IN THE HOT SEAT: DJ FRESH & MINI SA

One of the lesser known things about 5FM’s DJ Fresh is that he’s been driving sponsored cars for more than 9 years,more recently MINI – proving that when advertisers and stations collaborate, the result is presenters who know their sponsors and are committed to concepts and innovations that transform the potential of radio…

A WORD FROM THE SPONSORS…

MINI SA Marketing Manager Carmen Slade responds;

Q. What’s MINI’s strategy/ underlying rationale in your sponsorship of DJ Fresh?

Sponsorship is a very important part of our overall marketing plan and we make sure that we only sponsor activities that fit with the MINI brand. We look for sponsorship opportunities that are relevant to our target market and that also reflect the premium and aspirational nature of the brand. All our sponsorships are approved by our board and for this reason we need to highlight a clear return on investment for everything we do.

Q. Why the decision to go with Fresh?

We decided to use Fresh as a brand ambassador as he is a very well-known celebrity with a very strong social media following. His resonance with our target market as well as his cheeky and fun personality is aligned with the MINI brand. We look for brand ambassadors that are an extension of the brand and Fresh is one we can be proud of.

Filed Under: case studies, Featured Tagged With: , ,

Hot New Radio Campaigns


In advertising, the Jan/Feb season has become synonymous with the term ‘the calm before the storm and the calm after the storm’. Calm?! We think not! Here’s a taste of the brands currently harnessing the power of radio ON AIR…

Living happily ever active with Virgin & the ‘Cinderella’ medium

Lexus launches into 5th gear with radio

I- Pledge of honour

Cell C makes a good call with 5FM

A glass and a …er…mouthful?! 

To be quite Frank.net

Living happily ever active with Virgin & the ‘Cinderella’ medium

Those sticking to their new year’s resolutions might have walked into a Virgin Active gym lately and will have likely read; ‘everyone’s welcome, young or old, fit or unfit, it’s all good’. on the walls. This ‘philosophy’ is at the centre of the health club’s new campaign called ‘What’s Your Stuff’.

“The truth of the matter is that we’ve all got stuff – whether you’re somebody who exercises or not! We wanted to put this out there and let everyone know it’s ok”, explains Creative Director at Virgin Active SA, Nick Clarivette.

What better way to get those couch potatoes on the ‘mill (with headphones firmly in place – well, because radio’s mobile like that!) than through radio? Recorded at Jam studios in Cape Town, the campaign is currently flighting on 5FM, KFM, 94.7 Highveld and East Coast Radio, just to name a few.

And what do you know… even the Virgin Active staff (including Sir Richard Branson!) have made their ‘stuff’ public by having it printed across t-shirts as part of the campaign. What are you waiting for?! Join the movement!


Listen up:

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Title: Virgin Ministry of Stuff 

Lexus launches into 5th gear with radio

In an age where radio still often gets flack for not being ‘visual’ enough to do car brands(really now?!), Lexus SA are going against the …er… terrain with the launch of the Lexus IS 350.Gareth Paul ECD at DraftFCB says; “Radio’s one of the few mediums that actually reaches people when they are in their cars and when they may be considering purchasing another. I often look at the other cars around me and think about which ones I would like to own. This means I’m open to consideration when I’m being advertised too”.

Lexus are hoping this campaign will broaden the awareness of the brand, the new model and the fact that you could get a best in class performer at an affordable price.

And it’s working…Some of the best radio we’ve heard by far is their ‘Junior Exec to CEO’ ad. Talk about crisp copywriting and just the right amount of pace. Do yourself a favour and take a listen because this ad blasts car advertising right out of the showroom! 

Listen up:

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Title: Reach your destination 

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Title: From Intern to CEO

 

I- Pledge of honour

There’s nothing quite like striking while the iron is hot. Take the IMPERIAL Group for instance with their latest I-Pledge campaign. Launched in November 2011, I-Pledge is gaining momentum nicely (32 000 pledges to date), especially in the lead up to the Easter break and it’s easy to see why…

“The essence of the campaign is to raise awareness to individuals that safer, friendlier roads start with every one of us. By taking the I-Pledge, we’re committing ourselves to practising better road behaviour”, says the Group’s Niki Cronje.

Of course, radio represented the perfect medium for I-Pledge because it engages consumers while they are in a car, truck or taxi. (Her words – not ours!)

“It’s also a great conversation starter and when you communicate around an impassioned topic like our roads and driver behaviour it amplifies the conversation and awareness”, she adds.

If you’d like to get involved, you can take the pledge on www.ipledge.co.zaor find out more on Talk Radio 702; 94.7 Highveld; 5FM, 567 Cape Talk; Jacaranda 94.2, East Coast Radio and Algoa FM.

