Rich Van Slyke
by Rich Van Slyke
Here’s a word you haven’t heard in the last 3 minutes. “Branding!” Brand Recognition, Brand Manager, Brand Strategy, Brandy, you’re a fine girl! Today as a great Program Director, you’re expected to be a great Brand Manager. A brand manager creates and maintains a brand. The brand is your station. The delivery method can vary, but the brand stays the same. You can get Bud Light from a can, or Bud Light from a tap at Hooters, it’s still a Bud Light. Whether I listen to your station on the radio, the Internet, or a cell phone, I expect the product to be the same because I’m familiar with your brand.
“A brand should strive to own a word in the mind of the consumer.” – Al Reis and Laura Reis.
“Brand is the ‘f’ word of marketing. People swear by it, no one quite understands its significance and everybody would like to think they do it more often than they do” – Mark di Soma, Audacity Group
But, if I’m not consistently reminded of your brand, I’ll forget about it. Don’t think branding is necessary? Don’t think you’re affected? I challenge you to buy a pair of sneakers that are not branded. I tried last week, but I just couldn’t bring myself to buy “no name” running shoes. The quality was equal, price was the same, but there was no logo. I couldn’t do it. It’s the branding that reassures you when you make a decision.
“A great brand raises the bar — it adds a greater sense of purpose to the experience, whether it’s the challenge to do your best in sports and fitness, or the affirmation that the cup of coffee you’re drinking really matters.” – Howard Schultz, President, Starbucks
“The more you engage with customers, the clearer things become and the easier it is to determine what you should be doing” – John Russell, President, Harley-Davidson”
People want to consume a good brand. And it’s our job to give them a product with a good brand. So let’s do it! Your branding consists of your personalities, your logos, your billboards, TV ads, promotions, and on air imaging. Today, we deal with your imaging.
“Creative ideas flourish best in a shop which preserves some spirit of fun. Nobody is in business for fun, but that does not mean there cannot be fun in business.” – Leo Burnett
5 Essential Tools For Good Imaging.
- Your Imaging Promise – This is the hard one. The one you should write down on a piece of paper and stick up on the wall. Because it’s so simple, it’s often overlooked when you write and produce your imaging. For many PDs writing is difficult. It can be made easier if you jot down two simple things:
- Who we are. ___________________
- What we do. ___________________
According to the branding experts, this is the essential message. So, for our radio imaging, all of our sweepers and promos should contain these two elements.
Example: 97X, Everything That Rocks
On top of that, we should add a sense of importance, we are the ones who bring you the content that you enjoy. If you listen to our station, that means you’re a little better than the rest of the world. Example: “It’s your music. We just play it. Really loud.”
- Your Imaging Personality. This is the “sound” of your imaging including your voices, style of writing, overall attitude. Does your station voice match the sound of your music? If you play music for a young demo, does your voice sound young? If your music is fun and exciting, does your voice sound fun and exciting? As you evaluate your imaging personality, go back to your imaging promise, this is who we are, this is what we do. Now, write down your imaging personality in three words.
Our Imaging Personality ____________, _____________, ______________.
- Your Imaging Production. When it comes to choosing sounds, background music, jingles, this is an important element. Everything should point in the same direction.
Use the sounds that create the same emotions as your content. If you program a sports station, you ought to have plenty of crowd cheers. If you play rock music, you should have the sound effects from the video game Guitar Hero. If you don’t have Guitar Hero sound effects, email me right now: richvs@bellsouth.net. I’ll send them to you. What are the sounds of your Imaging Personality? Write them down. - Sounds of our Imaging ___________________________
- Your Imaging Strategy. How often you run the elements. Can you say the name of your station too much? Hell no. But if you run the same liner between every song, will it get burned out? Yes. So, create a system for running different liners and calculate how often they run. Example. Imaging Promise: Three times an hour. Morning show liners: Twice an hour. Short quick shotguns: Twice an hour. Now, calculate how many times a day each element will run. Then produce as many versions of each element as you need. If you can go three days without repeating an element, you are rockin! Your Imaging Strategy might look like this.
Element Runs
Legal IDs – 10 once an hour
Morning show Liners – 50 twice an hour
Imaging Promise – 100 three times an hour
Shotguns – 100 three times an hour
Music Hook Promos – 20 once an hour
- Your Imaging Extensions. As a PD/Brand Manager, you want to extend the brand of your radio station to your website, podcasts, videos, etc. Many times I have clicked on a podcast and not heard a station ID to start it off. Your tools for brand extensions are the same as your on air imaging. Station voice, sound effects, music, positioning statements, and logos. They must be part of every element, on air or online. Can they be altered for the web? Sure, but remember, the name of the game is consistency. That’s what consumers want. To know they are connected to their favorite brand. Proudly walk into your GMs office and show him how consistent your branding is across multi level platforms.
Rich VanSlyke is a voice guy on WNOR, KDKA, WGRD, WKQZ, WKZQ, WKLR, WRXW, KZOZ, WIXO, KCBL, WSFM, KKPL, WRZK, and more. Drop him a line at richvs@bellsouth.net or go to www.richvanslyke.com.
