The power of purpose

A serene photo of Oxford since Glee photographs appear to be under strict copyright.

Mr Glazier, a teacher at my old school liked to embarrass us in front of our classmates. I guess it was character-forming.

One morning I crept in with a note from my Mum, having been off sick for a few days. Taking my seat in the classroom, Mr Glazier turned to the room and called, “Stephen!”. The class fell silent. “It’s clear from this note that your mother is a teacher. She can correctly spell diarrhoea!”.

Mr Glazier would also instruct “you have to know where you’re heading before you set out” which is as true in life as in the chemistry experiments he taught.

And so it is with the best promo campaigns. The real winners start succeeding even before they’re made. They’re not just creatively brilliant but built on a good strategy.

From the outside, Glide FM’s celebrated launch campaign in Oxford seems a good example of a promotion that knew very well where it was going. Its one purpose: make some noise.

Above all, its strategy was about awareness. Not repositioning or hours building or driving trial, just the singleminded pursuit of awareness.

Glide chose August for their launch when fun media stories are at their easiest to place (although what Glide achieved was remarkable) and a tactic that was calculated to be talkable, generating word-of-mouth among the likely target audience. After that everything else followed.

All the successful campaigns I’ve worked on have been driven by a singleminded strategy and the troubled ones often characterised by muddled thinking, too many stakeholders or uncertain objectives.

Here’s something I learned years after Mr Glazier’s lessons: if you ever find yourself producing creative work to a confused brief challenge that brief again and again until it’s truly focused and singleminded. It can mean some difficult conversations but invariably will be good for your creative, your listeners and your client’s results.

Forward promotion

I’m pleased to say that some of the brains behind the Glide FM launch, Ian, Sue and Sophie, will be telling their story in the September edition of the Earshot Creative Review. They might even explain to this somewhat off-target consumer what the Glee phenomenon is all about.

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Time for more change

The radio news in our little town of Petersfield (population 13,000) is that our local station Delta Radio is to merge with its counterpart, Kestrel FM, in Basingstoke, some 23 miles away.

The story is captured by the spoof news site, Petersfield Newswire.

A few years ago, a botched plan to move Delta Radio to Andover was reversed after protesting listeners put posters on lamposts in Petersfield that read ”Have you ever been to Andover?”

Now the Tindle group is having another go.

Merging with a neighbour seems better for listeners than the alternative – handing the licence back to Ofcom – as it retains the same amount of choice on the dial.

But community groups in the area will still be blocked from developing radio services part-funded by advertising here even though the population served by the the newly-merged station will be greater than 150,000.

This is because the merger of Delta and Kestrel is actually a “relocation” with the combined station operating through two discrete licences, retaining a local breakfast show and split ads. Some will argue this demonstrates a loophole in the legislation.

Of the two parties in this merger Kestrel is the stronger. It’s better-performing and is in a more populous TSA. It gets to keep its name. Delta changes. You can compare the audience performance for Delta Radio with that of Kestrel FM. Despite the overall figures, Delta is very popular in Petersfield. You’ll hear it playing in shops, cafés and taxis far more than any other station.

Local listeners here have become used to change in their radio with most of the other commercial FM stations available in Petersfield passing through some kind of rebrand in the last year.

The interesting but idiosyncratic and underperforming Original 106 became the rather lovely The Coast, Ocean became Heart (you know how that goes) and Power FM turned to Galaxy in a slightly clumsy but ultimately successful rebrand. Only Wave 105 has maintained a consistent identity.

So there’s every chance that Delta can survive its rebrand but it will require careful on-air implementation, visibility in the town and an honest respectful approach to listeners who will find Wave 105, Heart, Coast and BBC Solent all waiting to welcome them if they feel duped.

Unfortunately the person best placed to lead Delta listeners through the change, breakfast host Stuart Clark, has already departed the station.

Picture: St Peter’s Church clock in the centre of Petersfield. It’s nineteen minutes past ten.

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How do you feel about radio?

Two radio blog posts reached my eyeballs this evening.

One is an articulate, properly-researched essay, setting out some challenges that face radio in the UK. The piece runs to what looks like a couple of thousand words, quotes primary source data and extrapolates thoughtful analysis into resigned conclusion. It has lots of charts.

The other is a short effervescent explosion of excitement, fresh from a product launch.

I recommend you read them both. Then decide which mood to choose.

You could choose to bemoan the state of the radio industry. In fact, go further and take pleasure in its travails while wallowing in a warm bath of righteousness.

Or decide to do something about it.

People thrilled by the potential of new technologies, who enjoy trying out new stuff and who are committed to improving radio for listeners are shaping the future of our industry already. And they seldom have time to write 2000 word essays.

The author and marketing guru Seth Godin puts attitude at the top of his hierarchy of success.

So what shall we be tomorrow? A ‘glum’ or a ‘get-it-done’?

Photo: Show us your smile by dotbenjamin on Flickr. Used under CC licence.

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