Listen up:

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Title: Car behind you

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Title: Pedestrian

Cell C makes a good call with 5FM

Long live radio! If you thought the days of finding your knight in shining armour or damsel in distress on air were long gone – think again! Cell C are making it easy for just about anyone to find love – even the youth- who, let’s admit it, can be so iffy about advertising;

“The target audience we want to speak to on this campaign is the youth,aged 18-24. They can be quite cynical about conventional advertising, so radio’s the perfect medium to communicate the Cell C brand and product offering in an unconventional way that engages with the audience”, explains Cell C Media Manager Binita Jhina.

And so ‘Cell C Hook Me Up’, as well as the ‘Cell C weekend Connection’ was born.Both campaigns are running concurrently for 8 weeks onGrant & Anele’s show as well as Rob Vember’s show from Thursday evenings.

“Dating and going out on weekends is something that’s important to this audience and Cell C together with 5FM will be making these wishes come true”, she says.

Well, there you have it. If it’s a hook up or ‘connection’ you’re after, Cell C’s the way to do it!

Listen up:

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Title: Controlchat 125 

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Title: Welcome  25 Bonus

A glass and a …er…mouthful?!

You know what they say about chocolate… the darker the… no wait, was that old idiom about chocolate?Anyway…

Cadbury Bournville has taken their brand positioning; ‘Deliciously Dark’ to new frontiers with some breakthrough (and might we add, award-winning copywriting) on their follow-up radio campaign. Take a listen…but do proceed with caution as these are certainly not for the fainthearted!

Ogilvy Copywriter Chad Wright – who pulled these off with ‘partner-in-crime’ Jordan Tyron says;

“Well, we had these scripts and characters we really loved but we wanted to give them an edge. We played around with writing styles, rounds of pilots, casting and various endings. We eventually decided to give them an old school radio broadcast kind of feel, and to keep the story as open in the listeners mind as possible.Overall from script phase to final recordings, the campaign took almost a year to complete”.

The cherry on top of this deliciously dark tale is of course the spectacular Fiona Ramsay and John Whiteley who lend their voices in the most awesome display of talent.

These guys do come highly commended by the Creative Circle’s ‘Ad of the Year’ panel, so we’ll let Wright have the final word;

“Radio is all about the theatre of the mind, which is exactly what enables Bournville to tap into the darkest parts of your imagination. There are no visual cues, allowing listeners minds to wander.  We absolutely love writing for radio and we’re lucky enough to have a fantastic client, who kept pushing the idea into territories we hadn’t considered”.

(Sjoe! These guys are living proof that crafting, crafting and re-crafting your radio ads will pay you over and over and over again!)

Listen up:

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Title: Back door

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Title: Counter 

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Title: Clean

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Title: Finger

 

To be quite Frank.net

Nothing beats radio’s ability to deliver content as it breaks and while it’s still topical. Just ask Nando’s! Another brand that’s latched onto this, and is seeing the results is fast-growing insurance provider; Frank.net.

FoxP2 Executive Creative Director Justin Gomes says; “While the overwhelming response has been a positive one, we picked up on a debate about Frank’s voice on Talk Radio 702.The tone of voice is really fresh in a category generally defined by lofty metaphors and emotional blackmail. So of course, Frank won’t appeal to everyone – especially people who don’t want to think about death.

With two of South Africa’s top radio writers in their books, namely Gavin Williams and Simon Lotze, FoxP2 faced the challenge head on and presented new scripts the next day. These were then recorded with voice over artist Adam Behr that afternoon. “It obviously helps to be working with a CEO like Frank.net’s Lenerd Louw who is both decisive and keen to push the envelope”, adds Gomes.

And it seems this approach is paying off … On the number’s front, Frank.net sold R1-billion’s worth of direct cover in the first four months of operation and six months later, hit the R5 billion mark. (Source: Liberty Holdings).

Listen up:

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Title: Life Cove

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Title: Illness Protect

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Title: Salary Protect

Filed Under: case studies, creative, creative Mind, Featured Tagged With: , ,

Top Radio Case Studies – 2011

The South African radio advertising industry today is a smorgasbord of creative and strategic brilliance. One of the most successful radio campaigns we’ve seen in a long time is FNB’s ‘Steve’ campaign, and it’s certainly not alone in delivering a compelling case study for radio in 2011. Gain insights from SAB, Old Mutual, the National Treasury and LEADSA case studies, showing that radio really does deliver second to none.

