CPR Promotional Check-Up

Taking It Live...And Not In A Remote Way

One of the clients hit me up for a hot weather idea a couple of summers ago. They were in the middle of an unprecedented heatwave. So, in a stunt that was a precursor to the Wired 96.5/Philly Scabies Bit, they had the jocks talk for three days about how the AC was f'ed up and the studio was like a sauna. On Friday the morning show was nearly passing out. Seemingly on the spur-of-the-moment, they decided they couldn't take it anymore and asked if there was a listener who had a pool and would let them relocate the station to it for the day. They had food and beverages arranged ahead of time, they showed up and invited everyone in Salt Lake City to come and beat the heat for the day as they lounged poolside, did games and broadcast until that evening when, miraculously, the AC was fixed and they could move back to the studio.

DVD's Or STD's

Sometimes we can forget what it's like to be, well, normal. To go to a job that we hate. To have to pay for movies, CD's and concerts...things that we just take for granted that we'll get for free. DVD's fall into that category. They're not cheap. So a free DVD is a hot prize. But just don't do a Free Movie Weekend. Yawn.

95.7 Jamz in Birmingham took my suggestion and did "DVD's Or STD's" as a weekend contest. The hourly caller spun a wheel and got to choose between whatever STD it landed on, or, the hot new Jackie Chan DVD. Funny. And memorable. Which are good criteria for a weekend contest. Most weekend promotions are pablum. By Sunday night your listeners will have already forgotten what you did for a contest. My guess is that there were more then a few people in Birmingham who went to work on Monday and said, "Did you hear that shit that Jamz was doing?"

Another station gave away "Star Wars: Attack Of The Clones" DVD's by doing "DVD's From DNA" as their weekend contest. They had a mad scientist locked in the basement with the only copy of the DVD within 1000 miles, and he was busily cloning copies for on-air giveaway.

There's more, but Fed Ex just arrived and I'm hoping that they're bringing my DVD of "Nudes On 'Ludes: The Directors Cut."

Something For Sales

With the economy in the states, well, just so darn strong, there suddenly seems to be a glut of TV advertising for tech schools and other institutions reaching out to people who are either out of work or looking for a new, hopefully more stable/profitable career. What if you did a Back To School (Again) Career Fair? All the tech schools and community colleges and other programs with booth space in a mall or convention center. Maybe book a speaker or two. You could even get some financial institutions involved.

The F Word

One of the CPR stations is running a promo that warns parents that this weekend there will be FLAGARENT use of the F Word. And that they had better be ready to lunge for the off button on their radio. Tragically, the F Word stands for "floating". All weekend the station is doing free (whoops, there I go again) passes to go innertubing on a river. Next weekend? The letter "V".

Photographic Evidence

Whoever is out at the beaches and pools should ALWAYS have a camera for taking tons of pictures of the listeners. Upload them. Have hundreds of pics on the website. People will tell everyone they know that they're on a website and will forward the link to all the people in their address book. Because most of your listeners will never ever be on the internet. We take it for granted. For the average person? It is a huge huge deal.