CPR Promotional Check-Up - Sep 21, 2015

Lemons/Lemonade

Sometimes the best marketing you can get is done by the people who are most vehemently against it. So when KUBE dropped turkeys from a helicopter, we created a visual with members from an animal rights group called Stop Hurting Innocent Turkeys picketing the station. (Interns) PETA got on board and the station got TV on every station in the market.

Much like the flying cats thing in Atlantic City. They would never have gotten TV in Philly and news paper coverage if PETA hadn't lost their minds. And again, they never once were worried about that cats; it was the sea life. From Joe Kelly:

So, on my way to the park… I get a call from my GM…. He's getting calls from from the State Police… We don't have a permit… they will block access to the park…. We will be arrested for trespassing. Meanwhile, we are on the Environmentalists' (bad word) list and calls are coming in all from all over the country….

So…. I go on the air and announce that we're not releasing 107 balloons with cats…. Just some balloons and one cat! I phone in some reports about where the cat was seen…. We end up at the parking lot of the big local mall, throw a promotions person in our cat mascot costume, hand her some balloons…. In a few minutes people show up take pictures, tweet, and game over.

Meanwhile, the TV station was at the park interviewing the cops and the environmentalists , then they came over and interviewed me, with video of our cat bouncing around with balloons. (I kept saying, "I can't believe not a single person complained about the cats….)

Now the environmentalists are all praising us for our caring, and promise to love us forever.

So, we got a lot of people to listen, more facebook and twitter followers, and a spot on the news in one of the Top 10 markets in America.

And, we saved some (bad word)sharks that will probably bite my leg off in the future.

18 Things You Should Get On The Streets For Halloween

Please note that none of these are a club event. Because it's assumed that since every bar on the planet will be doing something for Halloween, so will you.

Trick Or Tweet Have instant updates on best houses for candy, themes, decorations and also neighborhoods to ignore because everyone is out.

Worst Of…. Every year some local publication invariably does a "The Best Of…" issue and has the readers vote on the "best" in seemingly 300 categories. It's usually a pretty big issue for these papers or magazines. What if, for Halloween, you mock it and do a "Worst Of…" poll on the website. Or "Scariest" poll. The scariest movie theater. The scariest public bathroom. The scariest place to go on a first date. Scariest hotel room (shameless plug) http://hotelnightmares.com Etc.

Ghost Tours From Chet Buchanan at KLUC in Las Vegas: We've done ghost TOURS with Spivey. Three listeners…three houses…with three ghosts or whatever…and a bus load of people (properly, uhhhh…lubricated) who experience it all firsthand!! Edited the next morning for Halloween. Huge!! Did it the last couple of years….

Better Then All Christmas Music? There's a Christmas format station (sometimes two) in every market. A few of the stations have hit major homerun stunts with going All Thanksgiving for a day…before realizing their error and switching back. Why not "All Halloween" for a day? "Thriller" over and over. Why? Why not? Or, at 6 pm, go all "mood music". Be the background sfx for thousands and thousands of homes where people will be handing out candy. Go to the Halloween aisle at Target. They have cassettes and CD's of this stuff. Why not give it to the audience for free? 6 to 9? That's some killer TSL. GFR in Buffalo and FGR in Grand Rapids both did this in '09.

Haunted House PatrolIf there are a multiple Haunted Houses going on around town, then take a "high school football" approach to it and be on the road every night, doing 30 minute van hits at as many of these as you can. And don't forget the out-lying areas. In smaller communities there are often civic-sponsored Haunted Barns and stuff that a quick van hit would have a tremendous impact at.

The Virtual Haunted House Y-94 in Fargo did this and a bunch 'o stations jumped on it. Everything you need to be scared spitless, in the privacy of your own home, right there, on your website.

Pumpkin DropsHot 102 in Milwaukee did the best as far as I'm concerned. They found a 400 pound pumpkin and hung it 102 feet in the air from a crane in a mall parking lot. All week people were encouraged to go by and fill out their guess as to how far the farthest piece of pumpkin would splatter on impact. The closest guess was going to win a $1000 shopping spree in the mall. The day of the drop they did the morning show from the location and they "miked" ground zero to truly capture the essence of the stunt. On impact the farthest piece flew 122 feet! Cool. (Though it "flowed" more then it "flew")

Q-104 in Halifax did it to award a trip to the Playboy Mansion.

Pumpkin ProcrastinatorsOn the 31st load up the van with pumpkins and set up at an client, handing them out to the people who'd either forgotten or waited until the last minute.

Visiting HospitalsThere is no warm 'n fuzzy that's warmer 'n fuzzier then visiting sick kids in the hospital. Get the airstaff, dress 'em up in costume and have them deliver carved pumpkins and goody bags of coloring books and games to kids. Blaine, Lisa, Alyson and the rest of the airstaff from WDVD in Detroit did this in '08.

Visiting OfficesI'd been at Wild in SFO maybe two weeks when Renee Taylor had this idea: she wanted to dress up and along with some costumed interns, take her mid-day show live to a series of offices and workplaces. It turned out HUGE. At every office they did bobbing for apples, had some cider, ate some candy, did some other thematic stuff and then moved on to the next location. And Allison the intern dressed as a harem girl, which is a story in itself. Fritsch did this as a drunken bridesmaid at Q-104 in Cincinnati and Hot 96.7 in Mankato send Kelsey and Audra out in '13.

A Party For Military Families Do something for families who have deployed parents. Maybe a private party with pumpkins and candy and food and games for the kids.

Be Safe And Be SeenAnother risk for trick or treating is the dark, and the fact that kids are hard to see. Giving out reflective strips for the kids to put on their clothes would be one thing to think about. Extreme Radio in Hawaii got thousands of logoed xyalume light sticks (those things you crack and shake and they glow green) at the New Years Eve N'Sync show. You could do the same thing on Halloween. Hang them on strings and the kids can wear them around their neck and be visible to traffic. Call your specialty item person and see what they can hook you up with.

Pre-BooKUBE in Seattle has had one of the largest haunted houses every year in that city. A couple years back they hosted a gala grand opening the night before the house officially opened. For media and clients and their kids, they called it a Pre-Boo Party and saved a thousand or so guests from having to stand in the rain to go through the place.

Treasure HuntThe weekend before Halloween, instead of doing hourly contesting, do an on-air treasure hunt and offer hourly clues. These are great, but seldom used weekend promotions. Too bad. They can be huge. Wild hid a purple egg on Easter weekend once and the prize was a trip to see Prince in concert. With this holiday, maybe hide a skeleton somewhere in town. The thematic opportunities boggle the mind. For a Grand Prize, maybe send them to Mardi Gras, which is kind of the King of all Costumed Events.

Halloween Home Invasions Jamz in Orlando did this in 2000. It's the old New Years or Super Bowl promotion, but morphed for October 31st. A Grand Prize winner had WJHM arrive at their home with all the fixings for a kick ass Halloween party.

Crypt Crashing There are going to be TONS of Halloween parties on Saturday the 25th, so you should be out crashing them. Like what Z-102.9 in Cedar Rapids did last year using this moniker.

The Ultimate Crypt Mock MTV and do a home makeover under this umbrella.

Pet Costumes Done at Alice in Denver and KDWB in Minneapolis. This usually draws a good crowd. Freaks like me who dress up their dogs.