CPR Promotional Check-Up

Rise And Shine Campers, It's Groundhog Day!

Not today, but Friday. The "DJ coming out of a manhole cover" bit had already worn on my by the third time I saw/heard it done which was in 1989. There is a bit that I've probably thrown out on this forum before. And I'll tell it to you...if you tell me...according to the beady eyed customer at the car lot in the movie "Fargo", Jerry Lundegaard is what? Shoot me the answer here nwcpromo@earthlink.net and I'll reciprocate with a bit that always blows up the phones.

1 Watt Of Flamethrowing Power

I was on the phone yesterday with one of the PD's and we were reminiscing about our mis-spent youths. He was telling me about how he ran his own radio station when he was ten. Using his father's CB radio. And that dad was less-then-thrilled with the project. Which reminded me of one of the more brilliant marketing tools I've ever heard of.

Danny Buch was with Atlantic Records for an impressive 21 years. And is also one of the nicest guys I've ever met. When Plant & Page were getting set to tour in '94, Danny went to a Radio Shack and bought a one watt transmitter. Just powerful enough to cover a neighborhood. He created his own little radio station and at every stop on the tour, broadcast Plant & Page music from the arena parking lot to the people coming to the show. He had interns with sandwich boards posted along all the avenues leading in, telling people to tune to 91.3 to hear some great music.

Later, he did the same thing to the mass of commuters backed up waiting to get through the Holland Tunnel. He played A Tribe Called Quest's new CD to the motorists and again had interns with sandwich boards spreading the word.

My point? What is coming up that you could send a remote radio station to? The Superbowl? Spring Break? Grad Weekend at the beach?

Cheerleaders In Wet T-Shirts

I love cheerleader car washes. Young nubile girls, frolicking with hoses, stray suds adhering to their tight wet shirts, cleaving to their...uh...nevermind.

As a van driver back when you could still tell the uniformed attendant "Fill it up with ethyl, and check the coolant while you're at it Jimmy" I once was cruising down France Avenue in the WLOL van on a warm June day. Up ahead at a service station, tank-topped girls were standing along the side of the road, with home-made signs written on pieces of cardboard, directing people to come in, get their car washed and support the Edina High School cheerleaders. They had me at "hello". I swung in and while the girls scrubbed and sprayed, I took a stack of stickers and worked the line of cars. I did a call-in and put some of the girls on the air, and after some quick noggin in the back of the van, left them with some stickers and cassettes and took off. I've been a fan of these things ever since. This was politicking a radio station at its most grassroots level. A five minute van hit and these kids were fans for life.

Again, my point? I was just dealing with a CPR station that needed a promotion for a chain of restaurants to run during the, anyone?, summer. So what we're going to pitch them is that they use their parking lots as locations for these fundraising car washes. A different school at a different location, every Saturday, all Summer. Besides the obvious benefit of being able to hang out with cheerleaders, it's great visibility and an instant hook for the next time you have a client with multiple locations who needs something that draws people in.