 For this week’s egtabite, we highlight just two of the great radio case studies that were presented at egta's November Radio Sales & Marketing Meeting. With a powerful brand and an audience of more than 8 million weekly listeners across the country, Radio ENERGY (NRJ) Russia is a major radio force, and the broadcaster places much emphasis on its advertising and promotional activities beyond the 30” spot. During the meeting, Denis Serikov, Managing Director of Radio ENERGY, presented the following example of the work he and his colleagues are developing.
With over half of its ad revenues coming from non-spot, NRJ Russia – operated by Gazprom Media-owned Prof-Media – has a proven track record of delivering innovative concepts for its partners. In 2013, NRJ developed more than 150 special projects for clients, ranging from simple ideas to more complex concepts, and the broadcaster draws on the strength of the NRJ brand across the listener demographic 12-39 years old.
KFC – dance classes
 NRJ’s clients were looking for something special, over and above audio spots, particularly in an age of information overload. A key part of NRJ’s solution for KFC was to reach out to the target consumers wherever they are.
NRJ created a major national event and competition around dance classes. Following a survey amongst users of the popular social network VKontakte, NRJ identified Hip-Hop, Go-Go and Jazz as the most popular dance forms. The campaign included on-air content in the morning show, online activities and in-store promotion, with the main message being an invitation to win free dance classes for a year. An external agency partner worked with NRJ to deliver dance events in seven cities, bringing local dance celebrities on board for the project.
Results
- Awareness for KFC’s iTwister increased 33% in two months
- 17% of the target audience tried the product
- 27% reach achieved in the target audience (radio & online)
- Over 600 user photos and videos posted, more than 6,000 interactions (liking, posting, commenting)
- More than 500 participants at dance classes
The success of the project for KFC led to a three year relationship between NRJ and the fast food chain, including further events, demonstrating the potential long-term benefits of delivering innovative non-spot advertising solutions.
Going viral
 Following a promotional campaign that NRJ carried out for Daft Punk’s hit Get Lucky, where the broadcaster invited the Russian Police Choir into its studios to record a cover of the song, KFC approached NRJ to see if they could turn the popular video into a viral campaign. Using simple overlaid graphics, the campaign was spread virally by KFC throughout its social media network, and the client was very happy with the results.
Paramount Pictures – Transformers
NRJ also worked with Paramount to promote the Transformers movies three times. For the most recent Transformers film – Age of Extinction – the special project NRJ Selfie took the brand out of the radio studio and into the movie theatre, with models of the dinosaurs from the movie set up in more than 200 cinemas. Listeners who submitted selfies with these monsters had the chance to win a trip to China, where part of the movie was shot.
 The movie proved very successful at the box office, although it is hard to assess how big an input the NRJ campaign had. However, working alongside such a huge brand as Transformers definitely boosted the radio station’s profile and audience. It was also the first time Paramount made a trailer for the movie with NRJ branding, and this was played out as a spot in cinemas.
Innovative ideas for major brands
During the egta radio meeting, Denis Serikov presented a number of other great cases, including work for Lenovo, Nike, Apple’s iPhone 5, Fender Guitars & X-Box and Sony’s PS3. The full presentation of these cases can be found here (egta login required).
Why this matters for egta members?
NRJ and Prof-Media demonstrated that with some creative thinking and by developing deep relationships with client brands, radio can reach its audience far beyond the 30” spot, or even its own programming air time.
Campaigns can be complex or simple, big-budget or small, but by truly understanding advertisers’ needs and the dynamics of their target consumers, radio broadcasters and their commercial teams can deliver highly effective solutions that augment radio’s pure advertising effect, complement clients’ other trans-media communications and – ultimately – bring additional revenue streams and long-term partnerships. |
