On August 2, Zac Brown Band had the Country staple’s 15th consecutive sold-out show at Fenway Park. That night, Zac announced everyone in the building was getting a cruise for two aboard the Margaritaville at Sea.
The giveaway’s estimated value surpassed $40 million.
No question, there is a lesson for radio. Prioritize “Memorability” over “promotion.” We have spent decades giving things away, whether it’s concert tickets, trips, cash, meet-and-greets, or family 4-packs to wherever! There’s nothing wrong with any of that. But most of it is transactional.
Listen. Enter. Win.
What Zac Brown created was different. He rewarded the relationship. Those people had already bought their tickets. They were already fans. He didn’t need the cruise to convince them to attend. Instead, at the moment, when they were already having a great experience, he essentially said: Thanks for being part of this with us.
What if radio rewarded people for simply tuning in and listening? We’ve become very good at using promotions to get something from the audience; listening occasions, registrations, app downloads, database information, social follows, etc.
How often do we do something extraordinary simply because they’re our listeners?
Imagine a station-sponsored concert where everybody walking through the gate unexpectedly gets something. Or a morning show deciding that instead of awarding one listener $5,000, they’re going to surprise 100 listeners with $50 each. Or a station showing up at a high school football game and buying concessions for everybody. Or picking up every check in a local diner one morning.
It doesn’t have to be necessarily expensive. But it’s unexpected and memorable.
The Zac Brown Band’s giveaway was a partnership. Margaritaville at Sea was already presenting the Love & Fear Tour and had planned cruise giveaways throughout the tour.
That’s enormously relevant to radio.
The station doesn’t necessarily have to pay for the big idea. Radio has advertisers looking for attention. Radio has listeners. Radio has personalities capable of creating emotional moments. Put those three together differently and suddenly sponsorship isn’t just:
“The $1,000 Song of the Day, brought to you by…”
It’s elevated to a completely different sales conversation, one that might look like:
“What could our station and this advertiser do together that our listeners would still be talking about tomorrow?”
Zac Brown didn’t give away cruises. He gave 37,000 people a story. Every one of those people went home saying some version of:
“You’re not going to believe what happened at the concert last night…”
That’s word-of-mouth marketing you can’t buy with another billboard.
Radio desperately needs more of those stories. Not necessarily $40 million stories. $50 stories. Free lunch stories. Surprise-the-listener stories. Local stories. Emotional stories.
Stories that might be the reason for somebody to tell another person:
“You won’t believe what my radio station did today.”
Radio doesn’t need bigger giveaways. It needs bigger moments. Zac Brown Band didn’t strengthen its relationship with 37,000 fans by asking them to do something. They strengthened it by doing something for them. That’s a distinction radio could learn from.
Stop asking what promotion will make people listen and start asking what experience will make people care. Build fans versus followers.
