Spice up Your Spouse
Invite listeners to write or fax your station in 50 words or less why their spouse needs a makeover. Winners could receive things like a pedicure, manicure, hair cut and style, new glasses or contacts and new clothes. Read some of the most creative letters on the air.
Charity Auctions
If your station receives lots of autographed holiday cards from famous performers, here’s a great way to put them to good use: hold an auction at a local restaurant with all money raised going to a local charity or food bank. If you don’t want to sell them, cards can be given away on the air to the Xth caller, or for answering a trivia question correctly. This idea isn’t limited to cards…you can auction off any autographed items your station has.
Mall Remotes
Tie in remotes with a local mall. Develop themes such as lawn and garden, home improvement or gourmet cooking and get sponsorships from merchants in the mall. If the theme is lawn and garden, get sponsorships from florists, lawnmower shops and gardening stores; if it’s home improvement get sponsorships from hardware and lumber stores; gourmet cooking sponsorships could come from kitchen shops or gourmet food stores in the mall.
Oh Yes It’s Ladies’ Night
If you’re a station that targets women, hold a “Ladies Night Out” drawing once a month. Ask female listeners to fax or call in the “song of the day” which is played at 8 AM to enter them in the drawing for a night on the town with five of their friends. This could include manicures, dinner and a movie for the group. Local restaurants, theaters and clubs would make great sponsors for this event.
The Ultimate Redneck Night
Have listeners submit their names for a drawing to be part of the Ultimate Redneck Night. Pick up the winning listener and their date in a 4-wheel-drive truck, take them bowling, have dinner at a local deli or hamburger spot and for dessert take them to Wal-Mart for Twizzlers. You could also have large belt buckles made with your station’s logo on them which the winners have to wear. What’s in a Song?
Progressive Trivia
Set a specified time each weekday morning when a trivia question is asked. Award small prizes to winners Monday through Thursday, telling your listeners to write down the answers to questions from those four days. On Friday, award a grand prize to the listener who can answer Friday’s trivia question, plus give the answers to questions from the four previous days.
A Strip-”Tease”
Have your female listeners call in to register for a night with a stripper for themself and three of their friends. Hold a drawing from the names and send the winner and friends out for a night of wild and crazy fun…with a paint stripper from a local paint store or remodeling company (this could make a great April Fool’s promotion).
Bad Impression
Have a “Bad Impression Weekend” where listeners call in and give the on-air jock their worst impression of a well-known person (this could be a local or national celebrity). If the jock can guess who the caller is impersonating, the caller wins a prize.
WXXX Pays For A’s
Encourage students to get good grades with a “WXXX Pays for A’s” promotion that can continue through the school year. Students who get A’s on their report cards can mail or fax them to your station. Draw names from the report cards and award prizes to students whose grades improved.
Midterm Madness
If your station is located in a college town, contact the local school(s) to find out when midterms (or finals) are scheduled. Team up with local sponsors and put together midterm survival kits to give away to students on the air. Contents could include coffee and a station mug, study snacks, pens, pencils and paper, vitamins, or a gift certificate to a local hot spot for celebrating the end of midterms.
Let’s Do Lunch
Hold a contest for your younger listeners…ask elementary school students to write, in 50 words or less, why their class deserves “Lunch on WXXX.” Read the most creative entries on the air. The winning entry’s class wins lunch from a local restaurant.
You’re Cookin’ Now
Put together a “WXXX Cookbook.” Have listeners submit their favorite recipes in exchange for a copy of the cookbook. Sell additional copies at a local bookstore or at station remotes, with all proceeds going to charity. Make the last few pages of the cookbook tear-outs with coupons from the sponsors of this project.
Rainy Day Pool Party
Host a “Rainy Day Pool Party.” Team up with a local Boys & Girls Club or YMCA so that when the forecast calls for rain they’ll open up their pool tables for the kids. Have someone from your station present to give away hats, bumper stickers and other station paraphernalia.
Fans For Fans
Give away fans with “I’m a WXXX Fan” printed on them. Aside from outdoor events such as fairs and concerts, these work particularly well at nightclubs where it’s hot inside. It gets your call letters all over the place, even if you don’t “own” the event.
Charity Of The Month
Choose a “Charity Of The Month,” sponsored by your station. During that month, sell your station T-shirts with all proceeds going to a local charity. This is a good promotion for stations that can’t justify spending lots of money on shirts just to give away.
Open Air Movie Night
Invite your listeners to an “Open Air Movie Night,” showing films on the side of a building (or hang a large canvas sheet off a building and project onto it). During the next day’s morning show, ask trivia questions based on things that happened during “Movie Night,” and award prizes to listeners who call in with the correct answers.
A Picture is Worth 1,000 Listeners
Here’s an oldie but a goodie! Gather photographs of nice looking men, women and/or families who fit into your target demo. Place their picture in the control room and in front of the microphone so whenever the on-air personalities open up the mike, they can visualize speaking directly to an individual listener. Alternate photos to retain freshness.
