TRACTA :: 4eyes

I must have had a good Friday last week!  So good it’s already Monday and I’m still typing this post!

Today I’m going to ask you to cast your mind back to previous posts, as we feature a few continuing stooooriiieeeeesss…

Remember the outpouring of outrage when Kraft announced the name of their new spread (iSnack 2.0)?  They now have a new name chosen by the public – Vegemite Cheesybite.  Stars out of ten for originality??

And remember how I was hyping the wider reach of radio brands to their loyal audiences?  The Edge radio station are at the forefront of this development, giving their young and tech-savvy audience multiple access points to the brand.  They have just launched their own iPhone app, allowing users to listen live through WiFi or 3G.

Speaking of WiFi and connectivity – you may have seen ads for TVNZ’s iPhone app, giving access to news, weather and TV schedules and allows video viewing through WiFi.  It’s the most popular iPhone app in NZ!  What is this WiFi and where do you get it?  How about on your next flight with United Airlines?!  They promise it won’t interfere with flight communications or navigation!

On a completely different tangent, recent figures show US magazine advertising is in freefall – down 26% for Q3 2009 compared to the same period in 2008.  Meanwhile, Australian TV networks are reporting an increase in spend for the month of November compared with last year.  NZ’s media spend seems to be continuing to track down year on year across all media, except online (Q2 online spend in NZ was up 5.5% from 2008).  Looking forward to the market reigniting in 2010!

As usual I’ve included some interesting campaigns to make you smile… or at least mutter to yourself.  Stephen King is launching a new book soon, but if you’ve got the time you can search the web for clues to put the story together, line by line.  That story, and this one about Telecom’s new logo that isn’t, are on www.techday.co.nz – a new site by Action Media that brings together content from all of their tech titles (Netguide, The Channel, MacGuide, IT Brief and Telecommunications Review).  Read more about Telecom’s new logo here and here).

Finally, this ad has recently been doing the rounds and is touted as The Best Story Ever.  I like!

Catch you next week!  And someone please tell me why men want Snow Caves?!?!

The other day my good wife and I were listening to the radio when one of the announcers made a horribly objectionable and sexist joke.  It roused our emotions so much we both felt the need to text the station to make our feelings known (she was disgusted, I congratulated the announcer).

To our surprise we both received replies to our text messages, directly from the announcers themselves.  This, to me, showed the increasing 2-way communication happening in media, and especially in radio.

Every radio station in the country now has a website, most livestream so users can listen online, several have “exclusive” content on their sites, including video (radio, with pictures?) and nearly all have fan networks/club registrations with exclusive offers.

All this means that radio stations now have an even closer link to their audiences than they ever have before.  The radio brand can follow its listeners, and can interact with them in so many more ways than simply broadcasting to them.

Advertisers can capitalise on this ever-stronger relationship by associating their brand or product with the station’s brand.  Sponsorships and promotions on radio allow brand attitude to develop into brand behaviour that listeners actively participate in and become deeply involved in.

It’s all a matter of finding the right station to fit your target audience, but with the range of stations in New Zealand all targeting different audience niches, you can be sure there will be a station that fits your brand!

The Radio Bureau (whose job it is to promote radio advertising in NZ) have a useful page that outlines the advantages of using radio for promotions, as well as showcasing some campaigns that have done just that to great effect.  See it here.

Catch you next week!