CHICAGO -- Radio is offering brand marketers more unique value-added opportunities than ever before. By garnering the support of an on-air radio personality or taking part in events hosted by the radio station, brand marketers can encourage or influence consumer trial of their product. A bonus is extending a national promotion locally by working with a specific retail chain. That's how two media executives, speaking at a conference here, explained how to create targeted, value-added, tie-in promotions with local radio stations. The executives were David Perlmutter, director of sales promotion at Evergreen Media's WLUP-FM and WMVP-AM radio stations, Chicago, and Karlin Linhardt, now staff director of strategic marketing at McDonald's Corp., Oak Brook, Ill. Linhardt was formerly region manager for Busch Media Group, Chicago, an internal advertising and media service for Anheuser-Busch. The conference on value-added radio advertising and promotion was hosted by The Marketing Institute, a division of the Institute for International Research, New York. Radio stations in the 1990s are transforming themselves from media providers to marketing partners, according to Perlmutter.
"In the 1970s, added value was in packaging. You buy this campaign and we will throw in some spots. In the 1980s, we became merchandisers. We used tickets to entice a radio buy. Now we don't just sell spots and don't just give away tickets or T-shirts. We understand our bond with listeners and their brand loyalty," he said, "and we know how to carve up and package that to meet the specific needs of our advertisers." Linhardt had been frustrated in dealing with other media suppliers who didn't have a realistic idea of where they fit into his plans for Anheuser-Busch. "The entire focus of their presentation was their goal -- a dollar goal rather than understanding our internal advertising group," he said. "We were open to new information and ways of looking at objectives. We have a good idea of what is going on in the market, and we expect people to have done their homework." He explained some of his operating philosophy while with the internal agency for Anheuser-Busch. "It was our business to plan and purchase media for Anheuser-Busch brands," he said. "We were not an advertising agency with a stable of clients, but we felt we should have multimedia partnerships. I would look at a radio station and say, 'I want to own this station.' When consumers listen to this radio station, I want them to think of our brands. As much as possible, I wanted to own Brandmeier [one of the most popular disc jockey personalities at WLUP-FM]. That was a very demanding position. We got first crack at a lot of things that came up. Negotiations were quite intense," Linhardt said. If radio wants to be a marketing partner, the station needs to capitalize on the consumer power of its listeners, according to Perlmutter. "Get them out to retail. Get them to events where the product is served. There is no direct correlation between rating points and [product consumption]," he said. Anheuser-Busch made a significant annual dollar investment to the radio station as part of its partnership, Linhardt said. "It was something they could bank on, and we could bank on the excellent promotion support they gave us. We were a high maintenance client," he said. Perlmutter said the objectives sought by brand marketers in a marketing partnership with a radio station such as WLUP-FM are brand awareness, repositioning
of a brand, product introduction, product sample/trial or product sales. The radio station has its own agenda, he added. "This is what we have to accomplish. We need to generate revenue from spot sales. We need to provide appealing, quality programming which meets and exceeds our listeners' expectations. [WLUP-FM], "The Loop," is a singular radio station. We have three successful and prominent radio personalities: Kevin Matthews, Danny Bonneduce and Jonathan Brandmeier. They have become very unique and powerful vehicles. They generate and maintain successful ratings, and they can build brand awareness and consumer loyalty," Perlmutter said. Radio stations can no longer just sell time to their clients, he said. "We have to give back value to the companies that employ us. We have to provide information and opportunities to take part in the growth of the station. We are looking for non-traditional opportunities," Perlmutter said. A value-added opportunity can take the form of a remote radio broadcast, sponsorship of events, sweepstakes or a giveaway of a trip or cash. To be successful, a giveaway should be exciting, exotic, expensive, a limited edition, unique or otherwise unattainable, Perlmutter said. For example, the radio station gave away items taken from Comiskey Park, where the Chicago White Sox baseball team played, just before it was demolished, he said. "We needed to do things that Budweiser believes in. We offered listeners the opportunity to meet [Chicago] Blackhawk [hockey] players at practice. That would generally not be available to our average listener," Perlmutter said. In its marketing partnership with Anheuser-Busch, the radio station has also done retail promotions, according to Perlmutter. "We can extend a national program locally," he said. "We can create something for a specific chain, and build programs that will draw consumers to the display or provide employee incentives. Our personalities are available to do sales meetings to help motivate the sales staff." The Bud Lite Spotlight was a national program that was extended locally and customized with local radio personalities, he said. The radio station attracted listeners to specific local retailers in another promotion, the Bud Light Couch Potato, featuring the morning radio personality. "We suggested listeners visit the retailer and sign up for the opportunity to star with [our morning radio disc jockey] in a Budweiser commercial. This ran about four weeks," he said. Listeners went to the stores to fill out entry blanks. There were about 750,000 entries. Of those, about 30 people were selected to tape a Budweiser commercial with the radio personality at a key Budweiser account, he said.
