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Take Their Promotion & Do It Better ...
September 19, 2017
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It's a constant struggle for stations to come up with promotional ideas. It's a pain, especially with sales trying to pair everything up with sponsors -- make that money.
Commercial Radio
I have always seen our business as a combination of sports, politics, history, and public relations. Many new promotional ideas are hidden within an old idea waiting to be revamped. If it was good enough back when, it will be even better with some updated adjustments. However, it's important to understand the original intent of a promotion before applying your fresh coat of paint. Some would call this stealing, but I prefer to call it "Creative license." The goal is to rename your adaptation and convince the audience the other station is copying.
What They Believe ...
I once took an existing promotion from a competitor and aired it on my station using the same name. I made sure there was no federally registered copyright. To take ownership of the contest, I tripled up on impressions, recorded and verbal. We did a perceptual study soon after and I enjoyed hearing participates discuss how much they loved the promotion; many of them thought the other station had copied from us. Shadowing a competitor will cause panel/cume duplication and drive the opposition crazy. Original promotional ideas are great, but retooling something borrowed can be just as rewarding. In addition to listening to my market and competition for inspiration, I also talked with PDs outside my market, frequently visited my promotional ideas file, and read books such as the autobiography of the late sports entrepreneur Bill Veeck.
I only pulled the promotional pirating thing twice; they were inherited situations where my station was behind our competitor in the ratings. It worked each time and allowed my stations to eventually pull even with the competition. A word of warning: If you are ever tempted to pull this stunt, explain the purpose to the Market Manager/GM, Sales Manager and promotions. Also, check with the company's lawyers or legal department.
Beware of Promotional Spies...
Sometimes a promotional spy can come in handy. I'll explain, it was no accident I was able to beat my competition to the punch on occasion. Years ago, I stumbled upon an insomniac female listener at a station who loved talking to my competitor's overnight air personality. Fortunately, she happened to be a friend of our receptionist and a huge fan of our station. One day while she was visiting, I thought it was my duty as a PD to make her acquaintance. During our conversation, I discovered the other station's overnight personality would tell her about upcoming promotions. She casually mentioned a contest my competitor was going to start airing. Of course, I wanted as much detail as possible, so I gave her some questions to ask their overnight guy. Meanwhile, I instructed my air personalities to never reveal contest information outside our station. I put the other PD's contest on our air before he could get his on. A month later, I did it again with another contest. The crosstown programmer got so paranoid, he stopped handing out contest memos to his folks. For a long time after that, I resorted to verbally explaining contests to my air staff; I was afraid the radio Gods would subject me to Karmic payback.
Conclusion
Radio wars have always been about one-up-man ship. If you can get your competition off its game and lose focus, it could give you an edge. One of my favorite quotes, "If everybody is thinking alike, then somebody isn't thinking." General George S. Patton.
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