Commercial Radio pitches digital radio as ideal Christmas gift
Commercial Radio Australia has unvealed the latest phase of its $10m digital radio awareness campaign launching a series of radio and online ads pitching digital radio as the ideal gift for Christmas.
The ads, created by Eardrum, will air across more than 40 commercial radio stations in the five digital radio metropolitan markets of Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth.
The campaign will also support retailers selling digital radios and aim to complement the catalogue, in store promotion and radio advertising launched by larger retail outlets in the lead up to the busy holiday period.
Dave MacKenzie, audio buyer at Dick Smith, said: “Consumer awareness of digital radio is high. Since the radios hit the stores in May, sales have exceeded our expectations and we’re already seeing another peak in unit sales in the lead up to Christmas.”
Commercial Radio Australia is planning to release a digital radio industry report early next year, tracking who’s listening, how many digital radios have been sold and the overall awareness of digital radio.
Chief executive of the radio body, Joan Warner, said price and programming should help drive the take up of digital radio in Australia, with the first digital radio priced under $100.
All the commercial radio stations in Sydney, Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth and Melbourne are simulcasting in analogue and digital. There are 13 new DAB+ stations which consists of NovaNation, Koffee, Hot30 Jelli, Radar, Classic Plus, The EDGE , Gorilla Super Digi, MY Perth Digital, Hot Country Perth Digital, ABC Jazz, ABC Dig Music, ABC Country and Triple J Unearthed.
Retailers stocking digital radios include Harvey Norman, Dick Smith, Clive Peeters, The Good Guys, Myer, David Jones, Big W, JB Hi Fi, Target, Retravision, Radio Rentals, Rick Hart and specialist audio retailers.
Tim Burrowes founded Mumbrella in 2008. He worked on Mumbrella until 2021. At various points he was editor, content director and editor-at-large.
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The Good Guys
No. And did that ad change my mind? No.
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Wow! do people still listen to the wireless? How quaint
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Just got a digital radio for my birthday. Didn’t really want one but now I love it. Love new stations and finally hearing the old ones inside my apartment. Will be changing over, over the next couple of years – now just need one for the car ……
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Me too. Heard the Ashes ball by ball on special digital station. Loved Beatles station last month.Mine even rewinds.
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DigitalRocks and MeTOO.
That’s some piss weak attempt to plug your own product guys. “Mine rewinds” – “now I just need one for the car”.
You are embarrassing yourselves much like this campaign has embarrassed what should be a must have new product and made it a lame duck.
Rule 1 of advertising a new product is to make it feel new – by being contemporary.
This campaign feels so ordinary and so average that it must be rubbing off horribly on the product. I still know no one who has purchased a digital radio after a year of having them on the market.
Sad
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The world is full of cynics – (and sad Drs)
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Dear Mr “The Dr” –
You sound like me a few months ago.
However i have since been to the a few of the workshops on Digital Radio and they really helped open my eyes up to the new opportunities that lay ahead of us with this new technology.
You should really suss it out!
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the ads were made by Smart. Eardrum does the Mark Mitchell brand campaign
Digital Radio is doomed to failure unless a few things get sorted …. and fast
1. Contempory programmers have to come up with new (NEW) ideas…. thats not likely….as creative thinkers have been slowly but steadily shown the door to the industry as the MAJOR network bean counters and YES MEN run the show…….not creative minds that radio is based around and has utilized to massive advantage since the 1st wireless was turned on.
2. Programmers and owners need to understand that the consumer sees nothing wrong with the current FM service – so LARGE INDUCEMENTS need to made by stations trying to get listeners to pay good $ switch over…….however….
3. I travel to all capitals working – and i dont hear ANY stations really promoting digital services at all well. In part i believe that is because they really dont know what to do with them…..and when they do figure it out – all they are doing is shifting current listeners from the analogue signal – to the digital. This DOES NOT improve your sales at all – as the audience is split – so too are the clients…and currently no station can actually prove it has ANY listeners at all to its digital signals – much less NEW listeners – or ones that are acting on the commercials that are aired .
I have yet to hear of a successful digital OB at a clients business premise – or any business touting massive sales of digital radios. ok… i have not heard every OB in the country….. but if Harvey Norman thought that a digital radio sale with an OB was a good idea – we would be hearing them every second weekend.
Its rare that HN even put digital radios in the TV or radio commercials.
Digital radio IS NOT attracting NEW listers… The numbers have NOT grown. The up take is SLOW – with no sign of significant improvement or indeed any “new” form of entertainment. Despite offers that would make digital radio VERY SPECIAL indeed – and worth the cost of upgrading… Thats right…those suggestions went to the bean counters.
Retailers i have spoken to about digital radio cant even tell you the difference between the 2 signals most of the time….and that makes selling the units to a wary, digitally uneducated consumer A LOT harder. ….. And lets not even begin to look at the understanding of digital radio that the average listener has…..because they dont.
How can they when the people running the station or selling the radios dont know what they are doing either?
I understand and appreciate the money end of this business – it just unfortunate that the bean counters dont understand radio or the creativity needed to make new products like digital radio shine……AT ALL.
AM Stereo all over again?…..I hope not.
Maybe the car makers will come on board this time and install digital radios sooner rather than later…. but i can tell you FOR SURE that they wont seriously look at installing digital radios in every model of car they make – until they are sure that people are listening to them.
Creative Program Managers – creative promotions teams – creative sales teams and creative on air talent will be the only way to make digital worth listening to.
Unless your current CEO, CFO, Owner, Manager AND PD has ever sat in the chair and put a successful show to air – over an exteneded period…..then you are not likely to come up with any new ideas or ways to improve digital uptake and programming services that will get their bean counters approval.
Why not relax – and let some creative people have a go?…….new ideas and concepts that will make your business money…..
Its not making much if any at all now……what have you got to lose?
Accept contol of the beans on a station that isnt making any?
Bring back the good old days….. Rod Muir – where are you when we need you? …and your chainsaw.
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Love to but can’t afford it
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