In light of the increased number of advertisersexecuting campaigns that utilise radio with various digital platforms, we’ve scoured the air-waves for case studies that best demonstrate how radio’samplifies their communication.Here’s a peek!
1. Using radio to promote an online brand:kalahari.com&Alex Jay’s Christmas stocking
The challenge:
kalahari.com is one of the pioneers of online trading in South Africa. Originally sellers of books, kalahari has morphed into a one stop shop for all manner of entertainment. As part of a multi-media above the line campaign, throughout the Spring of 2011, the objective was to promote the range of products available through kalahari.com as well as the ease of ordering and delivery.
Why Radio:
The promotion needed to integrate with the greater above-the-line campaign but it also needed to engage listeners on the key product messages, namely ‘range of products’ and ‘ease of ordering and delivery.’
Implementation:
The solution was a combined on-air/ online campaign fronted by 94.7 Highveld 09h00-12h00 weekday presenter Alex Jay in November 2011. It was called ‘Alex’s Christmas Stocking with kalahari.com’.
A series of live reads were booked on Alex’s show viaPrimedia talent management agency, Prime Talent. In each of the daily live reads Alex would highlight a different product and benefit he had found on kalahari.com. There were a total of 14 live reads within the week which directed listeners to the 94.7 Highveld website where they could create their own Christmas stocking.
A range of products were featured on the website and listeners could customise their own stocking and then enter it into the draw. The 94.7 Highveld website also carried a hyperlink to kalahari.com, whilst Alex would announce the winning listener who had won the contents of their customised Christmas stocking.
The Results:
Highveld handed over the details of a few thousand listeners who had opted in to be contacted by kalahari.com with further promotional offers.
Learnings:
“What I liked most about the promotion in general was that it engaged listeners with our core product, and did so in an environment where it was incredibly easy for them to simply click through to the kalahari website”says; Liz Hillock, Head of Marketing, kalahari.com
*Campaign conceptualised by Ultimate Media
2.Using radio to grow a telecom brand’s social media fan base: Cell C
One of the more pervasive myths about social media is that brands can simply post company press releases on the platforms as a means of engagement with communities.
Not quite. Individuals tend to visit corporate sites for press releases and the formal news on your company/ brand. The social-media environment is not another platform for spreading official company lingo. It’s a privilege to take part in people’s everyday conversations and be there to provide useful information to your readers on their terms.
The challenge:
Social media is ‘realtime live’ media and users want to share and communicate with real people about real stuff. Advertising on the platforms, however, can be tricky, as users tend to move on if they feel they are being preached to by potential advertisers.Given the fact that radio stations are perceived as personalities, without an advertising agenda, Cell C wanted to create a campaign using Facebook and 94.7 Highveld Stereo / 94.5 Kfm, with the results aimed at encouraging users to engage with Cell C on its Facebook page and via the stations.
Why Radio:
Whilst radio is a traditional media, and the oldest electronic media, it is similar to social media in many aspects. Like these platforms, radio is real people listening to other real people and sharing in content. More recently stations are increasingly working hard at encouraging the audience to create the content.
So when you compare social media to radio one can draw the parallel quite easily. Social media is real people commenting and talking about events seen or witnessed by other real people. Conversations are generated in social media and very often leveraged in traditional media (radio).
Simon ParkinsonPrimedia Group Promotions manager says; “This is a first for our stations. We took the promotion to where our current listeners and potential new listeners are engaging in social media. This is a new strategic way of thinking for traditional radio media”.
Implementation:
The promotion commenced with a teaser week, using live and recorded promos to drive awareness around the competition, encourage listeners to tune in during the 3 week campaign duration, ‘like’ the Cell C, KfmBreakfast and Breakfast Xpress Facebook pages and tell their ‘friends’ about the competition.
During the 3 weeks, live and recorded promos drove listeners online to participate in the campaign for a chance to win great prizes including iPods, tablets, cameras, laptops and phones.
The Results:
The campaign generated over 9000 new ‘likes’ on the 94.5 Kfm page and over 13,000 new ‘likes’ on 94.7 Highveld Stereo over the 3 week campaign.The campaign yielded an increase in Cell C’s Facebook following.
Both Cell C and Primedia Broadcasting realise that listeners and customers want to be engaged, and have conversations with each other in social media. With this in mind the campaign was deemed a success as a brand awareness campaign around the H+900 network, in addition to the increased number of Cell C Facebook fans which is part of the ongoing Cell C social media strategy to acquire fans.
Learnings:
“Facebook provides us with an important platform to interact with our customers. It is also a great opportunity to join forces with Primedia and to introduce more people to the wonderful world of social media whilst elevating our page to one of the country’s biggest Fan pages”, says; Simon Camerer, Cell C Executive Head: Marketing.
3. Using radio to grow a brand’s social media following:
Nescafe 3-in-1 soars with awesome threesome: Radio, Online & Live Activation
The challenge:
Nescafe wanted to encourage young people aged between 24 – 36 to participate in an interactive synergistic platform by communicating, sharing and uploading their thoughts and feelings via the Nescafe 3-in-1 experience.
Why Radio:
“We used radio to drive the market to the website, which then drove them to the gigs, and finally back to the on-air competition. This was done by including the Facebook address in the promo spots on air. How could we tell that the one medium assists the other? The spike on Facebook immediately after a call to action spot or an actual broadcast was unmistakable”, says Lynn Joffe, Executive Creative Director at radio specialist agency, Creatrix.
Implementation:
The ‘Awesome Threesome’ campaign was driven by an interactive radio element using YFM, Metro, 5FM, Lotus and GHFM. The campaign was supported by Facebook as well as sampling and on-the-ground activations from August to September 2011.
The first week on each station was a call for entry and awareness and during the second week the live program flighted, featuring listeners who had entered via the Facebook page.
The Awesome Threesome encouraged trios of good friends to reveal live on air ‘who the coffee, the creamer and the sugar were in their relationships’. Teams of friends went head to head live on-air to think up the funniest, cleverest, most fascinating combinations – much like the product itself. The winning trio won three Blackberry phones, whilst the on-air presenters tweeted the 3-in-1 message and connected via the Facebook page.
Awesome Threesome gigs were held across the country that were communicated via the website and re-tweeted by station presenters and fans of the site. YFM went all the way to broadcast live from the Nestle head office.
The results:
“The radio campaign drove awareness to the Facebook page which grew to more than 11 000 fans that continue to engage with the medium. Nescafe 3-in-1 became the embodiment of Awesomeness in a target market which took up the phrase on line, onto air and into real life. You don’t get more synergistic than that”, says Popimedia’s Liza Benson.
Learnings:
“The beauty of this campaign is that three quarters of the campaign content on radio was generated by the target market themselves. That’s truly on their terms and on their turf. Given the results, we can build on the success of 2011 and give the brand another huge burst of street-cred with fresh synergistic exposure and engagement”, says Joffe.
*Conceptualised and executed by Creatrix, Popimedia Innovations, The Creative Counsel, McCann and Zenith Optimedia.
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