Halloween Stunt (Video)

It’s almost Halloween, which means it’s almost time for what became one of my favorite annual traditions while programming WZPL Indianapolis – Smiley’s Great Pumpkin Drop.  All guys love to make a big mess, which is what this really gave us an excuse to do – by dropping the biggest pumpkin we could get from a crane 100′ in the air.  Last year, we secured two 500lb pumpkins and filled one of them with 300lb of ketchup (courtesy of paid sponsor Red Gold). 

If you want to pull it off, start early – it’s actually hard to find giant pumpkins, and most growers want to keep the seeds for their farm.  Find a place with a lot of room for the drop, spectators, and staff willing to help with clean up.  Start working construction and equipment rental companies for a free crane.  Have fun! 

Related Articles

• Crazy Halloween Traditions: Underwater Pumpkin Carving (odditycentral.com)
• Halloween: Picking the proper pumpkin (pbpulse.com)
• Pumpkin farmers profit with odd, ugly varieties (msnbc.msn.com)

Building Followers Through Contesting

You might see a few of your music loving friends posting this update soon:  “Tweet to meet @Maroon5 and @OneRepublic in Houston and win a trip to their show! #HandsAllOver #Secrets.”  One winner, chosen randomly from all of these identical Tweets, wins a flight to Houston with a friend, hotel, tickets for the 10/22 concert, $200 cash, and backstage passes.

The contest is promoted by Maroon 5 & One Republic (of course), Interscope Records (label for both bands), and Live Nation (concert promoter for national tour).  By using proprietary Twitter client “TweetToMeet,” fans are directed to a co-branded contest entry page that makes it very simple to enter – just click the huge red “Tweet” button on the contest page.  Contests that choose winners from a pool of status updates posted to Twitter, Facebook, etc are nothing new … but, the integration of this TweetToMeet app is brilliant!  It accomplishes two things simultaneously:

The Bit That Keeps On Giving

David John Winkleman was a big fan of “93 Rock” KORB-FM Quad Cities in 2000.  He and his stepson, Richard Goddard, were such big fans they actually had “93 Rock Quad City Rocker” tattooed on each of their foreheads.  You see, the wacky morning deejay had offered $100-thousand to any listener who did it.  Of course, he was joking and the station didn’t pay.  Winkleman and Goddard sued the station, but lost.

Flash Forward 10 Years … Winkleman is now in trouble with the law, arrested for failure to appear in court following misdemeanor operating a motor vehicle without the owner’s consent.  TheSmokingGun.com provides his mug shot.  Yes, he still has the tattoo.

Unfortunately, KORB is no longer the Quad Cities Rocker.  They are KQCS “Star 93-5” but still enjoy a little free press.

NFL “Role Model” for your Radio Cluster

Last night, I sent a tweet @scottsands during the NFL pre-game show on NBC.  Around 7:30pm, during the height of entertainment between Taylor Swift and Dave Matthews Band performances, I saw perhaps a network television first … NBC gave promotional airtime to direct competitors CBS, FOX, and ESPN.

NBC tossed to CBS Sports, who promoted their first television game this weekend, who then tossed to FOX and then on to ESPN to plug Monday Night Football.  This took a lot of courage for NBC to allow.  Of course, the pre-game show was produced by the NFL Network on behalf of the NFL (which has the most to gain from using the season kick-off to promote all the league’s upcoming games).  But, at some point, NBC would have needed to agree to this negotiation point. 

But, in the end, all the networks win from the increased consumer interest in all the games.  So, let’s put this in perspective for our radio programmers …

Guest Column: The 3 Degrees-Off-Center Theory of Promotions by Paige Nienaber

My thanks to promo genius (my words, not his) Paige Nienaber for offering to write a column for my oft-neglected blog. Paige is the absolute BEST at radio marketing and promotions. And, he can be yours for a modest fee, through Clifton Radio’s C.P.R. (radio’s first-ever promotional consultancy). You can reach him at 651-433-4554 or via e-mail at nwcpromo@earthlink.net.

You have to feel a little sorry for teachers, standing up there, day after day, in front of a room of lethargic, somnambulistic kids, fighting the temptation to just nod off and go to the Bahamas for 50 minutes. I knew when Mr. Uhr was drilling us on Trig, that no way, no how, I would ever need it. I felt the same way when Mrs. Radzek was espousing the wonders of Marshall Mcluhan and his theory of the “Medium IS The Message”.

I didn’t get it. I didn’t care to get it. And instead I focused my energies on trying to see between the buttons on Kerry Brown’s top. (They “bunched” a little when she leaned over. I was very immature. Still am)

And then, in a story I have recounted innumerous times, I had an awakening. An epiphany. Mrs. Radzek was right.

I was driving from Birmingham to Huntsville a few years ago. Literally a blur of outdoor for 100 miles. An outblur. And I soon became desensitized to the onslaught of advertising and went off to the Bahamas. With Kerry Brown.

Up ahead was a board and what drew my attention to it was that there was a large bird on it. As I closed in my focus was riveted on it. “That’s one muther of a bird” I thought, as I sped up to 90 and clicked the door locks. (It was THAT big). As I buzzed past, sweating, anticipating it would de-perch and go in search of a meal, say a consultant in an Avis sub-compact, I saw that it was in fact, an eight foot high plastic owl that the client had put on his board to get the attention of drivers.

Some guy who runs a mini-storage complex in Alabama “gets” Promotions more then we do.

Promotions is the Art of getting people to notice you. That’s it. It’s that simple.