PROMOTIONAL ADVERTISING: Hot Air

Posted on by Chief Marketer Staff

South Norwalk, CT-based Beiersdorf, Inc. washed a lot of faces that fans never see this summer.

The company ran a So Refreshing radio-and-sampling campaign for Basis Facial Cleaning Cloths using on-air personalities to drive sampling traffic. Before the promotion broke in June, Beiersdorf gave Basis cloths to DJs in 10 markets to try for themselves. That way, the company had genuine endorsements lined up by the time it broke 60-second spots timed to sampling events at beaches, concerts, health clubs, and theme parks.

“Some [DJs] got very irreverent. It makes it more fun,” says director of marketing Irene Valles, who especially liked the play between morning teams “where the man would say, ‘I used it to wash my dishes,’ and the woman would say, ‘No! Here’s how you’re supposed to use it.’”

Endorsement radio adds a promotional twist to an old ad medium. It goes beyond ad copy read live by bringing brands and DJs together and letting consumers listen in for the results. The trick is matching the right on-air talent with the brand — and managing myriad local deals in several markets.

A handful of agencies specialize in this kind of radio promotion (not to be confused with stations’ own promotions, which usually are handled in-house). Specialty shops including CRN International, Hamden, CT, and Source Marketing, Westport, CT, work directly with stations, fostering relationships that serve brands better than straight ad buys.

“On-air personalities become spirited endorsers,” says Source president Howard Steinberg. “The sincerity and credibility quotient goes way up.”

Content-driven promos also help “break through the barrier to media budgets,” Steinberg adds. “That’s a big step to integration.”

Beiersdorf’s campaign also used daily on-air contests giving away a $400 swimwear shopping spree at ujema.com (each station got one winner), Basis gift bags, and tickets to local events. The first flight ran June 11 through July 8; the second flight is Aug. 6 through Sept. 2.

Throughout the effort, Basis proofs of purchase were swapped for discounts at theaters, health clubs, and concert venues. “The promotion gives it spin, but retail is the crucial part,” says Valles. Source handles radio and sampling.

Also key was engaging the on-air personalities whose opinions register with women 18 to 34. Source hand-picked from station stables based on daypart, ratings, demographics, psychographics, and the DJs’ personalities.

The shop negotiates directly with stations, starting with the ad sales staff and progressing to the promotion director, programming director, or general manager. “It’s a tedious, laborious process,” says Steinberg. “The good thing is, ad agencies don’t want to do it.”

Basis sister brand Nivea ran a similar campaign in 1999 to launch Nivea Visage Q10 Wrinkle Control cream. Women DJs with strong female listenerships used the cream for four weeks, then spent minutes (not seconds) describing how their wrinkles were disappearing. Consumers called in, took a skin-care quiz, and learned where to buy the product. The radio program delivered 41 percent more gross rating points than Beiersdorf bought — in essence, $1 million in free media. Sales volume was 32 percent higher than projected. Unit sales in campaign markets rose 40 percent over total U.S. year-ago sales.

When Trumbull, CT-based Unilever’s Ragu launched Cheese Creations sauces last year, it catered parties for DJs and station staff to prompt on-air endorsements. CRN handles. Upcoming parties for Hormel Foods, Austin, MN, also via CRN, may invite listeners and give them a moment at the microphone.

CRN has staged on-air product demos, too. When Procter & Gamble, Cincinnati, launched Downy Wrinkle Releaser spray, CRN got DJs to try it live, then describe how it worked. A 14-market promo for Montvale, NJ-based Reckitt-Benckiser’s Lysol spray had DJs disinfecting their mics during cold and flu season. (CRN’s weather and flu tracking services let the agency time promo flights to flu outbreaks or snowstorms for skiers.) “The idea of them spritzing all over was fun, and it was good radio,” says CRN president Barry Berman.

Radio has such diversity that there’s something for everyone. That gives it great reach, says Berman.

“But why try to motivate consumers in the runt part of the marketing litter — the commercial spot sets — when you could be outside that?” Stations run up to 12 consecutive minutes of advertising, and up to half of listeners switch at commercials, he says.

Brands generally negotiate up-front with DJs to speak positively about their experiences — and to not mention the bad ones.

“You need to discuss how much latitude you give announcers,” advises Berman. “You go from a 100-percent controlled ad environment to a space where you don’t have total control. By being up-front about your expectations, you can head off trouble.”

CRN deals with 1,200 to 1,300 stations a year and has blacklisted only one for continually failing expectations.

Source, which deals with hundreds of stations each year, also gives strict copy guidelines and checks performances. “You don’t want a personality running rampant with your brand,” says Steinberg. “There’s a fine line between off-the-cuff and being negative. We make sure people have a good experience [with a brand] before they go on the air.”

Besides, DJs are professionals. “They know they’re getting paid and they know their experience has to be good,” says Steinberg.

Retail Jocks

Radio promos are good leverage with retailers, too. Few grocers will give merchandising support for mere on-air mentions; after all, they’ve been getting 30:30 spots from manufacturers for years. But if a marketer can demonstrate that a radio-based promo will boost store traffic and awareness, retailers will pitch in added display or other in-store support. A brand’s sales force is key to getting that support, so it’s important that they understand the campaign, Steinberg says. Source often accompanies brand reps on sales calls.

Sometimes the retailer is the client. In May, TD Waterhouse tested a guerrilla campaign on eight stations in Dallas, Sacramento, Grand Rapids, MI, and Washington, DC. The discount broker opened $500 accounts for DJs to complement a month-long slate of daily contests designed to boost traffic to its offices. Listeners in Grand Rapids and DC won global positioning systems with locations programmed in. In Dallas and Sacramento, Waterhouse gave away golf balls on the street, urging consumers to take them to an office to putt for a $1 million prize. The company may expand the program in 2002. Source handled.

DJs sometimes teach marketers how to position a brand. When Houston-based Compaq rolled out iPAQ last fall, it gave the Internet appliance to DJs in 18 markets and signed Circuit City, Best Buy, and CompUSA for in-store demos. DJs talked on-air about how simple iPAQ is for e-mail and Internet surfing, and a few mentioned that they’d given it to their parents. Sell-through more than doubled, and sales started spiking even before in-store demos began. Even better, the insight helped Compaq identify ways to compare iPAQ to a kitchen appliance: easy to use, less intimidating than a computer.

Almost as easy, say, as using a radio.

Fine Tuning

Here’s some advice for making the most of on-air mentions, from CRN International president Barry Berman.

  • Get the right voices

    Choosing the most appropriate personalities is critical. Look for DJs with “the right attitude toward your product and the right sway with consumers. Not every popular personality is a respected personality.”

  • Keep track of performances

    “Our staff knows all the DJs in the top markets — who’s controllable, who’s not; who’s a shock jock, who’s a dud.”

  • Spell out what you expect

    CRN trains announcers and station staff early on so they know what marketers expect.

  • Work directly with stations

    Media rep firms’ main interest is selling air-time, but “the commercial is the least important part to the audience.” Negotiating directly with stations and DJs gets you what the brand needs — which may or may not be commercial time.

  • Do air checks

    “You have to listen, listen, listen” to see what (and who) is working. Scripted copy points sounded too much like paid advertising, so CRN scrapped them in favor of DJs’ own words.

  • Embrace effusiveness

    Legally, marketers must be careful what kinds of claims they make in paid ads. But if a DJ exhorts, “This is the best spaghetti sauce in the world,” who’s to argue?

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