CPR Promotional Check-Up - {date: M d, yy}

CPR Promotional Check-Up

Thursday, February 14, 2008

Gown Town

This started out as a community thing that Drew Fleming got Wild 98.7 in Tampa involved in. A local organization was collecting promo dresses, cleaning them and then distributing them to low-income girls so they could afford to attend their big dance. How warm and fuzzy is that?

As they so often do, KDWB took this to a whole new level. Kris Cegla named it Gown Town and they did a month-long campaign of collecting old promo dresses. At clients. At the station. Pretty much at everything the station did. A client needs a promotion? Stick a barrel there and tell people to go and drop 'em off. They incentivized this so that if you came by Blockbuster and dropped one off during the remote, you got, say, some free video rentals. All the dresses (and there were a TON) were laundered and cleaned by a client.

Then came the big event. The station got some empty retail space at a mall, set up rows and rows of racks hung with the dresses and when they opened the door, a Filene's-type stampede of bargain hunting girls rushed in. Dave Ryan shot video one time and they had it on the website. Personally, I'd rather have raced bulls in Spain then tried to fight that mob.

I think the most expensive dress was like $20, all the $$$ went to the station Family Fund and they still found a way to get free dresses into the hands and onto the torsos of low income girls. They took a breather from it last year because of other obligations but it was always one of their biggest events. Which is saying something. If you want to do this, March would be when you'd want to start collecting, which is why I throw this out now.

Mr. Gavin

There are few universals in life. Generally people like pizza. You'd be hard pressed to find a person who doesn't like watching films. And every highschool has a "cool" teacher. The night jocks I know who are massively successful (Jo Jo, Strawberry, Tigger as examples) all have something in common: they are phenomenally tapped into school life. They talk knowledgeably to the kids. You call Tigger and he asks you what school you go to, and you say Edina, he'll immediately say "Home of the Hornets! Go green and gold!" Suddenly he's differentiated himself from all of the dispassionate, distanced DJ's out there. You need to know this stuff. Who the cool teacher is. Who the dick asst. principal is. Who the class clown is. That stuff. And don't forget the hot teacher. Every school has one. Which leads me to...

Ms. O'Brien

Sixth grade, Wooddale elementary school. And my class got this fresh-out-of-college, blond, pink cheeked creation named Ms. O'Brien. My guess is that over 80% of my male classmates had their first (mental) sexual encounter with her. (Not me. I'm saving myself.) How hot was she? All of the guy teachers would make a point of stopping in our classroom just to make sure she was doing all right and to be there if she had a question.

So...my friend Mike runs into her at the fitness club. She's now in her early 50's and still has that 1972 thing happening. In a word? Hot. Still. He swears he's going to ask her out. And knowing Mike, he will. (When he finally writes his letter to the Penthouse Forum, his will be the one that has zucchini mis-spelled.)

My point? There's a bit here. Find a guy (or a girl) who has un-satisfied fantasies from many years ago. Use a search service, track down the teacher and if they're single, play matchmaker.

CPR Promotional Check-Up

Wednesday, February 13, 2008

Smooookkinnn'

Proving once-again that AC can be fun and that I'd really like to work for this guy, comes this "official" announcement from the Star 102.1/Knoxville''s VP/GM. Here's the script:

Good Morning. I'm Chris Protzman, General Manager of the Journal Broadcast Group. As of today, October 1st, all workplaces and restaurants in Tennessee are non-smoking. No longer will diners be subjected to second hand smoke and its dangers while trying to enjoy a meal. As this country becomes more and more anti-smoking, progressive businesses are taking the lead in protecting their customers and employees. With that in mind, I have decided to implement a non-smoking policy for Star 102.1. Starting at this moment, Star 102.1 is smoke free. From this point forward, we are requesting that if you have Star 102.1 on in your car, you do not smoke. With new technology now in place, we will be able to determine who is smoking while listening to Star 102.1. Our advanced HD broadcast equipment is also able to inform us if someone is smoking in a vehicle while tuned to Star 102.1. After January 1, 2008, we will disable your car radio if you are smoking while listening. Until then, you are on the honor system, but we will contact you by cell phone to ask that you not smoke while listening to Star 102.1. Also, if you decide not to honor this request, you will be banned from calling in for any contests, requests or morning show segments. This may seem like an extreme measure, but you will thank us in the future because it's for your own good. We thank you for your participation in this exciting new initiative and welcome your comments this morning at 656-7827. That's 656-STAR... but remember, don't call if you're smoking. Thank you and have a smoke free day.

A Drinking Game For Oscar Night

Every time a winner thanks God, do a shot.

Win A Tattoo That Can Start This Harley

One of the Citadel stations is getting ready for their annual Harley giveaway. Stage one is picking a female audience member to be their spokesmodel for the contest, and then they qualify a dial position number of listeners and have them, at least in the past, turn keys. What if, at the final event, everyone signs in and reaches into a bowl and pulls out a temporary tattoo and sticks it on their arm. There would be a dial position number of designs so they're all not the same. On cue, have the spokemodel come out wearing a bumpersticker over her cleavage and peel it off to reveal a tattoo. Whoever's tat matches hers, wins the bike.

Rock 102 in Fargo just gave away their Man Cave by having Hooters Girls step out of a hottub in wet t-shirts. Each girl was assigned to a qualifier. One of the wet t-shirts revealed "You Won!" under it.

