Do Contests Really Work?

And What If The Ninth Caller Is An idiot?

You know, strong show prep, solid basics and fully-researched music are extremely important, whether your market is currently being measured with the diary or the meter. But in response to your e-mails, texts, Twitters, once again we come around to the question of contests. Do they work or are they just another form of clutter? Don't they add to the long-winded breaks that could cause listener tune-out?

You could say contests are part of the collective impairments that happen in any business. There's also evidence that contests can make you vulnerable in the struggle for ratings. What are the risks? We're going to answer those questions and share just a few contest secrets with you this time.

For openers, great contests, like any strong content, can make a difference -- if you know the secrets. Contests can also be effective tools in building new cume and even extending Time Spent Listening (TSL).

But what if the ninth caller is a retort? And what if this is the one caller that your new, lazy part-timer decided to put on the air live? It happened to me once when I was programming in Chicago. While I blamed and fired the part-timer (who I inherited from the previous PD) on the spot, I also blamed myself for not being able to see beyond the slurring sibilance of a former pizza deliveryman who went to a broadcast school of tonal blandness ... or was he recruited from the back of the station van?

Come to think of it, he might have been one of those guys who went to that broadcast school on the back of a matchbook. But I wanted to be fair and give him a chance. Regardless, from there on out and throughout my programming career, I made certain that at no time would we ever put a contestant on the air live.

When we speak of on-air giveaways, most programmers think of "designated caller contests." It is by far the most common, but often least creative, form of contesting. What is amazing that in market after market, you will hear similar versions of the same contest. The only thing that's different is the prizes and the number of the caller.

The problem with this contest concept is that regardless of how it's disguised; it's a "designated-caller" contest. That means that a station using this type of contest is, at best, adding some excitement to the format. But this type of contest builds no new cume. You are merely recycling the same active audience. Recent nationwide studies show that just 18% of the active audience plays contests. You haven't made anybody new listen. You haven't made anybody already listening, listen any longer. In other words you haven't extended your TSL.

Contest Clutter

As a consultant I am often called on to deploy anti-clutter tactics. But before we talk about cleaning up the clutter, we first have to have a clear understanding of what clutter is. For a product perspective, clutter is anything that takes away from the listeners' positive experience. This is how most listeners perceive clutter on the radio. We are never going to be able to eliminate all clutter (because we'd have to go commercial-free and remote-free), but we can manage and control it better. Now before you get into counting spots, timing breaks and eliminating contests, it's important to get a good sense of what clutter can realistically be eliminated. Some programmers develop a perceived clutter problem due to changes in the competitive environment.

As it relates to contest clutter, whether you're doing a contest because you think it will get new listeners, be certain that your contests are entertaining for everyone. Contesting that has narrow appeal or does not match the attitude of your brand can create tune-out. That you don't need.

Contest & Prize Pigs

As we study the factors that lead to different results generated by "designated caller contests," we invariably run into what are commonly known as the "contest pigs." or "prize pigs." In addition to winning everything you give away, it's quite likely the "prize pigs" are in your station's database more than once. A prize pig is probably not even a listener of your station except for the contests. And it's a good bet that the prize pigs in your database are also in the database of every other station that does contests in the market. Stations using contests as a point of entry and motivation to build the station's e-mail database should be forewarned.

Who are these contest pigs or prize pigs? They're people whose hustle is winning prizes from radio stations. They're drawn to the challenge and the opportunity to get something for nothing. They try to win anything your station is giving away. This small but aggressive contest cult is more pervasive that you might believe. Believe it or not, there are even national contest clubs - people who compete with each other tallying winnings. There are even tales of people who play contests as a secondary source of income.

I remember checking our contest data bank when I was programming in New York and finding one contestant who was winning every 60 days -- the time limit we put on intervals between winning, until we switched away from designated caller contests.

Another station I consulted had a contestant who was winning twice a month, merchandise, tickets, vacations and cash. Some of the winnings prize pigs can't use themselves, so they sell them on e-Bay, Cragslist or StubHub for cash.

Another station we worked with was developing its online presence and was using online surveys to the station's database with a hot cash prize incentive. When they had the cash, they got a huge surge of people. Or so they thought. But was it more people? Or was it just a few prize pigs completing multiple surveys?

Some of these prize pigs are smart. They pretend to be real listeners. When they participate in online music surveys, they try to make themselves look legitimate.

Even when they don't recognize a single song in a survey they will still score songs familiar. They typically give higher scores to songs by artists whose names they recognize. It's common to see brand new jams by established name artists score very familiar and very positive after getting very little airplay. Prize pigs trying to pass themselves off as real listeners will also give lower scores to artists who have lost the hip image they once had.

What's The Best Prize?

