Did You Do A Summer Listening Contest?

With Inside Radio's report yesterday that Arbitron is running seasonal sweepstakes programs during the August and September ratings periods to help encourage panelists to wear their meters it's a good time for a reminder emulate the radio ratings giant.

ARB has long made use of radio's direct marketing experts as consultants to help them improve response and cooperation rates. 

What they learn can be a great primer for you as well (staying well within the rules of course!).

Arbitron's current program started this week and runs through September 8, following sweepstakes that took place from July 22-28 and August 5-18. 

“These programs are expected to have a positive impact on In-Tab rates,” the company says in a note to subscribers. 

It’s the time of year when a lot of normal life patters are shaken up,  and that includes people meter panelists, as Inside Radio's story notes.

If your station does online music testing, unlike ARB or BBM, you actually need to be doing two contests:  one, silently, to encourage participation in your own survey, thanking your listeners for doing it for you. 

And, of course, a second one on air (that's bigger, easier and more fun than your competition) designed to increase daily cume and daily occasions.

Rock 101 And Corus Are Right, But I Still Don't Think I Am Wrong

Three cheers to Corus Entertainment's Classic Rock 101/Vancouver for banning the prize pig who was found selling his winnings on Craigslist.

I agree: that's a lot more than one step too far.

The 50-something “North Van Brad,” as some listeners have dubbed him, has prolifically competed in dial-in competitions across the Lower Mainland for the past three decades.

Reselling contest tickets are against most radio contest rules, but Williams — who insists he’s innocent — claims he’s being singled out for winning 500 times too much.

“You can only imagine how often I was in their (station) tower,” he jokes.

“I don’t really do it for financial gain,” said Williams, who works at home for his wife’s legal research firm. “I do it because I like to go to the concerts, the nice restaurants. I’ve won some trips. I’ve won some cash. I’ve won just about everything short of a house.”

I know the radio promotion people and our air personalities generally prefer to limit folks like Brad to "you can only win once per month" or similar limitations, but in spite of this excess, I still feel that's a mistake.

They are heavy radio users and, like Brad, if they can't win from you, they'll quickly go to another station. If that's the week they happen to have a diary .. or even worse if this is the year (or two!) that their household happens to have a meter (or many of them!) .. you lose.

Radio contests are about making it fun and rewarding to listen. Smart stations make it easier and simpler for the kind of folks who love to play radio games and contests + participate in radio research to win more often.

North Van Brad hasn't convinced me I am wrong about THAT.

Take the limitations off your contest rules, but you might want to lurk on Craigslist now and then as well as being sure that your prize rules prohibit reselling prizes.

Stop Using These Words

"Register, qualify, drawing."

Resolve to do better than taking the lazy. easy, uncreative way to meet promotional/value-added requests by kidding yourself that anyone is going to change radio stations to "listen for a chance to qualify for a chance to win a drawing."

You can be more entertaining in everything you do in the new year.

It starts by finding new ways to do the same old things.

Tell stories. Paint word pictures. Be different.

Caller #9

Resolve in 2012: no more contests where the prize goes to the "XXth" caller.

Do I really need to even give reasons besides that when you do something that everyone else has done for decades, you're being mediocre, just average, like everyone else?

Caller #9 is simple and easy ... for the people inside the control room, but almost impossible to enjoy, let alone "win" for the people you'd like to entice to listen more.

Still not convinced to give up the old habit?

Ask listeners.

With social networking, texting, mobile apps, email databases, slow connections no longer engage. (did they ever?)

Calling a radio station contest line for all but "one listener" who gets lucky means either a phone line never answered or constantly busy.

Is that any way to communicate that you care about their call, let alone making the experience entertaining and fun?

If you can't make every station giveaway rewarding for as many listeners as possible so that they drive appointment listening, let's resolve to at least make what happens on the air around it either "an experience" or at the very least more "painless" for heavy users of radio than any other radio station.

(More February Ideas) Presidents Day (February 21)

Give away "President Portraits" - some "Lincolns" ($5 bill), Hamiltons, Grants, etc. Award for correct answers to trivia questions about the respective presidents who are on the bills you are giving away.

Alternately, give away "Lincolns and Washingtons" for every song someone can name from the previous hour.

Or ask a question every hour 10a-3p and award a "Presidential Collection" (one bill from each President) to the first person to fax in all the correct answers.

Or do a variation on the "Dollar Bill Game" giving away "Presidential Collections" for people who can match partial serial numbers on any dollar bill they may have ("I'm looking for a dollar bill with two 8's").

The WXXX bank isn't closed today. Listen for the first few bars of "Hail To The Chief" to call in and win pictures of Presidents on legal tender.

Frame up a collection of as many denominations as you'd like and have people guess who the portraits are of with a drawing from all the correct guesses to win the collection

Win a cherry pie plus what's inside. At the sound of the tree chopping, call in to win a pie from a local bakery plus what's inside…concert tickets, CDs, cash, T-shirts. Perhaps even a weekend in the Presidential Suite at a local first class hotel. Be sure to stage with plenty of effects like squishy sounds of reaching in the pie.

