CPR Promotional Check-Up - Jan 5, 2016

Performance Rooms

For about a two year period in college I went through a Rocky Horror phase. (Please, shut up) The coolest theater I ever saw it in was in Monterey where it there were no chairs or seats, just big throw cushions.

Like many of you, CBS/Las Vegas has a performance room....but like the joint in Monterey, they have big cushions called Love Sacs that they cover the floor in for the guests to crash out on and watch the performances.

This is Bel Boschi, CPR Director of Computer Stuff test driving a Sac.

Chalkboards

There are some stations that really stand out when it comes to what they put together at concerts and events. Carina with IHeart in Phoenix is outstanding. AMP in Orlando. LFM in San Diego. And Taryn Stephenson with Z-95.3 in Vancouver is amazing, and most of the stuff she and her crew make by hand.

Here are a few things the station has done to pop on-site:

One of the best things we bought was an inflatable logo that lights up. It was custom made by a company in Montreal. They even make inflatable tents which also look really rad.

I LOVE these teardrop banners for so many reasons but mostly when my team takes them out of the stand and waves them like flags. Our largest is 25 feet high and I wouldn't go much taller than that unless you have a super industrial stand because they catch the wind and off you go.

We build this chalkboard for $73 and haul it to heaps of events. People LOVE writing on it and posing with it.

Along with our giant chalkboard we made these small ones for next to nothing and for the last two years they have had various hashtags and song lyrics written on them. Listeners LOVE to pose with these!

Generating Buzz, Loyalty & Facebook Hits

The best way to get the audience to notice you is to do the unexpected. Flip the billboard (The River in Nashville). Fall asleep on the air (102 Jamz in Orlando). Get stuck in the elevator and do your show from their on the live security cam. (Wild in SFO). The regular stuff just blurs together eventually. The curveballs are the stuff that might sneak through their radar. (Your audience gets hit with 2500 advertising messages a day in a 2002 study. Perhaps three impact and they're rarely traditional)

Another way to get attention for what you're doing? Sue yourself. Yep. Hot in Ottawa created a guy named John who sued the station to halt the Fugitive. It was the catalyst that lit a fire under the thing and gave them some juice to end it strong. KUBE in Seattle? Created "Stop Hurting Innocent Turkeys", gave interns signs and picketed the station to get press for a Thanksgiving bit.

One of the competition night guys who goes back away with me has someone crazy who is hounding him on the air and especially on Facebook. And, as you would expect, the listeners are coming to his defense. Not mean or a jerk...just nuts. And people have stopped "using him" passively. They're coming to his defense. They're activated.

Is this real? I think so. But...it doesn't have to be. Create someone crazy and give the audience an opportunity to rally 'round you. Though, FB posts about club gigs and rehashed celeb news that you could get from 28,000 other sources on line is pretty cool too.