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Brand new or new brand?
How to turn your radio station into a brand; the vitals of creating a brand.
There are two rules I say everyone who works at a radio station must work to. Firstly, to produce the best radio possible and then to get as many people as possible to listen to it. Marketing your station is not just something that is the responsibility of one person, or one team; it is something that is central to every station and therefore everybody needs to be involved. There is simply no point in doing radio if no-one is listening to it.
No station has the right to be listened to, and listeners do not automatically attach themselves to a new station. New commercial stations estimate it can take 18 months to 2 years to establish themselves in a market, and a new presenter on that station even longer; up to 4 years. And that is with multi-million pound marketing budgets.
There are two elements of the station you need to market; the identity and the brand. The identity is the factual elements of the station - its name and frequency being the vital ones. The brand is far more subtle; it is the characteristics of the station that make it appealing to the demographic it is trying to attract - think sexy, upfront, traditional, alternative, classic. The brand is reflected by the colour scheme, the imagery, the logo, the campaign style; and where the campaign takes places and which other products it associates with.
People make decisions every day based on brand values, and are then judged by what brands they have picked. Two men in at a bring-your-own party; one drinking Stella and the other drinking Special Brew. You've probably already made a judgement about what kind of people they are, what they do and how much they earn - simply on the basis of the can of lager they are holding.
Before launching a station, and indeed right at the early stages of development, you must draw up a notion of what the brand is. That then needs to be reflected across everything you do - both on- and off-air. The worst thing you can do is have a strong off-air brand which doesn't match up to what is going out on the radio; think LiveSexy Kiss branding matched with a station that plays Daniel O'Donnell songs.
Branding is important for all products but it has a special place with radio. People have a different relationship with radio than they do with most other products; they treat it much like a friend and thus they want to choose a station that they'd be happy being a friend with.
So the easiest way to devise a brand is to imagine the station as a person. What do they like, dislike, value or ignore? Go as far as nailing down the specifics of the individual - what job would they do, would they own or rent, what car would they drive, how much would they spend on their telephone bill each month?
This kind of brand-design doesn't mean that only people who fit into those categories will like the station; just that they will have a clear idea of what the station is all about. You probably have a collection of friends who you actually have little in common - but you like them because they are who they are.
Remember that branding is often based on aspirations. Gold Blend, the coffee made famous by those adverts during the 80's and early 90's, played entirely on aspirational branding. The coffee itself wasn't anything special; it's just the branding made you feel you were some-one sophisticated. It's exactly the same for Ferrero Rocher chocolates and Just Seventeen magazine, which aims at the 11-13 year old market despite its name. Therefore I'd avoid devising a brand based on someone who is a cleaner or factory-worker; people like feeling they are more sophisticated and wealthier than they actually are.
The stronger your brand, the more likely you are going to get a loyal following; but the greater the problem you have if something jars against the brand values. If your station is a happy-go-lucky chart station for 18-30 year olds don't put a great series of debates on about local politics.
Community stations are often the worse offenders when it comes to creating a brand; indeed I think it's often something that people ignore - believing that the strong diversity across their output means a brand is not possible. I'll disagree; I think you can come up with a fantastic brand that links all the various elements together. I'm sure we've all got a friend who has such an eclectic mix of songs; someone who can be one moment joining the next big cause before going on a shopping spree in the big name stores.
Just spend a couple of days looking at every product you see around you - from tins of beans, supermarkets, newspapers, tea-bags, banks and radio stations and try to understand their brand values. Then nick the best ideas!!