CPR Promotional Check-Up - Aug 12, 2015

My Mother Would Be So Proud

Grand Old Day is one of the million festivals that permeate the Twin Cities during the Summer. About 300,000 people on 18 blocks of Grand Avenue in St. Paul on a Saturday. (And yet, some stations ignore it)(Genius).

KDWB had a music stage in one of the parking lots and there, in front of it, stood a mentally handicapped young man in shorts and a straw hat, dancing to the music. Even when there was none. And because people are polite, they steered clear of that stage. They stood way back at the street or walked on by.

I would find a promo person who can turn it on and off and have him dance in shorts, with his underwear showing, in a REALLY small shirt from their station, in front of their booth. They can't make him leave. That would be, just, well, mean.

Family Forty Packs

One of the stations has forty tickets for one winner to one of the premiere entertainment venues in the world. (I'll let you try to figure out where that is.) The park wants on-line. So the entry form will be a blank family tree. You fill it in with the names of everyone who would be going. And the on-air promos will feature actual clips of pukey competitors doing "family four packs". Tag line? "Because size DOES matter".

The Family Section

Station-to-remain-nameless has a NASCAR track that wants a promotion. NASCAR is like football or hockey or to a way lesser degree, baseball. As a parent, I'm going to be a little trepidatious(c) about bringing the Paigettes to sit, surrounded by drunken foul-mouthed louts(tm). The Minnesota Twins have a family section. No alcohol. It's VERY popular.

So we pitched that at the track and they freaking loved it. File this for the next time you have a client like this; anytime you can help make them more accessible to a broader audience, they'll love you.

Campus Invasions

The students will begin filling the dorms in a a couple of weeks so now would be the time to start planning.

Z-102.9 in Cedar Rapids was the first station I saw that had everyone (literally, everyone on the staff) at UI on move-in day to help greet and carry. Epic marketing. And Erich from Z-94.7 in Grand Forks was the first to broach the area of logo'ed ping pong balls. CHEAP and effective swag. You want something that won't sit in a drawer, and ping pong balls won't.