When we started Wild in Tampa, the Promotion Director for then-Entercom in the market decided to, on his own, put himself through Disney University. Yup; he learned the Disney Way on how to rep the brand.
If you think about it, Disney is a marginally successful business model built on repeat customers.
How many people do you think go to a Disney park in a calendar year and have an awful time? Exactly. They run a tight operation. You would never go to Disneyland or Disney World and see a ride operator on their phone or eating pizza.
For Mark, it was eye-opening how awful we are at the basics. He applied what he learned in Tampa when working for the Philadelphia 76ers.
And now, on with the Dumpage:
Halloween Spirit
Haunted woods, hay rides, houses, etc. are great clients for Radio, and their tickets are outstanding prizes. Very “family” and usually very expensive.
Your local Halloween clients are in full planning/buying mode, so now is the time to be pounding on their door. One of the stations has a commercial haunted attraction with a HUGE budget… and the buzz is that they are very dissatisfied with the competition that just shows up, puts up a canopy, and sits that. BIG money to steal, plus from a Marketing perspective, the location is killer and the crowds are awesome.
First, create a Boo Crew and go out with some of their cast to visit offices and children’s hospitals. Done by KJ103 in OKC.
Or, using one of the talent as the guinea pig, do a video on how to Ghoulgilize yourself. As done with one of my fave Canucks, Christina Fitzgerald.
Alabama Cole with ‘QEN in Birmingham had their client come and decorate the studio.
The tickets are, again, and giving a family two tickets kind of gyps them. Family Fear Packs would be fun…but how to award them?
One thing that you could do is Bucket Of Blood List. A spin on something called Kate University in Boise where once a month she would go and do something she’d never done with a dozen listeners who had never done it either. Like skeet shooting or rafting. (And I think she’d faked it and had done most) Sacramento did it with adult listeners who had never sat on Santa’s lap. When Cassiday was at Kiss in Charlotte, she did it with people who’d never eaten Burger King. So do it with “people who have never been to a haunted house or horror attraction.” Done by Mix in Cincy.
If they’d like a visual that illustrates what they deliver, stick a portable EKG (from a healthcare client) on the talent, send them through, and post the strip. Ditto with miking a DJ. Guess how long it will take for them to shriek. Closest to 39 seconds wins. Done by Billy The Kid at Kiss in Dallas on a coaster.
Short Attention Span Horror. Play 8 seconds from a scary movie. Call and ID to win.
Have a Ouija Board give you the words to text.
Do “Scare ‘N Share” and either scare a coworker or friend and hashtag the video, or have people post old Halloween photos.
Beasley in Philly and 93Q in Syracuse have learned that people will, in fact, dress their pets up in costumes for cash. I bet that they’d do it for passes.
So they want you out there for an appearance? Cool. Then you need something fun to do rather than just stand there under the canopy. Pumpkin Bowling. Some kind of photo op. A fortune teller. Bobbing For Brains (as done by WiLD in Tampa, where cauliflower was the stand-in for the brains). Just…anything other than a prize wheel.
RDS
Many of us have this capability and are doing it for the in-car listeners. I saw something that cracked me up at Wired in Saskatoon; in addition to the name of the song, various messages (that were changed daily) would pop up, like “What’s with the hair today?” and “LOOK OUT FOR THAT BLUE CAR!”. Why? Why not.
Disney In Ice
On tour this Fall and asking for promotions. Two things you could do? “Disney IN Ice” and freeze a Mickey Mouse in a block of ice. Webcam it and guess how long until it “melts out.” Or for the sake of driving hits, do “(Morning person) On The Ice.” Take a hapless non-skater jock out for twenty minutes. Film them falling down. Guess how many times they land on their butt to win tickets.
DJ On-Air Product Sampling With The Resulting Seemingly Unsolicited DJ Chatter
By FAR one of my favorite things in a client request. Nothing says “Great Radio” more than The Morning Nuts eating the new Hardee’s pork breakfast sandwich on the air. And then…giving away some coupons for the $1.29 product that people will then need to spend $4 to drive over and pick up.
