Now is the time of the year when advertisers are finalizing their Halloween plans. On Monday, I sent 16 pages of ideas for this Hallmark Holiday out to my clients. If you’d like to dive in and sift through these promotions, it’s very simple. Email me the name of the radio station from the film “FM” to [email protected].
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.
Thus wrappeth uppeth the list of No/Low Budget Ideas.
#76 Shave For The Cure – Any time a DJ sets a fundraising goal and then shaves their head, you will get press.
#77 Vid The Kids – Law enforcement gave up on Kid Printing 30 years ago and stressed that a one-minute video of a child playing and interacting with their parents is the BEST tool when there’s an Amber Alert or other missing kid emergency. At a festival, have a little blanket on the ground, some toys, shoot, and send the parents the file.
#78 Balloons – Are still the cheapest and most effective way to infiltrate a festival.
#79 Charging Stations – The remarkably handy Joey Tack at Scripps in Knoxville built his own, nicely logoed charging station for concerts and events. People need their juice.
#80 Hospital Visits – Dress up the airstaff, give them coloring books and crayons and other prizes, and have them visit kids in hospitals on Halloween.
#81 Party Girl – Find a fun, out-going promo person, and her job is to hit clubs, parties, concerts, and events every night, meeting and posing with people.
#82 Morning Show/TV Affiliate Cross Promotion – Find something like pop culture or celebrity gossip that you can offer for 30 seconds to a local affiliate every morning.
#83 VIPee Passes – Award winners laminates that get them into a clean, non-crowded, fenced-off porta potty at summer events.
#84 Job Switch – Back before Oprah got preachy, about once a season, she’d switch jobs with a viewer. Why not?
#85 Station Team – We’re always looking for an excuse or premise to be out at community events. Having a station hockey team or softball team is an automatic “in”. And sponsorable.
#86 Name Change – You can never go wrong with rebranding for a day in honor of or to call attention to a local kid in crisis.
#87 Freeze It Forward – On a really hot day, go out and hand out popsicles to listeners who promise to pass it on and do something equally cool (see what I just did?) for a person.
#88 Roof Parties – Much like DJ Like A Pirate, Strawberry at Wild in San Francisco would go out on Friday nights and do his show from roof parties. Which is what people in the Bay Area will do on weekends. It was all staged, and it sounded incredibly cool. Everyone wanted to have him broadcast from their roof.
#89 Marquee Signage – Map out all the routes into your concert venue and then go and hit every business with a marquee with freebies in exchange for them putting “Paige 102.7 Welcomes You To David & David!”
#90 Student Athlete Of The Week – Another old school print feature that would be easily sellable as a web promotion.
#91 Marching Band Competition – Done by Summit in Greenville and Kiss in Miami.
#92 Artist Social Media Takeover – Got Danny Woods from New Kids for no apparent reason? Have him take over a listener’s Instagram for an afternoon.
#93 Walk Off The Job – There has never been a sitcom where one of the main characters doesn’t get pissed and leave… and then come back after much angst and gnashing of teeth. Have one of the morning show hosts walk out over a perceived slight.
#94 Tats 4 Tatas – Have the morning guy sell henna tats all over his body for $10 a tat and then walk/run in an October fundraiser for Breast Cancer Awareness.
#95 Official Reporter – Give a concert trip winner access to Instagram and Facebook to cover the trip from start to end.
This was from a Conclave a few years ago. I came up short because my co-presenter got stuck at the airport in Atlanta and never showed up to present her five ideas. Whoops. Sue me.
Here’s 1–25, 26-50, and 51-75.
