I remember in the not so distant past watching a TV spot for a radio station with all of these smiling, happy, racially mixed Up With People clones dancing on the street and raving about the station. And I looked at them and thought, “They flew in models from LA. Because I’ve met their listeners and those ain’t them.”
I kind of feel that same way about when stations will get an artist to cut drops like, “Hi, this is Farrah Abraham and when I’m squirting in Scandia, I only listen to K-Paige.” Yeah…….right.
Promotions is the Art of getting people to notice you and if everyone is getting shills to talk about how much they love you, then, well, do the opposite.
Welcome to “Undorsements”.
This is the concept that instead of trying to lure people in with the glitz of famous attractive people, find individuals who would probably never give you a quarter hour and have them trash you. The concept being, “If Cletus hates K-Paige then they MUST be doing something right.”
My baptism to Undorsements was when I worked at Emmis in the 80’s and they had a TV campaign personalized to Hot in NY, KSHE in St. Louis, Power in LA and my station in Minneapolis, all with “celebrities” talking about how they wouldn’t be caught dead listening to the station. Tiny Tim. Slim Whitman. The Lennon Sisters. Critic Rex Reed sneering “Listening to Hot 97 is only slightly more painful than sitting through the collected works of Cheech & Chong”.
Over the years I’ve found various outlets for people to bag on my stations. Why? Because in the ever so homogenized industry, different will stand out. And stations that get noticed win.
There are other ways to use this theory to promote yourself.
When you do a promotion, imagine, “Who would hate this. Who would be so against it that they’d email everyone they know and tell them about it?” And then press release them. When we launched the strip club format in Denver, I emailed Focus For The Family as a concerned member. When we did the All Chinese format in Norfolk, I contacted Fox News and veterans associations. When Hot in Ottawa gave away a baby, they contacted churches and conservation family groups.
Why do all the work when someone else will passionately do it for you.
Undorsements: as Brad Hamilton said in ‘Fast Times At Ridgemont High’ – “Read it, learn it…live it.”
Last Tweets