuquerque and ask them if they’re the KOB-FM Fakebook person. 700 people stumbled on her.
- Last Comment – Not doable with a couple of companies, but you post a photo of a prize and the last person to comment on it before your secret-and-pre-determined window closes, wins. I think TSM in a market in Montana got 19,000 comments for a $13 haircut.
- Dysfunctional Family Four Packs – Win three tickets and leave one kid in the car.
- Field Trips – Once a month, take an entire workplace to a ballgame or a candy factory or a brewery or a boat ride.
- Road Crew Popsicle Drops – On exceptionally hot days, bring frozen treats or cold water/soda to people who have outdoor jobs like landscaping or construction.
- Pool Crashing – Get some snacks or cold beverages and spend a Saturday crashing pool parties. We’re doing this for the breaks.
- Meme It Mondays – Have the morning show take a photo from wherever they’re out over the weekend, post it, and have people create memes of it to post back to your social media. Best wins.
- Mug Shots – Have people post photos of their coffee mug at work. Pick one a week for free coffee.
- Mad Libs – Done as Trace Libs for Trace Adkins tickets. Stick adjectives and verbs and other words into a “not yet posted” sentence. Randomly pick one for tickets.
- The Incredible Box Of Potential Awesomeness – A Terry O’Donnell idea for adding something to remotes. Stick something in the box. Everyone who goes to the appearance signs up, and one person gets picked to win what’s inside. It could be tickets. It could be an empty toilet paper tube.
- The Secret – A Paul Kaye idea from his time at Red Dragon in Wales. The station has a secret. Know it and win. Done by Star in Pittsburgh for Britney tickets, the night guy texted me the first night and said people were lined up to play. Ask and I’ll send you audio.
- Summer Holiday Weekend Rest Area Take Over – Find a rest area on that highway that everyone uses to flee town on the weekends, set up, and fill people’s coolers with ice. Done by Q-102 in Philly at a stop that was halfway to the Jersey Shore.
- Will It Melt – Steal something from a cubicle at work, stick it outside on a scorchingly hot day, and have the audience guess if it will melt.
- Snow Drift Melt Pool – Done by John Hines with ‘CCO in the Twin Cities. He took a photo of the giant pile of snow at the end of his driveway, and people had to guess when it would be gone.
- Live I – Done by Q in Memphis for Bieber tickets. Find a promo person who is walking around town, based on a live feed from a phone in the mesh of his backpack.
- Green Means Go – Stick a stoplight on the site. When it turns green, that’s the cue to call.
- Bus’d – Draw a 150-mile circle around the market and ID everything within the radius that you can send bus loads of winners to. Skiing. Innertubing. Concerts. Whitewater rafting. Whatever
- High School Press Conference – When you have an artist that you have NO idea what to do with, send invites to all of the local school papers and invite them to a secret location to meet and interview them.
- Dibs On Sibs – Post a photo of a celebrity sibling. ID and win.
- Vending Machine Shakeoff – Assign every item in the station vending machine to a listener. Go and shake it, and the first item to drop wins for its assigned listener. Plus, the winner gets the pork rinds or whatever fell.
- Pocket Change Trivia – End the morning show by awarding all of the change in your pockets to someone who can answer a ball-breaking HARD question.
- Disaster Relief Caravan – Instead of pounding a Red Cross code, the morning after a disaster, set up at Walmart, collect bottled water and drive it to the stricken region. Trucks are surprisingly easy to get through clients.
- Gourdgasms – Have a printable template that listeners can use to carve a station pumpkin. Post your pic and get spotted for haunted house passes.
- Pumpkin Drops – Nothing says “fun” like dropping a huge pumpkin to award a prize.
- Spodcasters – Pick a kid from every high school to recap Friday night football or other sports.
26 – 50 coming next week.
The holidays are closer than you think – and the best Q4 promos aren’t made last-minute. Join Paige and Radio Ink’s Cameron Coats on August 20 at 2p ET for Quarter 4 Your Thoughts, a free, fast-paced webinar packed with sellable holiday campaigns. RSVP here.
