CPR Promotional Check-Up - Aug 25, 2020

Mask ‘N Robbins

98.9 The Bull in Seattle and KS95 in the Twin Cities are doing Cash Mask and incentivizing the use of masks by awarding $100 to people who share a photo with theirs.

When I was little for about four years they thought I was diabetic. Seriously. Insulin and all that before they changed their minds and said “Whoops. Our bad. But he’s still weird and should probably find a vocation that fits that level of immaturity.” So while all my friends were getting addicted to sugar, me? Not so much. I honestly don’t like ice cream but I also understand that I’m weird and everyone else does.

So what if you did the mask promotion and pay off with Baskin Robbins. Which is kind of what Star in Knoxville just did with Pint-Sized Heroes. Show off your little volunteer and brag about the cool stuff that they’re doing to win Dollywood tickets and BR for a year.

Tickle Our Ribs

Conversely, I do love me some ribs and would most assuredly text in a joke to win dinner for two. From JACK in Halifax.

When else would be a good opportunity to award meat……?

Labor Day Weekend

Call your favorite grocery client now because for the final weekend of the summer, he who hath the mostesth meat shall winneth.

This is going to be a little different from past Labor Day’s what with school still being up in the air in some markets. In Sacramento, the vibe is “backyard pools”. So 101.5 K-Hits is imaging it as having relocated away from the station to their personal pools and will be providing the music for everyone else to join in and splash to.

What about using this as an opportunity to give shout outs to people who have to work holiday weekends like frontline personnel. And the people who got scheduled.

I’m In Labor Day Weekend This is an excellent name for several promotions -

For an on-air weekend giveaway have people call in and “birth” their prizes. The jock should be the birthing partner and assist by offering support and telling when to push and breathe. The prize shouldn’t be pre-promoted. It should be announced after it’s birthed, i.e.: “Congratulations Mark! It’s a pair of tickets to Taylor Swift” LOTS of you have done this methodology and had a blast. There’s nothing better then listening to a guy try to fake giving birth. Again, don’t say what the prize is until it’s been expunged and wiped off.

A couple of stations in the chain have had people call in from the delivery rooms on Labor Day Weekend to welcome their most recent acquisition/tax deduction with a dedication on the air. I was at Wild 94.9 on Labor Day and they were doing this. It sounded awesome. And that’s the goal for all promotions, isn’t it? You can compile all of these dedications and greetings and present the new parents with a file, along with diapers and other baby-related prizes like a free photo session at Olin Mills.

Labor Day Triple Play KLUC has embraced the Art of using three songs played in a row as the cue to call. Menage A Gaga and The Bieber Triple Play come to mind. One of the stations did this last year for Billy Joel tickets. Tie in the birthing and deliver triplets. Since there are no/few tickets right now, three of anything would work.

The First Labor Of The Weekend 102 Jamz in Greensboro had the morning show out at the hospital to welcome in the first baby born on Labor Day Weekend. Besides some prizes, they presented the parents with a bouquet of balloons and sent them and the baby home in a limo!

An End Of Summer Weekend Like your “Spring Cleaning” contest, 102 Jamz in Orlando took this opportunity to blow out all of the summer prizes like can coolers, frisbees and tank tops that had been piling up in the prize closet.

Labor-Free Day Power 96 in Miami awarded temp service to one of their at-work listeners so she could take that Friday off and get her own four day weekend. A station-to-remain-nameless is going to play off the “take the day off” vibe and will be going to houseparties with food and will be setting up and mixing. Again with social distancing and remote officing, this would need to be re-tooled a little.

Making The Labor Less-Laborious One of the stations did this in 2017. Basically all the winners got packs of prizes that made their eight hours of drudgery at work, a little easier. This could and should include a back massager, lunch delivery, a pound of coffee, maybe earbuds so they can listen to the station (“I was told that I could listen to the radio at reasonable volumes”) and maybe a fitness club membership so they can sneak out at lunch and work off the stress.

A Virtual Beach House You don’t actually have to have a physical house to capture the vibe. Both Power 96/Miami and The Beat/Austin did theater-of-the-mind Beach Houses that gave them a great holiday sound. KLUC did one to start Summer 2001 and Power in Miami did one for several years in a row.

A Beach Broadcast Where does everyone in your town flee to over holiday weekends like the Fourth of July and Labor Day? That’s where you need to be. It would help round out your on-air sound. For the people who get stuck in town and can’t get away, you’ll provide the coverage of what’s happening out at the beach. You don’t want to blow off the parks and pools, this would just be another aspect of your on-air sound.

A Gas Giveaway Taking over a gas station on Friday and filling everyone up as they head out of town would be a homerun. If you haven’t done this before, give me a holler.

This is, again, a weird Labor Day. But it’s still a three-day holiday and too good of an opportunity to break from routine and have some fun.