One way to fix this? Turn it over to the listeners. Have the third shifters on the way home stop by for a free breakfast and vid testimonials. Turn the chatter over to the listeners and stick it on the website. And as evidenced by the rampage at Denny’s, free breakfast DRAWS.
Radiowave in Windhoek has seemingly 100 breweries in the market. They wanted to debut their new Weiss on the morning show. Instead, we caduciated (Quincy McCoy term) a birth announcement that went to the database along with birthing photos of the female morning co-host bringing a new keg into the world. Granted, listening to DJ’s talk about beer is scintillating Radio.
When You Have A Local Winner With A Group Contest
A trip to Australia to see Olivia Rodrigo was an above-average prize, so if you got a local winner, it kind of behooves you to remind the audience, as Q98 in Fayetteville is doing.
First Jobs
I like to test topics on social media. It’s free. It’s easy. And if it tanks, no one will probably die.
Besides Kids, Pets & Food, you’re usually going to get some traction with First/Worsts. Concerts. School lunches. Dates. Bosses. Cars. Roommates.
I tried “First Jobs” and got 105 comments in 23 hours, which is pretty good, but obviously not as many as a “Charli XCX’s new fish diet has people talking!” moment.
Back To School Backpacks
At the end of the day, these are still one of the best prizes you could ever give a kid or their parents in August. One of the stations is doing 1000 backpacks with McDonald’s. The other option is to take five or six backpacks and fill them with swag. Fastfood giftcards. Clothing certificates. Movie passes. Free haircuts. Shoes. Whatever. Do a Back-To-Back To School Backpack. Once a day, play two announced songs back-to-back and give one away.
For The Jewelry Clients
Because you ALL have them and they ALL want promotions. Ever watch Antique Roadshow? Get an appraiser for your remote; have listeners bring in all the jewelry in their boxes and stuff they’ve had for years and see if any of it is actually worth something.
The other option? Have the client sponsor “A Family Vacation That You’ll Really Dig”. (Mrs. Paige saw this on the Travel Channel and is determined that we’re digging opals in Nevada next Summer. All of us. Me. Her. The Paigettes. With buckets and trowels. And I have to be honest. It looked pretty damn cool.)
A Fairy God DJ
Christmas Wish kills. I really can’t think of a better way to describe it other than it kills. It’s work, no doubt, wading through all the lame begging to find actual listeners in need that you and maybe even some clients can help.
So I was discussing Oprah with a really great midday talent yesterday. Before Oprah got all preachy, there were things she did on a fairly regular basis. Surprising women with fashion and lifestyle makeovers was one.
Said DJ and I stumbled onto a bit that will start next month: she’s going to grant wishes for listeners. And because she played princess as a little girl, she’ll do it in full regalia.
The smart stations go through the wishes and look for visual payoffs and things that clients can be a part of, like, “We called our friend Jimbo at Carolina Home Mobility and Linda; he said he will personally come out and build that ramp for you and Tim.”
This will be large, and the bonus will be that it will get her out meeting a lot of listeners. You can never beat DJ’s who get out of the studio and work the room, so to speak.
Boot Cancer
Radiowave in Windhoek has consistently done fantastic stuff with cancer fundraising, and last year they added socks to the mix. Buy some funky socks and a portion went to cancer research. I mean, who doesn’t like socks?
Crashing The Concession Stand
Midwest Communications has a very cool station in Green Bay, WIXX. And every school year they go out once a week and take over a concession stand at a high school game (all sports are on the table) and help man it, and then a client matches up to $500 that was raised for whatever club, program, or organization was manning and selling that week.
Staffing the stands is a real challenge with parents and kids having to drop out when their plans change, and honestly, it’s just amazing in-your-face marketing. Show this video to a client and then hand them a contract to sign.