Presidential Fun And Games. Morning show games feature quotes/trivia with listeners matching the item to the correct President. "I Cannot Tell A Lie" where each member of the morning crew claims to be giving a true piece of Presidential trivia but only one is telling the truth. Give away videos of "American President."

PS: BONUS FUN FOR WASHINGTON'S BIRTHDAY (February 22)

Morning show bit. One partner announces that he, like George Washington, can't tell a lie. Listeners call in and ask DJ questions that he must truthfully answer. Screen for questions that are entertaining but not too embarrassing.

Last-Instant February Ideas (#2 of 4)

• Romantic Night On The Town. Give away dinner for two at the best restaurant in town, complete with limo, flowers, AND money for a baby sitter.
  
  
• Alternately, give away "Champagne Luncheons for Two" at a local "high-class" restaurant. Winners were wined and dined by all the jocks wearing tuxes. During middays have your morning show make rounds to at-work listeners during the week of Valentine's Day. Could include delivering flowers and candy to listeners who call or fax in requesting a visit.
  
  
• Cocooners Valentine's Day. Give away a romantic evening at home; includes a chef who comes to the winner's house and prepares a romantic meal, some great love-story videos for watching after dinner and some evening attire from a Victoria's Secret type store.
  
  
• Dedicated To The One You Love. The week before Valentine's Day (start now!), record listeners' dedications to play back on the 14th.. Schmaltzy is fine. If time permits, call listeners to tell them what hour their song will air.
  
  
• Have A Heart promotion. Print up red hearts on heavy stock paper with a blank spot in the center, your logo on the upper right and a charity on the upper left. Hearts have a string attached so they can be hung. Work with a multi-outlet sponsor such as a convenience store, chain of filling stations, or a group of merchants such as all area restaurants who agree to sell hearts in the amount of the station's frequency. Purchasers can inscribe a personal message in the blank area and have the heart displayed at the business through the end of the month. All proceeds go to charity.

The Wolf Breaks New Ground

Cumulus' 99.5 The Wolf/Dallas and SCA Promotions has partnered to run the first ever $1 Million Twitter Song of the Day Contest.

To qualify, listeners must tune in to The Wolf between 8/31/09 and 9/4/09 and listen for the Twitter Song of the Day. After registering on Twitter and following The Wolf at http://twitter.com/995theWolfDFW, listeners must tweet the appropriate response after hearing the daily Song of the Day.

Each day, The Wolf will award concert tickets to ten contestants. At the end of the Song of the Day contest, one grand prize finalist will be selected to play for $1 million. To become an instant millionaire, the grand prize finalist must correctly predict the final score of the Dallas – New York professional football game on September 20.

Click here to listen to the radio spot.

The million dollar prize is being covered by SCA Promotions. If the grand prize finalist predicts the final score of the game, SCA will give The Wolf the money to award the winner.

Being The 9th Caller Is Fun ... For the Disk Jockey

... and, perhaps one of a few thousand listeners.

Eight other people "lose" because they learn on the way to #9 that they were 'the wrong caller" and everyone else "wins" a busy signal.

This is entertainment??

Do you do contests because listeners like them? Or, just because radio has "always" done them?

When doing contests, it would be nice to hope that there'd be a way to be sure that they were entertaining to listen to and also drive listening occasions for all listeners, and not just those very unique "phone pigs" who participate.

But, how often do they?

Only a very small percentage of your audience will participate in a contest so you want to make sure you are offering entertainment value to keep those who are not playing the game entertained.

Granted, the success of television game shows proves, I guess, that a certain type of person likes to "play along" even if she is not willing to be a contestant.

Even if that is true, the "caller 9" approach does nothing for those who are listening and not participating.

Neither does "go to (store) and register so you can qualify.."

Historically, the best radio contests reinforce the station's brand image or key unique selling positioning points.

Mid-90's KWJJ, Portland, PD Robin Mitchell used "we always tell the title and artist of every song we play" as a key point of differentiation.

So, rather than "call in and win to the 10th caller," the station did a produced piece before a song that said: "Win (prize) right now. Be the 10th caller at (phone number) and tab this tune."

During the song, the air personality asked the 10th caller to name the title and artist of the tune, recorded that info from the listener and asked the "winner" to backsell the song and almost as an after-thought awarded the prize.

This contest takes no more time than having the jock do the backsell, but it at the very least adds the extra ingredient of listener involvement to an important format basic, calling even more attention to your station's positioning tactics.

That was 15 years ago. Yet, it was much more relevant and contemporary than the typical radio contest on many stations today.

Caller #9? How quaint and out-of-date.

Great programmers innovate.

The majority, of course, just does what everyone else has always done.

That's called mediocre.

Which do you aspire to be known as?

800 Students, Thousands Of Texts Each

Bishop Ireton High School won the contest to have Taylor Swift play for them and KILT, Houston's Rowdy Yates located a link to the event for you to watch it.