CPR Promotional Check-Up

Tuesday, February 12, 2008

The Fugitive(tm)

Lots of people are, wisely, planning Spring Book promotions right now. After a flurry of Fugitives a year ago, the chase went on pretty much of a hiatus for the Fall. But my phone has begun blowing up with stations wanting to do it for the Spring. If it hasn't been done in your market, shoot me an email and we can talk and I can walk you through it.

It's what Radio used to do when Radio was Fun. Before "The Incredible Free Money Birthday Game". It embraces Theater. It gets the audience, even the passive-users, playing along and emotionally involved.

And with a nod to the present, it drives webhits. WDJX in Louisville got one million hits in four weeks. That was a bit of an anomaly, but they will go up ridiculously.

When we first did this at Wired in Philly, it was pretty "contesty". DJ's read the clues. It was large but each station has put their own fingerprint on it and it's really evolved into a monster. When it's over, you'll want to take a day and lay in bed in your pajamas with feet in them, drinking malt liquor and watching "Clarissa Explains It All".

The premise? The station has a huge cash contest about to pop. Don't get specific about how you're giving it away. Just that "this Friday morning someone gets $5000 (or $10,000)".

And of course, the money gets jacked. Either on the way from the bank or from the GM's safe. Someone calls in with their voice digitized, taunts the morning show, offers to give the money back if someone will just ask. The chase is on.

You want to un-brainwash the airstaff on how to sell a promotion. They can't give it a quick 5 seconds once an hour. It needs to own the station. They don't refer to it as a "contest" or that "we'll have a winner." This is a chase and there will be someone who gets the reward.

What makes this a "10" is what you do between the clues. The curveballs. The things you to do tazer the audience and get their attention. Go and watch "The Fugitive" or "Ransom" or pretty much any crime thriller. And rip off the clichés. The car chases. The traced phone calls. The insider. And make sure that you are constantly putting visuals up on the website. Surveillance video. Photos of a paint scrape on the side of a drive-up payphone. A strand of brown hair found in a hat that was dropped at the morning guy's home.

The toughest part for most stations is choosing who your Fugitive will be. They don't have to do anything other then just lead their life and lay low. Which is easier said than done.

The Fugitive(c) has become one of those things that spiraled out of control and I've become the Unofficial Fugitive Coach. Because you need one. The stations that screw it up are the ones that just stick it on the air and read some clues. Email me at nwcpromo@earthlink.net and will let you know if it's available in your market and how we can go about getting you a contract to do it.

CPR Promotional Check-Up

Monday, February 11, 2008

Selma Diamond

What's better then getting on the air and spending 40 minutes rehashing ad nauseum the previous evenings' American Idol? Mock it. Parody it. That's always the best way to acknowledge a media phenom without becoming total shills for it. From Yankee Pete with Ace & TJ at Kiss 95.1 in Charlotte:

"Twist on American Idol we did this morning. Thought you might enjoy it - Chain Smoker Idol. Callers who have been smoking for years (the best was a 43-year-old guy who's been smoking since he was 8) and sing a piece of a song of their choice. Smoker's voices are funny. That's all there is to it."

Which of course can only be spun into Retired Asbestos Plant Employee Idol. Or maybe Have Lived In An Apartment At The End Of The Runway Since 1967 And Suffer 94% Hearing Loss Idol.

There Is NO Right Answer

Another bit from Ace & TJ at Kiss 95.1 in Charlotte, where they did Guess Your Spouses Weight for VD, two years ago. A (relieved) winner took his wife to dinner and a concert courtesy of the station.

Hugely Popular In Prison

Dave Ryan once did something called "Two Nude Dudes In A Bag" or something like that. Q-104 in Halifax did "Brokeback Valentines" and had two nude male friends in a sleeping bag for the morning show. They had to change positions several times. Payoff was Motley Crue tickets. Why? Because we can.

CPR Promotional Check-Up

Friday, February 08, 2008

Love Predictions

When Radio started using psychics back-in-the-day, it was really compelling. Cool questions. Some drama. Really kept you glued to your radio. 99% of calls now are so basic and stereotype that really, anyone can be a radio psychic. In fact, get me wasted and I'll do my dead-on impersonation. The standard question goes something like this: "I've been dating this guy for 17 years and he keeps saying he's going to leave his wife, and next month he was supposed to take me on a business trip with him to Hawaii. But last night he called and said that he has to go to Atlanta with his wife to see their son's doctoral thesis presentation at Emory. My question is, is he ever going to leave her?" The answer of course is "No, you homewrecking skank."

Surprisingly, considering that so many of the calls are about love and romance, I've never heard a station do a Valentines-specific psychic bit. Vic Bullis is OUTSTANDING. Reach out to her at vicbullis@aol.com. Her website is www.victoriabullis.com.

Instasong

This is pretty damn cool. Mike McVay shares www.instasong.com. You go and create your own music. Perfect for Valentines Day. Which is nice because Hallmark doesn't have an "I Guess We'll Just Have To Be Friends" section that's geared towards old exchange students.

Short Attention Span Romance

Yet another Valentines option would be to introduce a couple on the morning show, have them go through all the stages of romance: introduction, getting to know each other, lunch, movie, dancing, break up in afternoon drive and never see each other again.

"The Moment Of Truth"

Mauler from Hot 89.9 in Ottawa has a pretty good instinct for what will be big TV shows. He's jacked about "The Moment Of Truth" which is the lie detector show that debuted on January 23rd. This has "Morning Show Bit" written all over it. Challenge is that most polygraph specialists consider themselves to be artistes and have little or no discernable sense of humor. Next option is to get one of those voice stress analysis cell phones.

And what better day than Valentines Day?