Emap is set to rock the West Midlands with a ?1 million marketing campaign to launch Kerrang! 105.2.
The campaign combines above and below the line activity embracing a high profile TV campaign, guerrilla marketing, street teams, stunts, bus sides and local media.
The strapline ?Music with Attitude? links the different executions which have been designed to blitz the West Midlands in preparation for the eagerly anticipated launch of Kerrang! 105.2.
Lisa Blower, Kerrang! radio marketing director has worked with creative agency ODD to devise the campaign which uses Kerrang!?s unique music proposition as its core.
The campaign is split into three parts: teaser, transport and TV.
Lisa said: ?The launch campaign must fulfil three elements: to inform and educate, to encourage trial and then keep people with us. Kerrang! is a huge media brand which will already be fully understood by many of our potential listeners. We have had to design a creative which will be considered cool by the Kerrang! aficionados whilst also being exciting but unthreatening to the wider audience.
?The West Midlands is a large and competitive market, so we decided to completely own one high impact medium during launch which has led to a heavyweight transport campaign. Together with primetime TV advertising and clever use of guerrilla, ambient and street work, the West Midlands will know they are ready to rock.?
The campaign kicks off on Wednesday (19th May 2004) when 200,000 A3 and A4 flyposters featuring gig-style set lists will begin to appear gaffer taped to prominent locations with guaranteed high footfall. They will be complemented by 200,000 ?Wanted? style posters ? with the message that Kerrang! is the ?most wanted? radio station for the region.
The flyposters will help launch a competition to pick the first track on-air when Kerrang! launches on June 10th. A further 30,000 flyposters will be distributed across the region offering money-can?t-buy tickets to a string of exclusive Kerrang! gigs.
The initial teaser element will be followed by a high profile string of stunts across the West Midlands which will take rock ?n? roll lifestyles as their theme.
Street teams will also be blitzing the area helping office workers retune to Kerrang! 105.2 as well as holding impromptu ?rock aerobics? sessions out and about in the region.
Some 400 buses across the region will be branded on t-sides, s-sides, and mega rears, with a creative showing a businessman crowd surfing.
This theme will be carried through via a heavyweight TV campaign featuring hassled city types rocking out before going back to their desks.
Lisa said: ?It is important that people realise that Kerrang! 105.2 is not a niche station. There is a little bit of rock inside most of us and our music remit will be a lot broader than some people might think. Just because you wear a suit by day, you?re not excluded from Kerrang!?s world. Kerrang! 105.2 is about music with attitude rather than straight age demographics.
The launch will also be supported across Emap?s music portfolio including Kerrang! TV, Q TV and The Hits. It will be fully previewed and supported by Kerrang! magazine who will be doing special issues for the West Midlands area featuring content with a strong regional bias.
Kerrang! 105.2 is the first FM station to be launched by Emap who won the licence to launch in the West Midlands back in October 2003. It will cover the major conurbations of Birmingham, Wolverhampton and Coventry as well as surrounding areas including parts of Warwickshire and Staffordshire.
Kerrang! 105.2 will provide a whole new audience for advertisers who can already reach 775,000 listeners a week (rajar Q1 2004) nationally via the Kerrang! Radio digital services.
Kerrang! 105.2 will broadcast to a potential 3.5 million adults in the West Midlands on the FM frequency and digitally. Nationally Kerrang! Radio, available on Freeview, DAB, satellite and cable and online, will feature a similar line-up as the West Midlands output, but tailored for a national audience.
Kerrang! is one of three ?hero brands?, alongside Kiss and Magic, which Emap plans to use to apply for a string of new FM licences due to be advertised by OFCOM. A series of RSLs (restricted service licences) are already planned across the country to pave the way for licence applications.
Emap owns Kiss 100 and Magic 105.4 in London and has 16 analogue radio services across the UK. It also operates the biggest digital radio network in the UK.
For the launch campaign the creative is by ODD working alongside communications strategy agency naked with all media bought by Starcom.
Posted on Wednesday, May 19th, 2004 at 3:01 am by RadioToday UK