CPR Promotional Check-Up - Sep 21, 2021

First Crack At Thanksgiving

Here are the things that Radio will usually do for Thanksgiving:

• A food drive
• Turkey giveaways with Turkey Tag or paintballing a DJ dressed as a turkey or a 100 other methodologies
• Morning show topics about drunk relatives, “bombs” that get dropped at the table and a 100 other subjects like recipes.
• Imaging and graphics
• A gallery contest based on old family photos or sticking a wattle on the family dog
• Tanksgiving where you fill cars with gas on Wednesday.
• Being at a club on Wednesday night which is usually one of the top three club nights of the year
• Feeding people who have to work on Thanksgiving
• Dropping all of the auto-post stuff because for 72 hours, no one will actually care that a Kardashians blooper episode is planned for mid-March
• Being out at retailers on Thursday night and Friday
• Kick off the Christmas promotions with some tree giveaways

Okay, now let’s go and work the list:

Food Drive It can be done but with thought and preparation for collecting. KLUC in Las Vegas is going to be doing the Chet Buchanan Toy Drive but it has been examined and tweaked and the safety of the listeners and the staff is priority #1.

Even in a vibrant economy, asking people to text a code and make a cash donation is “meh”. You need a visual and you need a reason. A morning talent staying on the air for 72 hours is “good”. Doing a drive thru event with music and activities and photo opps CAN be done.

Just don’t get on the air and ask for food with no real “reason why” people should give it to you. Email me. I’ll help. A food drive in 2020 is needed.

Turkey Giveaways Hells yeah. Start hitting up clients now. Stingray in St. Johns and Summit in Knoxville have been doing grocery giftcards as “Fill The Frig” and the response has been fantastic. Ya think?

But have a vibe. Have some fun.

Morning Show Topics Absolutely. Add a video element. Zoom the team making each of their mom’s iconic dishes. Bring in the listeners. Create a recipe book. Do “Family Court” and have the listeners mediate a family battle prior to everyone getting together. There are so many comedic elements with Thanksgiving. Go crazy.

Imaging And Web Graphics Easy Peasy. No brainer. And I have tons of samples.

Gallery Contests Since March these seem to have increased in numbers and quality and participation from the audience. Your comedic foils are food disasters, road trips, relatives and sweaters.

Tanksgiving This is doable because the DJ or promo person do the pumping and there’s no personal contact with the people in the car.

Night-Before Club Night This could be hard. So do your own nightclub and Facebook Live it. Brandi On The Mike did quite a few FB Live mix shows from her garage in San Diego early in the pandemic and she had huge numbers. But it was more than just a mix show. She had props and lights and dancing and costumes.

Feeding People Who Have To Work On Thanksgiving Generally this has been done by some promo team member who got stuck in the market and couldn’t fly home from college for the long weekend. Won’t happen this way in 2020…but…we (Radio) have done a TREMENDOUS job with honoring frontline workers since March. So, there’s your play. Share a pic of a loved one who is on the job with law enforcement, at a hospital, a first responder, or just the poor shlubs having to work the front desk at the Holiday Inn. Random people are picked for giftcards so they can have a free meal with their family at a future time of their choosing.

Social Media Same as any other year and could be logged in and scheduled in advance. But have some stuff that you can ask that will engage people to respond. “What relative traveled the furthest?” “Inappropriate things that were said at dinner.” “Hot cousins.”

Being Out At Retailers Doubtful. But you have to acknowledge the Black Friday story. That could be done on social media and with imaging and with reports from listeners. Or, you could create your own mall and support local businesses.

It’s GOT to be more than just a page with links to retailers to shop. Have a floor plan. Cheesy Muzak. A security guy on a Segway moving around. I can click on the Yarn Barn logo and be at their site and shopping in .8 seconds.

Beasley in Tampa is one of those stations that has done a TERRIFIC job of supporting local businesses during COVID.

Kicking Off Christmas Christmas starts on that Saturday. Pretty much everything we’ve done (imaging, graphics, weekend contesting) is the same except for events like lighting the local tree, or maybe delivering trees.

It will be “different” but there’s no reason you should miss Thanksgiving in 2020. There are enough audibles that you can call.