Big risks, big rewards for integrated radio promotion

Darren “Whackhead” Simpson had a real battle on his hands trying to destroy this hardy old TV set, but eventually, he got the best of it.

The Tossers promotion has been run successfully in various formats on international stations but apparently this is the first time it's happening in South Africa.

Running every Friday for a year, the first on-air execution took place at the 94.7 studios on Friday, 10 October 2008, and the contestant brought in his trusty golf clubs, which were literally put onto the chopping block - if the coin landed on ‘heads', he would win a brand new set of top-of-the-range Ping golf clubs, but if it landed on ‘tails', his set would be sliced in half by Darren “Whackhead” Simpson, eagerly wielding an angle-grinder. Fortunately for contestant Marc Letchman - the coin toss landed heads up.

Viral

For 94.7, Tossers is an opportunity to fully integrate its digital platforms into an on-air promotion. Primedia Broadcasting has long been using its websites to leverage on-air content, but the video footage of the Tossers action is intended to reach a potentially new audience, via viral campaign.

The vodcast is posted onto the 94.7 website and listeners are directed to the site throughout the day, on-air. The first vodcast was downloaded 871 times in the first three days it was online and the page has received nearly 8000 hits in the two weeks since it went live.

“There's... some very compelling content - depending on the toss of the coin - so we anticipate good viral spread,” says Primedia Broadcasting's COO Ryan Till.

“It's very exciting for us, as a terrestrial station, to be exploring these new platforms,” adds Primedia Broadcasting promotions manager Simon Parkinson, explaining just how significant the reach of a promotion like this is, “In addition to appointment listening on air, and the listener participation that we'll be generating by Tossers, we'll also be reaching people through the viral campaign.”

The video clip is opened by a 10-second advertisement for MiWay, which ensures the client gets additional coverage, that grows exponentially as the viral campaign spreads.

“Launch with a bang”

For sponsors, MiWay, Tossers offers a number of opportunities. “As a new brand, we wanted to launch with a bang, and this is not only a new promotion, but one that will create a lot of buzz,” explains Carine Conradie from MiWay's marketing team.

“The concept aligns well with our message too, as it shows why you need insurance cover - because you never know what might happen to your belongings. 94.7 offers us a prime target market so we're very happy with the exposure Tossers is giving us across all their platforms.”

The tagline for the promotion is an easy fit: “RAW don't give a toss, but MiWay does.”

94.7 is confident that it will become a highlight of the RAW show and will make a major talking point for the weekend. “There's a lot of excitement created by the high risk; high reward scenarios,” comments Parkinson.

To see what the hype is all about, go to www.highveld.co.za/planet947/raw/tossers_miway/main.asp.