Sloganeering Or Branding?

If a new country station came on FM who would be sufficiently intrigued by the name or position statement to TRY such a new radio station?

To find out, we questioned 250 randomly-selected country radio listeners of several geographically-diverse mainstream heritage country leaders.

We asked:

"What if a new country format came on an FM station locally? How likely would you be to listen? One means that you would never listen to that station and five means you would listen all the time. What number would you choose?"

Almost half of the country fans (43%) in these widely separate communities are quite interested in trying such a station. The interest is equal in all age groups, and is slightly stronger among females.

BUT, should it use the slogan...
"Young Country?"
“New Country?”
“Today’s Country?”
“Continuous Country?”
“Country Favorites?”
“The Best Country?”

We asked:

"I am going to read a list of slogans. Please tell me how likely you would be to listen to a station that uses each slogan. Rate each on that same one to five scale."

The words "Young Country" scored at the very BOTTOM of all slogans we tested when their total persons average scores were ranked in order!

The winner was what some might call the weakest ‘slogan’ of them all, the clear, simple: “Today’s Country.”

WHY?

Perhaps the traditional things we have used for two decades to position ourselves as unique are no longer effective.

Grab a great brand, load it with plenty of real product superiority you don’t need to listen very long to hear and stop trying to advertise your aspirations in hackneyed position statements and slogans.

More than four of ten of very successful country leaders' listeners would switch for something fresh and new, they say, but not for just any old over-used position statement.