You’ve got to love radio. What other medium promotes itself with “commercial-free” programming blocks, enticing listeners to stick around with the promise of no ad spots?
Although the ads are downplayed, the promotions most certainly are not. And since the line between advertising and programming is so often blurred, who needs commercial breaks anyway?
PROMO spent three hours listening to a half-dozen stations running the gamut of radio fare: news (WABC 770 AM, WCBS 880 AM), sports (WFAN 660 AM), Top 40 (WPLJ 95.5 FM, Z100 100.3 FM) hard rock (KROC 92.3 FM), and oldies (KOOL 96.7 FM), along with a handful of others caught in passing while spinning up and down the dial. Being patient during the exercise was an arduous task: Station-hopping has become so involuntary that it was hard to resist flipping as soon as an ad began.
Music and talk stations averaged three breaks per half-hour, while the news networks broke every five minutes or less, but had fewer spots per break. All told, we heard 53 dedicated spots, 19 of which contained promotional messages.
But that doesn’t include the significant amount of ad copy now being read by on-air personalities, who often can turn an erstwhile 30-second spot into a four-minute monologue. National jocks such as WFAN’s Don Imus and KROC’s Howard Stern shilled for such advertisers as Jeep, Snapple, and Ginsana as if they owned stock in the companies.
Promotional messages are also multiplied by the numerous “sponsored” programming segments such as WFAN’s BMW of Westchester Traffic Report and CBS’s Wall Street Journal Business Report.
Automotive dealers were prevalent. PROMO recorded six different brand offers, each of which ran multiple times. Mitsubishi pitched its No Excuses 2001 Clearance Sale on news and talk stations, New York-based Toyota dealers dangled $2,500 trade-ins on music networks, and Saab pushed a summer lease deal.
Among other noteworthy promotions was the Nextel Grand Slam cell-phone calling plan providing 1,000 free minutes (on CBS), local sports shop Golf More’s promise of four free tennis balls with purchase (through the voice of FAN’s top sportscaster, Mike Francesa), and Goodyear’s Tour America tire sale incentive of $50 in gas with purchase (on both those stations).
Elsewhere, Courtyard Marriott used voiceovers from former talk-show host Dick Cavett to entice the business crowd on WCBS and WABC with Come Out & Play, a special rate program for Thursday-to-Sunday stays. And A&P supermarkets showcased its title sponsorship of the annual A&P Tennis Classic, adding extra attendance incentive by bringing in performances from such musical acts as The Doobie Brothers and Huey Lewis & The News.
Rolling the Dice
Contests abound. WFAN, KROC, and Z100 all ran spots for Heineken Presents the MP3.com Live Tour, a June-through-August tour with performances from popular local bands. Evian ran spots inviting listeners to register at evian.com for a chance to meet The Backstreet Boys on Z100, which itself pitched exclusive screenings of upcoming movie release America’s Sweethearts and a related contest giving away a trip to the Hyatt Regency Las Vegas Resort.
Coca-Cola’s Pop the Top campaign was ubiquitous (as it was in almost all other media), with the primary pitch being a $5,000 prize for the winner to arrange his own “concert of a lifetime.” Supermarket chain Stop & Shop tacked its own promo onto the spots, encouraging customers to use their frequent-shopper cards to buy Coke and score a chance to win New York Yankees tickets.
Locally, 95.9 FM pushed Alive at Five, a local concert series sponsored by Stamford-based Guinness, which offers free concerts as well as contests awarding trips to London and Las Vegas.
We could use a commercial break.
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