by Phil Manning
Shark week came and went on the Discovery Channel. This week of highlighting the plight of the shark creates major buzz every year. Then the majority of the public goes 50 weeks without thinking about a shark, but wow, the riveting video and more so the PROMOTION for shark week is rather, ahem, biting. And the website for this show is quite spectacular and robust. New camera angles, new cages, new stories?.the best of everything that television can do.
And obviously advertisers are lining up because of the buzz the show has built over the years. Alternative Radio---what?s your Shark Week? Is there a week or two during the year that you devote to something completely YOU? If you were to create your shark week, what is your shark? Please don?t say flyaways. And how would you create that buzz?
To me, the obvious is a new music week highlighting core and upcoming songs and artists. You?d build an amazingly robust website for this and you?d market it as much as possible. You?d have video, streaming channels, maybe even kick off a groupon like subscription curator?YOU. The 20th anniversary of grunge, Pearl Jam?s 10 and Nirvana?s Nevermind is upon us. Have you or are you doing anything major for historical landmark moment?
The current opportunity I see is this week with Alternative?s biggest artist-The Red Hot Chili Peppers. You?ve known for weeks that their new release ?I?m With You? is coming out on August 30th. You?ve had the chance to get together with Warner Bros. and RHCP management to create complete ownership of the Chili Peppers release in your market. What have you done?
From my analysis, it?s being treated very haphazardly, like a fire just started in a trash can. No planning, just throwing water on it. Several stations have tweeted that they will be playing new tracks hourly; 91X/San Diego is streaming the full length at 91x.com. I have not seen nor heard one promo that this week is going to your Red Hot Chili Peppers SHARK WEEK. Sure playing tracks on the air this week is vital and obvious, but are you going above and beyond? Are you making news?! Are you having fun?!!!
While I?d love to be sitting in the big boy (read: P.D.) chair, I?m not. But in addition to the above new music shark week ideas, I would do this for the Chili Peppers release:
--Rent a Flat Bed truck and completely deck it out all things Chili Peppers and my station.
All week, I?d take the truck to all my and my competitors? hot zips and play the full
length over a sound system giving away Ice Cream (hello sales department), free
downloads for the new album. I?d have laptops available with headphones to more
intimately listen totracks as long as they sign up for my database.
--Promo one week out that you?ll be playing a track an hour?.ALL WEEK. Take the time to
create some incredible imaging aligning yourself with the band and your history with
the band. Many stations are starting to throw tracks on now with no pre-promotion.
--Negotiate with my major league baseball team to have tracks played on the sound system between innings and get my logo on the Jumbotron.
What evolutionary or revolutionary ideas have you come up with? Play some tracks here and there and hope the listener catches them? In a properly montitored world, you would get a ratings bump. It is the biggest Alternative band on the planet. But that is not the point. The point is you are highlighting to your listeners your ?EST?, your strongest suit and having a ton of fun doing it.
Phil Manning is Editor at www.AlternativeContraband.com, covering the Alternative radio format with editorials, new music discovery and format news and analysis. He can be reached at Phil@AlternativeContraband.com
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