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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Words

Here’s a visual treat that promotes / celebrates / deepens the impact of a radio programme called Radiolab which is made by WNYC, the arts-influenced public radio station in New York city.

Hear the radio programme here.

The film is attributed to Will Hoffman and Daniel Mercadante at Everynone and has bounced around the internet for the last few days.

You’ll notice it’s not smothered with overt branding. WNYC is the kind of station that appeals to people who like to work things out for themselves.

Isn’t it great that good radio inspires people to be creative. And even better that this creativity has, in turn, introduced new listeners to the radio programme.

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Listen now

We all know that a good way to drive trial of your radio station is make it available in a new place. That’s what Classic FM has done with its current advertising activity across the Culture section of the Telegraph website.

Not just The Telegraph mind, but it’s Culture section. You’re trying to tell me this is a classy station, right? Beyond the upmarket association it gets even better. The call to action on the banner and the elegant right column ad is “listen now”.

A couple of clicks (not sure why it couldn’t be one) and you’re enjoying sweet classical music while browsing through the arts pages of the online newspaper.

When you finally stop reading the Telegraph, Classic FM stays with you because it’s running on a separate pop-up window. It’s a neat execution that’s only missing a “bookmark this” link on the player so you can find it easily again on another occasion.

If we want to make listening to radio while browsing the web a habitual behaviour for a few more people this is a great way to go about it.

And it needn’t be the preserve of national brands like Classic FM.

If you’re running a local station you could offer a similar service to non-profit community groups whose websites are a local resource. Or why not make carriage of your station part of a deal with a local advertiser?

The advertiser adds your station to their website and in return you offer them a few more spots. You could even customise the code so their own ad formed the pre-roll audio.

I’d be interested to see examples of where this is happening already so if you spot any do send them my way.

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Six words

This morning I rediscovered a TalkSPORT keyfob given to me by the station’s Head of Creative, Peter Gee. It was left rattling around my desk at work and I really should have taken better care of it.

You see, this keyfob is not just what Ideal Home TV might call “a personal security management solution” but is a lesson in brevity.

Unlike a lot of radio station merchandise it boasts no promotional strapline nor unsubstantiated claim. Just the TalkSPORT logo and six nouns that act as a frame of reference for the brand.

They are:

• Football
• Beer
• Women
• Cars
• Dogs
• Sheds

and they say all you need to know about TalkSPORT’s brand personality and the passions it shares with its listeners. Taking this approach the station has no need to live off the virtues of its personalities or the number of live Premier League matches it has secured rights for this season.

And ‘sheds’. That genius word neutralises all the lads-mag baggage of the previous five.

So what six words best describe your station?

It’s useful to have a clear idea of your brand’s frame of reference that’s separate from the functional detail of your content, especially if today’s Rajars weren’t exactly what you were hoping for.

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