Fugitive goes digital

“This year, together with sponsor Vodacom, we really maximised use of our digital platforms with the aim of creating even more listener interaction. We also introduced a number of new features to take the Fugitive concept to a new level. Listener response has been overwhelming, with very positive feedback being received for the new digital innovations we've implemented,” said Simon Parkinson, 94.7 Highveld Stereo promotions manager.

“Vodacom got involved with sponsoring the Fugitive as an opportunity to drive consumer awareness of our extensive broadband offering. To this end we are extremely happy with the outcome as the format, and 94.7 Highveld Stereo's execution thereof, was digitally interactive and demonstrated the benefits of our broadband offering- high-speed data mobility,” said Enzo Scarcella, managing executive, marketing, Vodacom South Africa.

Video

On the day the promotion was launched, in-studio cameras captured the Fugitive's first interaction with Rude Awakening host Jeremy Mansfield. This video was made available on a dedicated Fugitive website, accessed through the 94.7 site, www.highveld.co.za, later in the day, with 2292 downloads being recorded by that afternoon.

In the days that followed, it became apparent that the Fugitive wasn't out and about in Joburg, but was actually in London - another first for the promotion. Two air tickets to London were left in secret locations in Johannesburg and listeners had to follow the Fugitive's on-air clues to find them.

Before jetting off to London to search that city's streets for the Fugitive, and stand a chance of winning R50 000, the two contestants were interviewed, the videos of which were made available on the website and mobile site, www.mobi.co.za, for download. Although there was no incentive beyond pure curiosity for listeners to access the videos, the results were very surprising, with 1849 online downloads and 76 mobile downloads being recorded in 24 hours.

Once the Fugitive had returned to Joburg, and the game resumed traditional play, a new visual element was introduced. At one location, the Fugitive decided to provide visual clues as to his whereabouts, taking digital photos of his secret location and emailing them back to the station.

Increase in listener activity

These images were then made available online and on the mobile site for download. With cash up for grabs there was a marked increase in listener activity, with 9324 online downloads and just under 100 mobile downloads of these visual clues.

“Although the mobile video downloads numbers are relatively small, we believe that this is just the beginning, and as people become more confident with downloading content on their mobiles, we will see quick and steady growth,” said Parkinson.

Each year, the Fugitive hosts a competition among listeners to see who can come up with the most creative poster or banner depicting the twists and turns of the game. This year, hundreds of listeners arrived at Vodaworld armed with their best work in an effort to win the R100 000 cash prize. But as the event takes place during working hours, it too was leveraged in the digital space.

Listeners could create a digital banner and email it to the station to stand a chance to win one of two broadband-enabled laptop computers. Six hundred and thiry eight entries were received, with the top five entries being displayed on the website.

In the fourth week of the promotion, a totally new dimension was added through the use of BlackBerry. Listeners could register via SNS to have the Fugitive visit them at their offices. Four listeners were selected from the entries received and a BlackBerry smart phone delivered to each of their offices.

These listeners were then called individually and told where to find the BlackBerry, after which they had to use it to view a pre-loaded video clip. They then had to describe the clue, live on-air, to the presenters and listening audience, after which the image of a BlackBerry smart phone with the same clip was uploaded onto the website for download.

One-on-one interaction

Listeners not only had to navigate their way around the online phone to view the clue, as they would in reality, but this also provided one-on-one interaction between listeners and the BlackBerry. 10 126 impressions were recorded within the first few hours.

The dedicated Fugitive website, which was very modern and CSI-style in design, kept listeners up to date with all the on-air clues, video clues and latest goings-on for fanatical Fugi trackers. The site mirrored all above and below-the-line initiatives and offered two downloadable desktop wallpapers.

The final digital push this year came after the promotion has ended on Friday, 13 June 2008. Listeners got an exclusive look at the other side of the promotion - from the Fugitive's perspective.

Once the mystery man was revealed on the Rude Awakening and his experiences in the game discussed, Darren ‘Whackhead' Simpson recorded a video interview with the Fugitive, which was made available online.

Listeners were then able to download the interview and gain automatic entry into a draw to win a broadband-enabled laptop computer by correctly answering a question relating to one of the Fugitive experiences mentioned in the clip.

“The figures we received were really impressive and we're very happy with the leveraging we were able to achieve with the promotion this year. A lot of back-end support had to be put in place to carry the promotion into the digital space but the time and effort really paid off, with fantastic listener response all round,” added Parkinson.

The Fugitive also made his TV debut this year, with an above-the-line campaign on etv. A number of different marketing tactics were also employed, including a sneaky ambush campaign, where the Fugitive visited schools and businesses - with the help of a mole on the inside - and left calling cards in various locations.