So what's the best prize a station can give away? The best prizes are still cash prizes. You can build audience with cash contests if you do them right. The second-best prizes are cars. After that comes some form of electronic prizes, such as the new iPhones, iPads, Playstations, etc. Trips, regardless of the destination, are way down the list. The reason is that regardless of how glamorous you make it sound, some listeners cannot and will not take trips. They may not have luggage, passports or the desire to travel. Invariably, they will try to cash in a trip or try to give it to some of their friends or family.

One of the most effective promotions, although seldom used by Urban stations, is direct mail. Direct mail can affect your quarter-hours immediately if it is done properly. Although many heritage Urban stations have strong quarter-hours or loyalty, they are not familiar with the cume benefits that can be derived from direct mail.

The first thing that should be done in the initial or set-up stage of a direct-mail campaign is to determine what zip codes you want to target. For those who are not familiar with direct-mail contests, there are a number of firms that can set you up at a very reasonable cost. By targeting, based on zip codes, you avoid waste. By determining which zip codes would truly benefit your station, in turn, helps to control costs. You have to control costs by paying attention to what you mail and where you mail it.

Let's look at costs for a moment. In a medium or major market, a direct-mail campaign can run anywhere from $75,000 to $150,000, depending on printing, mail follow-through, etc. For those who feel that is a lot of money, it is. But if winning were easy or could be done cheaply, everyone would be winning. It is not cheap. And it requires a considerable amount of effort. But the combination is what separates the winners from the also-rans.

You don't want to do a direct-mail campaign without a lot of planning; there must also be a time commitment. It usually takes at least three months to run an effective campaign. And it can also take three months or more to see the ratings results.

One major-market station recently ran a very successful campaign by mailing 350,000 pieces out to specific zip codes. Each mailer had a different serial number, like the lottery or those magazines with celebrity's picture on the front. Listeners were asked to match the numbers on their mailers with those called out on-the-air, for various amounts of cash. Naturally there was some forced listening, which helps to build the station's cume. The station not only experienced real growth in terms of getting new people to sample the station, but also reinforced its image among those who were already listening. We refer to this as listener maintenance.

Because in many markets, the Urban format has never done direct mail, there seems to be some question about its effectiveness, given the expense, the involvement and time that is required. In fact, it does cost more than many other forms of cume-building contests and/or promotions. Done right, though, the results are nothing short of phenomenal.

Direct Television

It's a pretty well established fact that, although it's expensive, television can get you new cume -- especially in a PPM world. And there are times when there is nothing that can be as effective as a well-designed TV campaign. This is especially true in a turn-around, call letter or format-change situation.

Television spots are designed to attract potential listeners and build awareness of what is going on at the radio station. Many of you may be somewhat familiar with the direct TV spots that Filmhouse in Nashville created for various formats in markets both large and small throughout the country. The most effective of these was the birthday promotion. A station gives away cash to someone whose birthday is contained in an envelope displayed on television. In this case, radio is using television to help with its promotion. It's another case of getting new people to try the station and thus build new cume.

If television is used in connection with direct mail or a huge cash giveaway, the results, once again, can work wonders. But you have to air enough spots to be effective. We've seen this kind of effort fail because a radio station, hoping to save money, either doesn't buy enough spots or doesn't produce a high-quality spot. A ragged "bargain basement" TV spot can trash a station's overall image. So the decision to be competitive must be coupled with a commitment to see the promotion all the way through.

You have to make sure you have your house in order before you launch a TV and/or direct-mail campaign. Contests and other promotions are like inviting people into your home. If your station still sounds tacky when the potential new cumers arrive, they will quickly depart and you will be left with more problems than when you started.

Therein lies the responsibility of program and music directors. First, make sure the overall sound of the station is the way you would like it to sound -- consistently. If not, it would be smart to delay any new promotional efforts. That way, your station will improve in several ways. By lifting your standards, you will have a better overall sound. Then you simply need to maintain it.

You now have a newly redecorated "house" to invite people into. This should be the goal of every program director. It's not that hard. You want your station to sound good. You want your station to become one that people try and come back to again and again.

Once you get your contests and promotions in order, particularly when it comes to direct mail and/or direct television, you have to keep your finger squarely on the research that will tell you who you can reach and where they are. Eventually, you should reduce the total number of people sampled to a group most representative of your target audience, preferably those who have a stated preference of being an available audience. Then your task is to win them over and get them to listen longer. Do this and watch your TSL grow.

Effective contesting can help your station to develop a much higher emotional connection with listeners. They can also help to develop active P1s or fans for your station. These fans have a strong tendency or desire to become more involved with your station. They would be likely to reflect this heightened interest in your contests by texting the jocks, jamming your request lines, showing up at your remotes, carrying a meter or giving you diary credit.

Finally, if you're one of those programmers who continues to run the same designated caller contest that was on the air when you joined the station, you're probably in trouble. The premise that "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" has been changed. The new precept is "If it's broke, it ain't fixable by continuing to do what broke it in the first place."

Word!