Nov 1, 2007 12:00 PM, By Richard Tedesco

That may be true, but, meanwhile, there is a continuing battle to fend off the federal government's attempts to dramatically increase the royalties that streaming Webcasters must pay, according to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.

Usually promotions are devised at the local level. But in September, the mammoth station group Clear Channel ran a campaign to plug NBC's new “Chuck” sitcom, with actors from the series staging hour-long “takeovers” at its stations in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco and Philadelphia to plug the show.

“Radio is something where you have to flood the airwaves with one thing so people know about it,” says Marcos Montes, promotions director at Sacramento hip hop/R&B station KSFM. “If we're giving away cash or an iPhone, we make sure we're talking about it all the time.”

These days, stations typically draw audiences in various dayparts by specifying exactly when listeners need to tune in.

“We want to tell them, come back at this specific time,” says Darren Pfeffer, director of marketing at New York's top-rated Z100 and Power 105.1. “It's all about setting appointments [with listeners] and getting them to come back to the stations.”

Several times daily, Z100 issues calls to members of its registered listener base to call in to have their bills paid (up to $1,000), with winners entered for a grand prize drawing to win a Nissan Altima Hybrid from a local New Jersey dealership, Ramsey Auto. “We're always looking for ways to incorporate advertisers into our promotions,” says Pfeffer.

In a promotion with Silverjet, the new low-fare international airline, Q104 in August gave away a trip to London with VIP tickets to see the concluding concert of the Rolling Stones' recent Bigger Bang Tour.

Earlier this year, Z100 told its listeners that morning DJ Elvis Duran needed to expand his audience. The station then held a contest to design a billboard. The winner was reproduced in two midtown Manhattan billboards proclaiming Duran the Wizard of Zoo (as in “morning zoo”) with the rest of his team attired in various Wizard of Oz guises.

Station marketing mavens emphasize the need to create promotional contests that offer listeners more than tickets to an event. Z100 recently ran a contest to send 20 listeners who sent pictures to its Web site to an Ashley Tisdale fashion show. “It's all about giving 20 lucky listeners an experience, not just sending them to an event,” says Pfeffer. “It's great to have that user-generated content, whether it's video or audio.”

Q104's Jim Kerr recalls a “Text Dirty To Me” contest the station ran for tickets to a Poison concert (playing off the group's “Talk Dirty To Me” hit). Q104 fielded 6,000 text messages in 15 minutes from fans of the heavy metal band — and was able to let them know immediately if they were winners.

The risqué edge in many radio promotions is typified by Q104's current Hottest Mom contest, offering a $5,000 prize in a competition that utilizes the Web's visual virtue.

That's tame stuff compared to the lunatic fringe of promotional radio that lives in the shadow of Howard Stern. That fringe is personified by DJs Opie & Anthony, who air their stunts on New York City's K-Rock and XM satellite radio.

For the film, “Hot Rod, ” Opie & Anthony ran the “Hottest Rod” contest, which required contestants to lather liniment on their genitals in an endurance competition. “When people are praising you for a truly disgusting moment, then you know you did well,” says Steve Carlesi, Opie & Anthony producer.

Going to conceptual extremes is still common practice as stations are intent to break through the clutter with guerrilla tactics. When Grand Central Marketing ran a promotion for Svedka Vodka, it invented the Svedka sisters, two Swedish blonds who showed up unannounced at radio stations to offer massages to the DJs. “We skipped the promotions department and went straight to the DJs,” Matthew Glass, Grand Central president, recalls.

To plug two Lifetime investigative detective series, “Missing” and “Wild Card,” Grand Central brought in a polygraph expert with a hand-held device to subject station personnel for on-air grilling by their peers.

The ploy paid off in extended segments that blurred the line between promotion and programming. “Ad time is restricted to the amount of time being bought,” says Glass. “If there's a good dynamic going on, it's kind of like branded programming.”

Alternative rock station CIMX in Detroit recently ran a contest in which listeners registered online for a chance to win a trip to the “Maury Povich Show.” To compete, they had to tell a personal story about their boyfriend, girlfriend or spouse, and then call in to take a lie detector test about what they wrote.

“You want to stay topical,” says Cal Cagno, promotions director for CIMX. “You want cool, fresh prizing so people will listen to win it.”

Cagno says the station carefully considers what might be at the top of people's wish lists, product like iPods or Xboxes.

And Web links aside, pushing that product online is the key to success, says Cagno: “You need them to be listeners first, and Web surfers second.”

Unlike most executives interviewed for this article, Abbie Korman, president of radio promotions agency Impact Marketing, believes stations might be putting too much emphasis on new media.

“They are damaging their own core business. The big radio operators are focusing too much on competitive and trying to force everything online and not just doing good radio.”

Broadcasters are also now being more demanding in the kind of prize packages they expect from advertisers, according to Korman. For example, a DVD giveaway typically now needs to be sweetened by a chance to meet the movie's star. “A hat and a t-shirt used to get you a promotion,” she says. “Instead of a hat and a t-shirt, we have to give away a TV every day.”

Tom Barnes, CEO of radio promotions agency MediaThink, sees promotions as part of the “value-added calculus” that advertisers want from radio stations. He adds the use of new technology doesn't trump creativity.

“There's been very little in the way of reinvention. At the end of the day, there are no new ideas, just new ways to execute them.”

FROM THE ANNALS OF RADIO PROMOTIONS

Early radio marketing maverick Gordon McLendon ran a contest on Dallas station KLIF to give away a mountain — actually a tall hill on three acres in southeastern Texas.

:: Renew / Subscribe to PROMO Magazine::

DON'T MISS AN ISSUE! PROMO Magazine provides insights into using promotion marketing as strategic, measurable component of an overall marketing mix. DON'T MISS OUT on "how-to" information on strategies and tactics successful marketers use to improve product sales and brand image. Renew your subscription Subscribe to the magazine Sign up for email newsletters

			A panel of professionals answers your questions. Submit your questions.
		Michael McKelvie Gift Cards and Reward Cards			Bob Bell Tie-in Partnerships
		Dave Hunt Rebates			Bruce Hollander Sweepstakes
		Joel Parent Interactive			Become an Expert More Info