FNB banks on radio to communicate a myriad of service offerings

SAB has ‘no regrets’ about using radio to promote responsible drinking

Partnering with a station to get rewards – the MiWay way

When Radio ‘Met’ J&B

National Treasury uses radio to engage listeners from all walks of life

Vawter’ shows they can and ‘vil’ build a brand on a limited budget

One small step on Radio, one giant leap for Old Mutual

Radio mobilises a nation with LeadSA

Back to school – Varsity College uses radio to further it education objectived

Castle Lite brews up a concept that’s a perfect fit for radio

Outsurance Pointsmen Project

Filed Under: case studies

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The challenge

Drive acquisition and account growth on FNB core products

Why Radio

“Much as we as marketers could see the golden ribbon and how it all worked so well together, the reality is people don’t listen to ads the way we plan them. The challenge is that banking products are often the last thing people think about. At the same time, we need to build and grow our customer base. As financial institutions, we’re often bound by terms and conditions and other industry-related compliance issues, which have to be included in our ads. Radio was identified as the key medium that could integrate together the various propositions in one sitting. It could provide the quick turnaround times required on the campaign”, says FNB.

Implementation

The campaign came about by trying to turn a slice of life insight on its head. A prime example of this is incorrigible telesales agents who just won’t take no for an answer. The ads were then written, as long as they needed to be, to get the story across. The generic spots varying in length between 45 and 90 second ads, depending on the message to be communicated were flighted.

Realising that no one sits in their cars, homes or work for hours in order to hear and ‘get’ an entire construct, messages were rotated equally across different stations, with each advert focused on benefits available to customers across products and channels.

 

The Results

On average there’s been an increase of over 40% in sales across key products and services. FNB also benefitted from added exposure from, amongst others, Kaya FM presenters waxing lyrical about the campaign in programming time, as well as other channels using the topical Steve campaign as editorial content. This has all contributed to making ‘Steve’ a household name.

Learnings

  • An ad has to be as long as it takes to get the message across.
  • Radio is something you get involved with from the onset. It’s not something you leave to an engineer to do.
  • Don’t let the duration of the spot hamper the creativity.
  • Media maketh the spot. There’s no such thing as too much exposure. We decided that in the first hour, listeners should at least hear 2 to 3 ads.
  • Stop painting by numbers. It has to be entertaining for the listener. Be topical. If you can’t be topical, be entertaining. Everyone loves a soapie.
  • Lastly, use sonic triggers if you can. We start and end the ads the same way, with the same ‘beeps’.

RAB Commentary

Impressive results from FNB. The campaign intelligently demonstrates that an ad needs to be as long as it takes to get results, proving that the quality of the message is more important than the length. The active involvement of the client from conceptualisation to flighting is a positive step indicating that when creative and professional marketers begin to approach radio campaigns with the right intent and production commitment, the results speak for themselves.

Listen Up:

Title: FNB App

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 Title: Mev. Venter

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Title: Mrs Mabusela

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 Title:180 FNB Mention

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Filed Under: case studies, Featured Tagged With: ,

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The challenge

With a relatively small budget, South Africa’s first and only alcoholic spring water cooler, Vawter, wanted to communicate its unique intrinsic qualities which are premium vodka and spring water. As a differentiator and means of building brand personality, they also sought to reinforce and educate consumers on the pronunciation of the brand name.

 

Why Radio?

“As a relatively small brand with small budgets, we felt that using Radio was the perfect medium to use to achieve our objectives as it has the greatest reach and allows us to use audible cues with respect to the brand’s name and personality.

Radio allows us to create a large amount of mystery around, ‘Tatiana’, the character used in our ads as well as creating talkability around the brand”, explains Vawter Global Marketing Manager Claudia Mills.

 

Implementation

Perhaps the most important aspect of the campaigns is the humorous play on a stereotypical human truths – for instance, Book Club. These meetings between ladies are more often than not focused on socialising more than the reading of books. The use of witty humour that plays on stereotypical human truths is a ‘recipe’ that the brand has now come to be known for – and through which objectives are met.

 

The Results

Through consumer feedback via social networking sites, the radio ads have been found to be a resounding success. Testament to this is the fact that people on the Vawter Facebook page engage with the brand in the same humorous tone and manner that the radio executions are so well known for. Advertising objectives were reached by increased brand awareness and likeability scores.

 

 

Learnings

The intense marrying of radio with digital media to increase a 360-degree interaction and awareness with consumers is essential to making a successful Vawter campaign. Tatiana –the mysterious on-air character is active on the brand’s Facebook page in the same humorous tone and manner as her radio profile. This further increases brand awareness, personality and engagement.

Listen Up:

Title: Vawter – Book Club

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Filed Under: case studies Tagged With:

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Listen Up:

Title: Festive Season

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Title: This Heritage Month

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Title: Planning for the future

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Title:Life’s breath taking moments

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The challenge

In addition to creating awareness for their part time courses in Cape Town, Varsity College also wanted to communicate its offering as an institution that’s not just for school leavers, but one where professionals can further their education.

A secondary objective was to run a test campaign in preparation for the re-launch of the Business School in 2012 and to drive registrations.