The 60 Second Survey
Here is an idea for getting great quantitative and qualitative research information without spending a fortune. Talk to the manager of your local mall and obtain permission to conduct a 60 second survey consisting of seven multiple choice and open-ended questions printed on a small index card. Register those people who’ve completed the survey for a weekend getaway. Have your sales manager work a deal with one of the department stores or cosmetic companies to give away samples of their products as well. Try to coordinate this on a weekend when the mall is having family events or crafts shows, which tend to raise attendance.
Clip Here
Many stations agree that coupon books are a valuable way to promote themselves and their sponsors. Allow an advertiser a coupon or two in your book when they purchase time on the station. Make the books available at participating sponsors and convenient locations in town. To give books extra value, number them and broadcast one daily for a bonus prize. Don’t forget expiration dates and be sure to promote your station, special programming and air personalities on alternating pages.
Co-Operation
If you have an under-performing AM, turn unsold weekend inventory into money with creative block programming! Set up a cooperative arrangement with a local business and allow them to do their own talk show. For example, a local nursery would air a gardening show and pay a flat rate for the entire time slot(s). In turn, you sell time to their vendors as sponsorships (such as plant food companies and lawn care product manufacturers). Vendors who buy time on the nursery show will get better shelf placement in the store. It can be a win-win-win situation.
Friday Flicks
Work out a trade with a local theater and give away pairs of movie tickets every Friday whenever you play songs from movies. Listeners will be thinking about weekend entertainment and they’ll stay tuned to your station to try and win. Give away as many tickets as you like, but limit the number of winners by giving away the tickets to the Xth caller.
Would You Like Fries With That?
Here’s a promotion if your station has a stunt person or wacky air personality. Have the stunt person go to a local drive-thru restaurant, but don’t let your listeners know the location. Invite your audience to stop by drive-thrus and say something silly like “Sam the Stunt Guy is my breakfast buddy.” The first person to stop by the correct drive thru and say the magic words wins a prize. You can invite listeners who stopped by the wrong drive-thrus to call in and tell about the reactions they got from people taking their orders too.
Personal Invitation
A few days before a remote, send a letter signed by the talent scheduled to appear to the zip codes in your database near the location. For example, “I’m going to be in your neighborhood this Saturday at noon.” This personal invite is a great way to increase traffic on remote day. Looking for a different grand prize for a concert giveaway? Award a telephone answering machine with a personalized greeting from the star of the show.
Parties On Pavement
If there’s a big concert or event coming to town, find parking lots near the event and buy the spaces in advance. Then, offer free parking to listeners who display your bumper sticker on their vehicle. The parking lots also make great locations for station-sponsored tailgate parties.
Pulverized Beyond Recognition
Find a local car dealer who takes in competitors’ models as trade ins. Ask him or her to donate a used vehicle to be smashed into a junkyard square. Find a towing company willing to haul the smashed square to remotes for several weekends. Invite your listeners to come to the remotes and guess what make, model and year the vehicle is, and award a grand prize to the best guess. If necessary, use the mileage on the vehicle as a tie breaker. Sell two remotes each weekend for eight weeks to generate revenue.
Stop The Violence
Stopping violent crime has become a priority with both federal and local government. Start a “Stop The Violence” campaign on your station. Work with local businesses and police departments to publicize the campaign and come up with incentives to get people to turn in their hand guns. You can come up with lots of incentives with help from concerned local businesses. Have the guns melted down and create a memorial to victims.
Day By Day
Offer to publish the annual business calendar for the local Chamber of Commerce or business association. List all the key retail sales dates, special town events, holidays, and — of course — your station promotions. Distribute the calendar to every business in your area so it can be posted to provide year- round promotion for your station.
The Beast and The Beauty
Find an old car from a junk yard and invite listeners to come and see “The Beast.” Then, over the course of six weeks, sell remote packages to body shops, auto painters, detail shops, auto parts stores, car dealers, auto repair facilities, service stations and car washes. Have each of these sponsors add a feature or fix something on the car, and remind listeners to come watch the metamorphosis. Invite them to register and listen for their name to be called to win what is becoming “The Beauty.”
A Sweet Promotion
Place candy jars emblazoned with your station’s logo and call letters in businesses throughout the community. Have your salespeople carry candy refills with them as they make their sales rounds. It’s a great way to have people notice the station’s call letters, and a perfect reason for the salesperson to make regular stops at each advertiser.
The World’s Biggest Newspaper Drive
Many charities rely on annual newspaper drives to raise funds. Make plans to set the Guinness Book of World Records mark for the biggest newspaper drive ever. This can be a sales and programming project. Plan a weekend-long broadcast from a client location, and find a moving company willing to donate a semi-truck or two. Find a local charity to provide some manpower and be the beneficiary of money raised. Alert local newspapers and television stations to your plan…perhaps the local newspaper would give you a donation of unsold issues to kick off the drive. Give this event as much pre-promotion as possible so people can stockpile their papers. You might want to have pony rides for the kids, a live band or some other activity to encourage people to stop by. Collect newspapers all weekend long The more excitement you can generate on-air, the more people will want to come and donate. Plan promotional pictures with your key air talent buried in newspaper. You’ll be doing something great for the environment and your community!
