03 June 2016
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Radiocentre UK is making marketers see radio differently
 

This week’s egtabite brings you an innovative way to grab a client’s attention to radio as an advertising medium ... make their senior marketing execs the subject of the content itself!

Radiocentre, the industry body for UK commercial radio, came up with a "personalised" radio campaign that sought to persuade a range of marketers to invest more in radio and to see radio differently. Sharing this case with you is part of our ongoing initiative to spread great cases studies about the power of radio advertising - Share the Radio Love!

Background

Radiocentre’s mission is to help advertisers get the most out of radio advertising. Making marketers understand how using radio more ambitiously can help make their brands more famous and more fame means greater profits. Radiocentre’s approach is very innovative, as they decided to use radio advertising to make a number of marketers - who are reluctant to invest in radio - famous within the marketing industry.

The concept

With the help of the agency Lucky General, Radiocentre developed a set of personalised radio campaigns aimed at well known senior marketers. First in the spotlight was Keith Weed, CMO of Unilever. The ad and featured marketer were deliberately kept under wraps until the first spot aired to help demonstrate how radio advertising can create fame. During breakfast shows across a number of stations a 60-second spot with a rap song was played where a hip hop artist raps “you can be the leader, Keith Weed from Unilever”, persuading Weed that radio is “OMG to the FMCG.” The spot ends with a call to "see radio differently at Radiocentre.org"

This bold move by Radiocentre was received well by Mr Weed, who thanked Radiocentre for reminding him of the power of radio and mentioned that he received many calls and emails from people who heard it. 

In response, Unilever also put together a short video that it posted on its PG Tips account showing the PG Tips monkey rapping and inviting Radiocentre to #keepittea. The video was then retweeted by Weed.

The second target was Craig Inglis, Customer Director at the retailer John Lewis. His ad was a ballad, taking its inspiration from John Lewis’s famous Christmas TV ads. The jingle includes the lines: “Craig Inglis, where have you been, we thought we’d lost you. It’s been driving us mad, brought tears to our eyes, we’ve been so sad. Why don’t you give radio a go?”

The campaign also received a positive response from Mr Inglis, who posted a picture of Monty the penguin, John Lewis’s mascot, mentioning that he loves radio and that he might spend more on it next year. 

Additional executions, aimed at different marketers and using a range of musical genres, will be released in the coming weeks. The campaign is supported by outdoor, online and print advertising, as well as social media. It also has a dedicated microsite at radiocentre.org

Lucy Barrett, Client Director at Radiocentre, said: "Sometimes marketers overlook commercial radio in favour of newer and seemingly shinier channels. Frankly, this is crazy, as a record 35 million adults tune into commercial radio every week, providing advertisers with the opportunity to engage a huge chunk of the UK population with the brand.

"We think this campaign is a great reflection of our industry. We don’t take ourselves too seriously but it is a very personal medium and audiences have a very special relationship with their station. This campaign should get radio talked about in the right arenas."

Why does this matter to egta members?

This is a simple but effective idea that really plays to radio's strengths. Although it reaches millions of listeners every day, radio remains a uniquely personal medium, as much an ever-present friend as a source of information or entertainment.

What better way, then, to make a personalised call to the people who ultimately decide media strategies than to reach out with a radio ad.

Imagine trying to do that with an online banner ad!

   
Target: Radio
 
 
Background info
 

Please click on the links below to access the relevant documents:

» Radiocentre website (please click here)

» Press articles (please click here, here, here)

 
Download in PDF
 

Please click here to download the PDF version of this egtabite.

 
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