The Sunday brunch restaurants we frequent had long waiting lists. It was back-to-school week, and summer vacations were over. Not wanting to wait an hour, we opted for a standby restaurant we hadn’t visited in a while: the warm, friendly, and filling Cracker Barrel.
We added another 20 minutes on the way out because my companions had to browse the Old Country Store. I was going to the porch to sit in one of their comfortable Heritage Rocking Chairs when my eye caught an odd site. A Christmas tree. I did one of those non-verbal head tilts and said, “It’s the first week of August.”
If your brand plays Christmas music, you’re thinking about this year’s playlist. If the strategy involves promotions and events, the meetings start in March.
Fun Old-Fashioned Family Christmas
How do we prepare and freshen our brand’s purpose during the Holidays? Consider Clark Griswold’s search for the perfect tree in National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation.
When young Russ Griswold tells his dad the tree is too big and won’t fit in the yard, Clark delivers the line that sets the storyline for the rest of the movie. “It’s not going in our yard, Russ. It’s going in our living room.”
The tree, the decorations, the large family, the dinner scene, the Christmas bonus… everything has an exaggerated theme as Clark attempts to create a “fun, old-fashioned family Christmas.”
Let’s use those exaggerated themes to review the Christmas branding and promotions strategy for radio stations.
The Tree
Where is the “tree” going? Every market has a heritage Christmas music brand. That radio station has a larger “living room” for the playlist and can push the boundaries a bit with the tree’s fullness.
However, the playlist curator knows why the brand has continuously maintained the neighborhood’s Best Tree award. The tree may be larger, but the owner knows it must fit the space, look the part, and feel right whenever someone walks into the room.
If your space is smaller or you’re trying to move in on Martha May Whovier’s territory in How The Grinch Stole Christmas (2000), there’s more pressure for your smaller tree to look and sound bigger than it is. Be tight but full.
P1 Media Group’s annual Christmas Music Research results will reveal that the most played and most popular songs will be traditional tunes, or what we call classics. You know, The Christmas Song, Jingle Bell Rock, White Christmas, Have a Holly Jolly Christmas, etc.
The playlist must include what listeners expect from this format, but some of the fullness might come from heavily played streaming songs to give your tree more fullness. If you’re a Christian music station, you get your fullness by leaning into traditional religious-themed songs.
Decorations
Clark Griswold did what most dads have done at least once: climb on a roof or up an outdoor tree to hang lights. “Dad, you taught me everything I know about exterior illumination,” Clark said to his father once the Christmas lights finally lit up, thanks to Clark’s wife.
Martha May Whovier has the best Christmas decorations every year. When her neighbor, Betty Lou Who starts decorating her house to jealously compete for the best Christmas lights, we see her walking on the roof and stringing lights like Clark and the rest of us.
Martha May steps outside to reveal her newest gadget: a Gatling gun light stringer. The machine perfectly places the lights along the roofline in 15 seconds compared to the hours of work it has taken Betty Lou to have a less impressive display.
Radio values what comes between the records because those moments create the difference and the companionship. However, Christmas programming becomes stale if we keep recycling the same audio year after year.
The non-Christmas formats have an opportunity to get creative and have fun with audio imaging and promotions during the Holidays. Rock stations give Christmas an attitude to match the station’s purpose.
Plus, are we wasting time stringing lights on top of the roof when we have access to faster-generated copy, sound effects, and voices through AI? Let the technology help us with options for using our creative talent to create a more memorable or meaningful presentation.
The Family Dinner
The Griswold family Christmas dinner makes us laugh and cringe because we’ve been there. The writer has most of the movie’s characters participate in that scene with their personality traits and quirks to create real-life family dysfunction.
Get your radio family involved early to help generate ideas for promotions and events. Most people have an opinion about Christmas decorations. It’s the same with ideas. Christmas music is the most passionate genre. You’ll likely get emotional input from everyone about what they like and dislike. This is a great season for inclusion of participation.
If your station is involved in a Christmas parade, invite the non-on-air staff to decorate a float or walk in the parade. Most of those employees find it much more exciting to participate in an event than the announcers who have been walking and smiling in parades for years. Give everyone a seat at the family dinner table to improve the listener experience.
The Christmas Bonus
In National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, the main character, Clark Griswold, wants to surprise his family with the announcement that he’s installing a backyard swimming pool with his Christmas bonus.
Promotions like Christmas Wish or The 12 Days of Christmas Gifts work year after year and should be a part of the radio marketing and promotions landscape. But what are you doing differently to get noticed like Clark did? When he announced his idea, the whole family rejoiced because it was unique and fun.
Like those classic, traditional hit songs, the classic promotions work, and you should keep doing it if you own the feature. The opportunities are created in those secondary and tertiary promotions to keep the tree looking full, just like the playlist.
Social media posts and videos are a great place to reach beyond the limits of the radio presentation and create fun, emotional, and different content to enhance audience engagement. Start with your internal staff. If you need more help, contact people who think differently to give you 19 new ideas. You don’t need all 19. You need one great one to run with.
Finally, be prepared for it not to go the way you planned. The conflict for Griswold was he didn’t receive his typical Christmas bonus (spoiler alert). He didn’t have a backup plan to save Christmas until Cousin Eddie stepped in and kidnapped Clark’s boss.
In How the Grinch Stole Christmas, the residents of Whoville surprised the Grinch when they came together to celebrate their community bond after the Grinch robbed their gifts. They had a backup plan and didn’t lose the Christmas spirit.
Christmas music creates audience cume and gets attention. What is the backup plan when a third, fourth, or fifth radio station in your market goes All Christmas? What is the plan when the promotion budget is reduced again? If you’re not one of those Christmas stations, what is the plan to get noticed for an outstanding promotion or bit you created? The stations with the most opportunity to have fun at Christmas are the non-Christmas music stations.
We gasp when we walk into a department store in August and see Christmas decorations. However, it has been this way for a long time. Start planning for the “hap-hap-happiest Christmas since Bing Crosby tap-danced with Danny…” Okay, I won’t finish the Griswold line.
Ron Harrell is a columnist for Barrett Media. He founded Harrell Media Group, specializing in radio and audio brand consultation, fractional management, and talent coaching. He has worked in every role on the Programming and Branding side during his career, becoming management and executive-focused in the post-Telecom Act era. Ron has held leadership roles for media groups such as ABC/Citadel, CBS Radio, Chancellor Media, Cumulus Media, Hope Media Group, Hubbard Broadcasting, and WAY Media.
Interested parties are invited to learn more about his company Harrell Media Group and reach out by email at Ron@HarrellMediaGroup.com.