A Little Pick-up For Your Station
Stage a promotion to show listeners that your station cares about the environment…and get them involved too! Arrange a “Community Clean-up Day” where station personalities join with your listeners in a litter pick-up effort. Choose a location near a highway, park or beach where littering is a problem. Hand out station T-shirts to everyone who shows up at the event with trash bag in hand (you can pre-print litter bags with your logo/call letters on them, then distribute them free at sponsor locations); broadcast live at the location, and encourage everyone listening to come down and join in the fun. Prizes can be awarded for the most unique article of trash or for the biggest bag of litter. Be sure to separate recyclable items from the rest of the trash.
Foiled Again!
Have a competition among community or school groups to gather aluminum foil for six weeks and roll it into one big ball. At the deadline, have groups bring their foil balls to a station event at a recycling center to see which group has rolled up the winning entry. The winning group gets their aluminum weight matched in dollars by the station or a co-sponsor.
Talkin’ Trash
Have a contest to see who can come up with the most interesting use for a common household item, or the best use for something hard to recycle. Invite school art or science classes to get involved too, and let newspapers and TV stations know about the contest…entries could make great pictures for the five- o’clock news!
Environment on Wheels
Have your promotions person find local businesses and organizations that are active with environmental concerns. Work with them to create a traveling Environmental Fair to take to local schools. Have each group provide a speaker and materials, and ask the school to assign each group to a different classroom. Students go from room to room, learning about each topic. You can also use the school’s gym to set up areas for each topic. Train some of your personnel to work with the organizations so your station is represented at the fair. Give schools flyers to send home with students inviting parents to participate. Use your public service time to promote the fair, and let listeners know where you’ll be. Run promos containing positive comments from students, teachers and parents.
Yes You Can
Hold a fun afternoon event where your listeners compete to build towers or castles out of empty pop cans at a shopping mall, a roped-off section of a retail store’s parking, or a park. Award sponsor-donated prizes for winning structures in categories like biggest, tallest and most creative. Encourage teams or clubs to collect cans from all their friends and neighbors prior to the event. Weigh or count the cans as competitors register and find a soft drink company willing to buy back the cans with all proceeds going to a local charity or food bank. To comply with lottery laws (”no purchase necessary”), be sure to have extra cans available at the site — the soft drink company can supply them or you can arrange for a bin at the retail site during the pre-promotion period encouraging can donations. Recycle the cans at the end of the competition.
Welcome Developments
Each format has core artists that represent its music. When one of these artists comes to town for a concert and the promoter won’t affiliate any one station with the show, your station should still “welcome” the artist. Produce promos and liners that make you sound as official as possible. Follow up with tangible things like contests to win tickets, on-site giveaways and pre-concert parties at appropriate clubs.
The Secret Contest
Look for events in your community that are going to attract the demo your station is targeting. Print flyers to place on windshields of vehicles at those events inviting potential listeners to try your station. Say something like: “The staff and management of WXXX would like to invite you to try our radio station, and we’ll pay you to do it!! Tune in WXXX (plus dial position) and listen for (song). When you hear that song, call (station phone number) and be the Xth caller, and we’ll give you (dollar amount) just for trying our station. This contest will not be announced on the air. It is exclusively for recipients of this flyer. Thanks for trying WXXX!”
Cleaning the Prize Closet
If you’ve got a closet full of “nearly good prizes” left over from past contests, here’s a good way to get rid of them: create a “Station Janitor” character who’s charged by the boss with cleaning out the prize closet. You can have him come in (taped) to show off his latest find and give it away on air.
The Good, The Bad and The Ugly
Invite a car dealer to co-sponsor a Good, Bad, and Ugly Car Show and Contest. Choose a panel of judges from your station and the sponsor’s staff. Prizes can be simple or extravagant but should relate to the categories:
The Good: The cleanest, nicest-looking cars.
The Bad: The best customized car or hot rod, judged on quality of workmanship.
The Ugly: For old, dirty, smashed, trashed or just plain tacky cars.
Turn this into a weekend remote at the dealer’s location; have free hot dogs and pop for everyone who stops by.
You Auto Do a Coupon Book
Since couponing continues to be very popular with both radio and print retailers, present a package of radio ads and coupon books for car care products and services. Give away the coupon books at sponsor locations to increase retailers’ foot traffic.
Baby, Can We Drive Your Car?
Find a local car dealer willing to supply a vehicle to be driven by each station personality for a week. After all your personalities have had their turn, invite listeners to guess how many miles the jocks put on the car during the contest. The closest guesser wins the lease of the car for anywhere from three months to a year (it’s up to your dealer). Note: check with your insurance carrier for coverage before you start this promotion.
Sticker-Spotting
If you have station bumper stickers, try a license plate spotter contest. Several times a day announce a license number of a car spotted with your station’s sticker on it. Give the owner of the vehicle a set amount of time to call the station and claim their prize. Sticker-spotters can be station employees on their way to work; you don’t necessarily need a spotter on the road all the time.
