After sitting through a Buzz University session led by Mark Hughes, author of "Buzz Marketing," I started thinking about "real life" radio examples. And I quickly recalled the KYYS billboard campaign that ran last year.
To celebrate its 30th birthday, 15 models were rounded up, and…well, you get the picture. As innocent as this board may look to you, the hope was that somewhere in and around Kansas City, a community would find it objectionable. On the heels of Justin and Janet at the SuperBowl, that’s exactly what happened.
The mayor of a small town where one of the boards was posted, Blue Ridge, Kansas, demanded that KY remove the "Big Ones." Of course, this generated a big story in The Kansas City Star. KY did a great job of airing the controversy all over the station, fanning the flames. And as "Buzz Marketing’s" Mark Hughes points out, this campaign contained some of the key attributes that generate talk and buzz: controversy, sex, and outrage.
The radio station was ready. It threw up the "answer board" shortly thereafter. And once again, the publicity machine covered that story, too.
Bottom line: a modest marketing campaign became a whole lot bigger, while generating some great buzz for the station. And to answer your question, they had a really good book. And in an interesting postscript, the mayor was defeated in the subsequent election.
Jacobs Media has consistently walked the walk in the digital space, providing insights and guidance through its well-read national Techsurveys.
In 2008, jacapps was launched - a mobile apps company that has designed and built more than 1,300 apps for both the Apple and Android platforms. In 2013, the DASH Conference was created - a mashup of radio and automotive, designed to foster better understanding of the "connected car" and its impact.
Along with providing the creative and intellectual direction for the company, Fred consults many of Jacobs Media's commercial and public radio clients, in addition to media brands looking to thrive in the rapidly changing tech environment.
Fred was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame in 2018.
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