Today, RnM bring you the Navratri Plans of 94.3 Radio One, a network that operates in 7 Indian metros: Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, Bangalore, Pune and Ahmedabad. Radio One describes itself as a Music Station rather than a Radio Station, with a promise and tagline of Maximum Music, Maximum Choice, and prides itself in not repeating a single song in an entire day. From its seven stations, Radio One claims to reach 5 million people a day.
Shikha Shah and Pavan R Chawla spoke with Anil Machado, National Programming Head, and Shyju Varkey, National Marketing Head, Radio One. Both believe that the way their network seamlessly integrates into any festive event is one thing that makes Radio One stand out in the current hard-hitting competition.
Navratri is all about religious fervour through music and dance. What is your strategy to attract the maximum listeners? What are the programming specials that you have planned to be able to co-opt the on-ground fun, celebration and masti from the Navratri pandals?
Related Post
We have planned a slew of specials and one of them is â€?Radio One Music Ka Shahenshah’ (MKS) – a music-based quiz, where listeners stand a chance to win cash prizes in lakhs. MKS starts from Navratri and ends a week after Diwali, with our music ambassadors Shankar, Ehsaan and Loy hosting the grand finale in the city of Mumbai. MKS will be among other celebrations happening on our seven stations.
We have already started the celebrations for Navratri with the â€?Radio One Play Your Music Day Navratri and Puja Special’ on 6 October featuring a one-hour unplugged special by Mohit Chauhan followed by Javed Akhtar, Priyanka Chopra, Vivek Oberoi. Our 13 listeners will come on air to host their favorite 13 songs
In Kolkata, especially, these nine days should be a massive opportunity. What are your special plans for the city?
The biggest event that Kolkata looks forward to is the â€?The Puja’, and we aim to make it bigger. Titled â€?Pujo Express 2010′, the celebration touches various aspects of the festive season like fashion, food, traffic and sanitation. The whole activity is divided into four weeks, and has already started from 20 September. The various aspects of â€?The Puja’ are highlighted via various segments on our shows like â€?Pujo â€?r Itikatha’, â€?Pujo â€?r Proshashon’, â€?Pujo â€?y Pet Pujo’, â€?Pujo Ishtyle’, and â€?Pujo â€?r Baddi’.
For the day of Mahalya, we have planned a two-hour special show called â€?Agomoni’. This will include the live performance of Mahalaya by renowned artists. We have also come up with â€?Shankhobadon’, an activity wherein the listeners will come to our studio for a conch playing competition.
The last two weeks of Pujo Express revolve around OB activities from the various famous Pujo Pandals of the city. The OB Jocks or â€?Pujo Reporters’, as they are called during Dussehra will report all the activities from the various locations. We also have an exclusive tie up with â€?Suruchi Sangha’ which is a very renowned Puja committee in Kolkata. Our MJ’s will visit the â€?The Puja’ Pandal and interact with visitors on ground.
Apart from this we will be highlighting â€?The Puja’ activities across India and the world and have various celebrities from different fields like fashion designers, singers, music directors, and also government officials like the mayor, the commissioner of police and others on air, joining in the celebrations.
All our on air elements from Navratri to Diwali will have a festive feel. It’s a period of celebration with our listeners and together we celebrate Maximum Music and Maximum Celebrations.
How do you plan to market Radio One’s Navratri offerings?
We have tie ups with a lot of on-ground puja pandals and Navratri mandals. Apart from our tie-up with â€?The Puja’ committee of Suruchi Sangha in Kolkotta, we have also partnered with The Bengali Tagore Association in Bangalore featuring Jagjit Singh, Shaan and others over nine days.
In Ahmedabad, we have tied up with one of the largest garba on-ground events titled â€?Fun Point Garba’
Listeners all over our seven cities can win passes and various other gifts via on air contests for a number garba and puja events.
What are your special offerings during Navratri for ad sales? What special properties have you developed to help local businesses and regional/national brands strengthen their businesses through advertising with you?
Our biggest offering for ad-sales is our national music quiz titled â€?Music Ka Shahenshah’ as mentioned earlier We have also designed a segment titled â€?Radio One Shopping Bazaar’ which are capsules showcasing the flavour of festivities through our listeners. Listeners get a chance to highlight the various food joints, shopping hubs, fashion trends, jewellery trends in their city.
How will you market the entire programming locally / regionally / nationally, as applicable per the footprints of your stations? A big part of marketing is not just to inform existing listeners but to also expand the listener base. How do you plan to reach those who are not currently tuning into your stations? What are the media and ATL / BTL activities you plan to use for this?
BTL goes into overdrive during this season. We will be visiting garbas across all our cities and choosing people to come on–air for our marquee â€?Play your Music Day’, where 13 listeners get to play their choice of music. Not only will we be an integral part of the festivities, but we also weave in the brand proposition into every little tie-up that we put together.
Almost all these events rope in celebrities to be a part of the celebrations. We in turn, dovetail our activities to help in meet-and-greets with our listeners.
Often, media businesses use such festive, entertainment-driven events for B2B promotion too. How are you doing this for and during the Navratri festival?
While we do have promoters going around to B2B offices, they will run contests on-ground, the winners of which will get to take part in the special, B2B edtion of â€?Play our Music Day’, where our associates get to experience the Radio One proposition of being a Music Station, first-hand.
(Tomorrow: MyFm)
