Making (Air) Waves
Agencies using media to promote is nothing new. But media forming promotion agencies is a groundbreaking innovation. “It’s a whole new concept in this business,” says Alison Glander, president and ceo of Chancellor Marketing Group, Midlothian, VA.
New or not, it works. Chancellor Marketing, with 23 branch offices, is the spawn of Chancellor Media and its 110 radio stations. In three years, it has achieved a record of creating national-caliber, locally executed promotions. A contest for New York City-based B&G Pickles breaking this summer features a grand prize of a week’s stay in a “live-like-a-star” mansion in the Hamptons. A campaign for Stein Roe Mutual Funds, Chicago, pushes a fund targeted to college tuition-starved parents on the backs of Quaker Oats cereal boxes. And there is that huge billboard in Dallas for Korbel Champagne that is counting down the seconds to the millennium via a digital read-out.
Point being: Chancellor uses the whole promo bag of tricks; it’s not just a shill to sell more radio spots.
“Regions are key to our success, moving the promotion from market to market,” Glander says.
So how did the media/promo company concept catch on? Two things happened simultaneously, says Glander. First, marketing clients were searching for what she calls “the Holy Grail” of integrated marketing and weren’t finding it. Second, those clients realized that, rather than getting ads from one source and promotion from another, it was possible to get both in one place, mainly because of changes in the media industry itself.
“Consolidation made it possible for media to be big enough to invest in offices, in operations, in people, in creative, and in research, so that we could become a real factor,” Glander says.
The nature of radio, she allows, provides some allure. “Everyone wants to be on the air.”
Even Pizza Hut. The chain’s Midwest regional marketing manager, Eric Rosenthal, tapped Chancellor to help him out of a frustrating situation: Though he was showing a rise in per-capita store sales last year, his region was ranked only 15th in growth chain-wide. Chancellor quickly got a promo out in Chicago that offered a free White Sox ticket with the purchase of a large pizza. A second ticket was free if the pizza was purchased with the Discover Card, a tie-in partner. A hit, it was next deployed in Kansas City, Minneapolis, and Milwaukee, using the Royals, Twins, and Brewers. “We actually had 25,000 White Sox tickets redeemed,” says Rosenthal, “an incredible number.”
By the end of the fourth quarter, Rosenthal’s region had moved from No. 15 to No. 1. “They spent a lot of time trying to understand what my objectives were and came back with ideas that focused on what I wanted, rather than trying to sell me media,” says Rosenthal.
Chancellor Media’s huge bank of radio time makes promotion an attractive business to be in. Chancellor Marketing showed net revenue of $23 million on billings of $29 million in 1998 because of its ability to offer media time at a discount, or barter it for labor, prizes, or licensing fees.
For the future, there’s a new account with Motorola, a grassroots effort just starting to break in seven key markets in the Northwest and Midwest, where Motorola has partnerships with cellular providers. There are new accounts with Liz Claiborne cosmetics, AMF Bowling, and community work including a cause-related program with General Motors called Concept Cure.
“What we’re trying to do is see that clients can have the best of all worlds, whether they approach us directly or through agencies,” says Glander. “We have barely begun to tap our potential.”
Tune in later.
CBS/Infinity Promotions Group, another radio-promo network, will have 25 offices open by the end of ’99.
