CPR Promotional Check-Up - Jun 7, 2012

The Exit Poll

In the PPM Wor...nevermind. It's nice to see that old bits still have legs so-to-speak.

The Vikings have been threatening to leave Minnesota for LA if they don't get a billion dollar stadium. It's been kinda heated with every TV camera crew in the state parked at the Capital covering the debate. Chris Hawkey from KFAN hauled out The Exit Poll yesterday afternoon and this morning. Very simple bit that is great street marketing and also sounds amazing on the air.

It's simple; you park your vehicle at a major off ramp (exit) with a sign that asks people to honk their votes on a candidate or issue. In this case, once for a stadium, twice for LA. You check in live as a cacophony of horns blare in the background. And the visibility during rush hour doesn't suck.

And Steal This One While You're At It

Fishing for diaries and meters is just that; throwing out a big net and seeing what you pull in. It's easier to find them when you go out and hit some of the parts of the market that are essentially ignored by everyone else. In the Twin Cities there are 11 counties that are rated and most stations focus all their efforts on just three of them. So we would send the vehicles out on slow days to places like Hudson and Zimmerman and Hutchinson. Cruise around. Hit the school. Get in their face.

The Wolf in Greensboro has been doing this for five years as The Home Town Handshake. They'll go out to one of these communities, cook hot dogs, feed people, do some contests and politic the station as if it was a congressional candidate. Great bit. Do it.

Cinderella Story

One of the stations has a very cool trip for four to the Maxim golf classic. Q-104 in Halifax did perhaps my favorite golf contest. Didn't involve direct mail or database or texting. They did "Closest To The Pinhead" and dressed the morning guy in full pads and a helmet and stuck him out on a driving range. Hit him and you won.

Club Games

Kiss in Boise has a booth at an upcoming beer fest. Which, by the way, would be one HELL of an NTR event if no one in town does one. Admission is free. You buy tokens which get you four ounce samples from local breweries. 15,000 people show up. Yow.

Anyway, they wanted an activity at their booth. More then just stop and register for something. And really? Any of these could be done at a club.

• Spin The Human Bottle. One of the Rock stations has a giant tequila bottle costume. There are round "lazy susan-ish" things that sit on the ground. They're used for sensory integration therapy for children. Lay a promo person on it, spin and whoever they point at wins.
• Have drunk people tell jokes. Video them. Post the vids under "Brew Ha Ha" and the audience votes for the most humorous lush.
• Dave Ryan did something called "I'll Drink To That" which to-this-day cracks me up. Co-host went to his Saturday night club gig and recorded drunk people saying stupid stuff. He then had them blow in a breathalyzer. Monday they played back the drunk audio and people called and guessed what they blew.
• As a theme, Dave did The Offensive T-Shirt Party. It was ribald tomfoolery...until Steve wore his shirt in the station.
• At PXY in Rochester, club games were determined by the street-teamers and what they said were the big drinking games in the dorms. (And who would know better?)
• Beer Goggles. Get shop glass goggles, Vaseline the lenses, and let men pick out their dates and dancing partners that way.
• Beer Finder was something I've done at clubs and at fairs and other outdoor events. Ten listeners. Ten cans of beer. One of which has been shaken to near-exploding. One by one they open them next to their head. The sprayed person is the winner. Great video op.