Leap the boundaries of the commercial break!
Make your brand an integral part of programme content and you win a place in the hearts and minds of our audience - your target consumers.
Sponsorships and Promotions can allow your brand to become part of that special relationship people have with their local radio station. FRS stations are truly local, close to and involved with their listeners who regard their radio station as a trusted friend.
Brand Integration - What It Means For Your Brands
On 20th 2010 December, Ofcom announced a deregulation in Sections 9 and 10 of its Broadcast Code which relate to Sponsorship and Commercial References.
Here at First Radio we see this is a great opportunity for our agencies and clients to really immerse their brand within local broadcasting. Now brands can use local radio programming to fully integrate commercial messaging and raise brand awareness more than ever before.
Radio has always been a strong “call-to-action” medium and Brand Integration on radio can work further for your brand than via television and other media. This is due to radios ability to be a ‘friend’ and its close personal attachment with the listener. When a radio station presenter talks about “our friends at Company X”, the listener is hearing about a friend of a friend – this has a strong effect on bringing a brand closer.
After a long and complex consultation period involving two separate consultations, commercial radio is now able to do a lot more. Previously, the only commercial references allowed on radio were sponsorship credits around programmes, and advertisements broadcast in commercial breaks.
Your local radio station campaigns will now see your clients being embedded within the radio station's brand, into content that shares common brand values, personality or message - delivering the highest levels of engagement.
To help secure consumer protection, the new rules require that any programming subject to a commercial arrangement between a broadcaster and an advertiser is ‘appropriately signalled’.
Here are some examples – to help bring it to life for you:
Supermarket Client: A daily cookery feature – voiced by a chef associated with the brand, using supermarket-own products (eg. Jamie Oliver – Sainsbury’s).
Cereal/Breakfast Client: The Breakfast Show presenter talking up his choice of cereal for his morning Breakfast – describing the taste, flavour and health value – then suggesting the listeners follow his lead!
Financial Client: A pre-produced daily feature broadcast at peak times for business commuters, made up of financial advice for business customers and the latest business news from a bank Business Manager.
Travel Client: Seasonal holiday reports featuring weather reports from across Europe, focusing on holiday destinations covered by the airline who have sponsored the content. This report will also make reference to the ‘great rates’ and offers available from the airline’s website/phone hotline.
These are a few initial examples to show how powerful brand integration can be, and how it can make radio work for your next brief. We feel this is a really exciting opportunity for both the advertising world and local commercial radio – never before has a brand been able integrate into local audiences in such a strong way.