Why Radio

Radio would allow Varsity College to be integrated into the conversation between presenter and listener in a subtle, unobtrusive way. The college then selected Heart 104.9FM as it best delivered the market they were targeting, and fitted within their budget.

Implementation

A high impact information led campaign was created, including promos, interviews and a combination of both live and recorded messages.

Pre-promos flighted a week prior to promote the campaign and encourage listeners to tune into Heart 104.9FM. In the week that followed, a high frequency radio campaign which included interviews, live reads and generic ads, encouraged strategic engagement with the brand.

‘Throw forwards’ were flighted before each feature to inform listeners of the upcoming Varsity College topic of the day.To keep the on-air elements relevant, discussions focussed on different aspects of the College that would be relevant to the Heart 104.9FM listeners.

The Results

“All core objectives of (1) increasing awareness of Varsity College, (2) informing and educating the market about the College’s offerings, and (3) generating an increased number of enquiries were achieved.The client reported a 300% increase in enquiries”, says Pippa Cohen of Ultimate Media

Learnings

To achieve the desired results, the client should always be given the liberty to be involved in the process of briefing the on-air presenters. Information should also packaged in such a way that it becomes valuable content for the presenter to use within the show.

RAB Commentary

A good example of how brands looking to raise awareness or understanding of their offerings can align with a station’s programming objectives and leverage their campaign through editorial content.

Filed Under: case studies Tagged With: ,

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The Challenge

With a view to spreading the following central messages;

  • In the right hands, anything, no matter how small, has the potential to be more.
  • And with over 165 years of knowledge and experience, Old Mutual can help you make the most of what you have, today,
  • Old Mutual embarked on a combined campaign across all Old Mutual divisions, with the objective of driving call centre leads.
  • The campaign needed to create impact within 3 very different markets, namely mass, affluent and corporate.

Why Radio?

Taking into consideration, the diversity in markets, and the depth of the message, the campaign needed to be executed on media platforms that could deliver maximum reach, while allowing for more than a generic message. Old Mutual appreciated the power of radio’s relationship with its listeners, and used radio to tap into meaningful engagement with consumers. The decision to flight across 14 different radio stations including African Language stations and go beyond the use of generic 30 second ads, was the perfect fit

Implementation

A multi-platform, non-traditional radio solution flighting simultaneously across 14 different radio stations was created. A combination of both national and regional stations were used, namely; Metro FM, Ukhozi FM, Umhlobo Wenene FM, Lesedi FM, Lotus FM, Kaya FM, 94.7 Highveld Stereo, Jacaranda 94.2, Talk Radio 702, KFM, 567 CapeTalk, East Coast Radio, Algoa FM and OFM.

The 2-week campaign was comprised of 2 distinct parts;

  • Week 1, which was about engaging listeners and making the message tangible, saw 14 stations run with the same competition mechanic, delivered in a tailored manner that best suited each stations format. Listeners were invited to call in and share the goal that they were saving for. The most compelling and inspiring stories won cash to help them achieve that goal.
  • Listeners entered via the station websites or by SMS (in the case of African Language Stations). This allowed Old Mutual to generate an option where listeners agreed to be contacted by its representatives and generated thousands of direct leads for client.
  • Week 2 was about capitalising on the momentum created in the first week. It was about pushing a strong call-to-action and driving listeners to contact Old Mutual. This was done through endorsements / live reads by the same presenters who had hosted the competition the week before. They highlighted the best stories of the previous week and reinforced the benefit of starting to save and invest. In addition, a high frequency schedule of recorded generics carried the same call-to-action.

The Results

The stories were what made this campaign work, proving that radio is the most personal medium.

Everybody has a savings or investment goal and we immediately relate when we hear others talking about their goals. The beauty of this campaign is that the inspiring goals coming in kept the presenters interested and ensured that they didn’t rush to get through the execution as quickly as possible. As a result, thousands of qualified, direct leads from all sections of the market as well as a massive increase in volume of incoming SMS traffic to the Old Mutual call centre has been achieved.

Learnings

Old Mutual’s Thembeka Ngugi says; "Our objective was to engage South Africans from all walks of life around the importance of saving for your financial goals. It is a subject that can easily inspire and motivate. We understand that radio is the ideal medium with which to engage people on issues which really matter to them. By getting ordinary people to share their goals live on air we helped create compelling and meaningful content for the stations.  Once you’ve connected with listeners on an emotional and meaningful level they are far more likely to respond to your generic call-to-action message”.

RAB Commentary

It’s truly encouraging to see a client like Old Mutual who appreciates that consumers are people too. And that in order to entrench their brand philosophy and generate leads, they need to go beyond the 30” and engage the listener via compelling on-air content.

 

 

*Campaign was conceptualised and executed by Ultimate Media and Carat

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