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The Art of Launching a Brand
June 13, 2023
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Summertime is the perfect time for radio companies to flip formats and launch new brands on signals that are struggling due to the sporadic schedules of listeners and lack of focus on the ratings by agencies and advertisers. It’s early, and already we are seeing lots of stations take advantage of the timing. Stations are flipping, or rebranding left and right. Sadly, as I listen to these launches across the country, I have yet to hear a decent one so far. It’s clear that the attention to detail, creative imaging, and quality standards are being ignored by those in charge, and the desire to make the transition as fast as possible is more important than putting a quality product on the air.
It’s hard for me to believe we even need to go back and cover this topic for the millionth time, but lets face it, with the advancement of technology, reduction of bodies in the radio workforce, and overall laisse faire attitude of employees just trying to keep their heads down and keep their jobs, we seem to have lost the “art of launching a brand,” and everything we’ve heard lately comes off as a lazy. Now, that may not be the actual case, but as you know, with radio, especially traditional radio and the world of PPM, the only thing that matters is what comes out of the speakers.
I realize that it’s difficult to keep strategic plans to launch brands or rebrand a station confidential within a company if that’s your goal, but is that really necessary anymore (unless you’re in a very competitive situation and there’s a chance another signal could beat you to the punch)? But that doesn’t mean you can’t plan ahead to make sure that on the day the actual launch takes place, the dots are connected, I’s are dotted, and t’s are crossed.
My biggest beef with the last three weeks of listening to stations launch new brands is when a station has entered everything into the system and then someone just presses the go button, and the computer just rolls. If I’m the PD, and I am launching a new brand, I am sitting on the board myself for the first few hours making sure that everything is 100% perfect. Not allowing the computer to run in automation, so the timing is off, the legal ID is 10 minutes early (or late) and I am having to scramble for obscure songs in the library that fit the format, but were never hits, so I don’t play the same song too close to itself, until the top of the hour re-set finally gets me back to songs that are familiar to the audience. That’s 10 minutes of unfamiliar or crapy music while you’re launching a new brand: 100% tune out, and 100% failure in the world of PPM.
By the way, you can’t just put a bunch of songs in the library and hit F10 (or whatever your scheduling command is). It’s just like every other day of music scheduling, the songs must be coded properly for tempo, sound, and hit potential, and the rules must be set up so that there is maximum variety in a four-song set. Otherwise, you could be playing a bunch of songs that sound exactly alike, or the complete opposite, you could end up with a train wreck because the songs are from one extreme to the next. What ever happened to the “art of scheduling music?” Logs should be scheduled song to song, and someone should be checking flow, tempo, and variety at all times (especially during prime time).
A few other things to keep in mind that are critical to the sound of the station: First, you need to make sure that when you enter the songs into the system, they are all entered at the same levels, monitoring the gain and fade on all intros and fades or cold endings, and second, at some point, you may need to adjust the processing on the station after the new music is entered.
When it comes to imaging, make sure the voices and messaging are on point. Remember, the goal is to attract a base, and even and especially if you are in an older format, you MUST grow a younger audience in order to keep traditional radio alive. That means the station personality should be appealing to all ages and should be energetic. Obviously, you want it to match the brand, but the stuff I am hearing lately is old school and lame. It’s time to move forward and hire talent that packs a punch. Also, it’s so easy to get caught up in hiring the usual suspects for station voices. A lot of stations sound exactly alike because the same talent is being overused. Make sure you do your homework and find voices that separate your brand from everyone else’s.
Messaging is critical to the success of a launch. Especially if you are going jockless at first. Lately, I hear a lot of stations with messaging that is all over the place. Before you launch, develop a messaging strategy, and analyze it over and over again. There should be one central focus for your new brand. Once you have established that, get as creative as you can with that one central message. Don’t overcomplicate things.
The easiest thing to do when writing sweepers and promos is to start with (and write down) your central message. Then work around it. If you are going to have talent on the station out of the box, go through the same kind of exercise with your talent. Everything you do in the first week of your launch is critical to the success of the new brand. Listeners are curious and checking you out. Lock em in right away, and don’t give them any reason for tune out.
Also, DO NOT produce sweepers with music in them WITHOUT using a dry ending. We’ve gotten lazy with the world of automation because no one wants to take the time to massage a log so that a dry ending rolls over an intro or vice versa with a cold open. It’s an absolute train wreck if a fully produced sweeper with music rolling all the way to the end rolls into another song. Either the intro is too soft for the sweeper, or the sweeper bangs into a Hot intro. Does the average listener notice…. YES. Again, all that matters is what comes out of the speaker. They may not know what’s going on, but they hear it, and it could cause tune out.
And one other thing, a little word of advice. If you live in a big city, and there is a major industry event happening that will bring a lot of people in town (like close to 100k a day), maybe don’t plan to do your launch in the middle of that unless you are 100% positive your launch is gonna blow people’s minds. Again, if I’m the PD, and I am launching a new brand, I am doing everything I can to make the best first impression possible. My name is on that brand, and it is a representation of what I am capable of. So, I am either going to make sure I am up and running and sound awesome before the event, or I am going to wait until I know that all aspects of the launch (or relaunch) are 100% perfect.
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