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2025 Q1 Promotional and Digital Content Opportunities.
Remember when we panicked and said, “Hey, 2024 is almost here. We better start planning.” This just in: Thanksgiving is over, and Christmas is less than a month away. Your staff will physically start vacating soon. Emotionally, they’re already drifting because 2024 is done, and 2025 is almost here.
Of course, you’re ahead of the curve in the planning stages and looking at 2026. For the rest of us, here are some first-quarter dates with potential on-air and social media content ideas:
January 2025
- New Year’s Day (1st):
- Themes: New Year, New You. 30-Day Challenges. Pay Your Bills
- What If?:
- Shut The Door on ‘24: On-Air and social media New Year’s resolutions often are forward-looking with what we want to accomplish this year. That’s great and it’s how we should manage our personal goals.
However, you might get more dramatic and fun content from listeners willing to share why they’re glad 2024 is gone and what happened to them personally. Social media has taught us people will divulge things online we thought were only overheard at a party late into the evening.
- Martin Luther King Jr. Day (January 20):
- Tested Themes: MLK Day Parade inclusion. Sunday morning Public Affairs interview. Audio promos and Imaging of Dr. King’s speeches. Education scholarship contests.
- What If?
- Instead of a solo audio promo honoring MLK, could you experiment with adding a famous Dr. King line to your standard Imaging?
- Ex: The TOH ID with the legal stuff, the sponsor, and the slogan would include 07 of the “I Have a Dream” speech. Or your hourly music imaging promo would include an MLK quote.
- The idea is to make it seamlessly inclusive in your content so it doesn’t sound like you’re doing the standard Promo tribute. Play around in the production studio and see if it sounds good.
- One more: Take your smartphone and get kids and elderly people to read the famous MLK lines. It may be more powerful than 60-year-old audio.
- More Content Opportunities in January:
- 82nd Annual Golden Globe Awards (5th): Reels and videos of staff members acting famous scenes from the nominees. The chief engineer creating a scene from The Bear could be horribly funny.
- National Dress Up Your Pet Day (14th): It’s obvious and a great way to get office colleagues involved in your show and social media.
- National Cheese Lovers Day (20th): I see fun Reels content.
- National Hot Chocolate Day (31st): Send a team member to a random Starbucks and buy hot chocolate for people. Check all the boxes: Human interaction, audio, video, social, selfies, feel good.
February 2025
- Valentine’s Day (14th):
- Themes: Flowers, Dinners, Concerts, Jewelry, blah, blah, blah.
- What If?:
- Why does it have to be love-themed? Use the Valentine’s Day theme to promote something big. “You know what we’re giving you for Valentine’s Day?…$1,000 of groceries!” You get the idea. Make yourself different.
- “Anti-Valentine’s Day” party: I’m not sure I like that name, but the idea is to celebrate singlehood.
- More Content Opportunities in February:
- Groundhog Day (2nd): Any reason to use Bill Murray audio is good.
- Groundhog Day, your on-air content. Repeat the 6:00 hour at 7:00 and 8:00. But not just the songs, everything. However, you have to repeat it “live.” Promote it weeks in advance.
- The Super Bowl, oh, wait, The Big Game (9th): Big screen smart TVs and fully catered buffets for a party always work.
- What If?:
- As watching and listening becomes more personalized, give away a VR headset like the Meta Quest headset. If your budget doesn’t support buying enough for the whole family, giveaway one for the person willing to experiment with the device during a Super Bowl party. Get a report from that person Monday morning including video of the recipient watching the game in a room full of people.
- Groundhog Day (2nd): Any reason to use Bill Murray audio is good.
- Black History Month: Similar to MLK Day, let the audio help your presentation. There are so many categories to choose from; sports, politics, education, business, healthcare, military.
- Obviously, history is acknowledging the past. Change it to a feature about who is making history now in your community. Again, this one is likely a 2026 reality. Use February 2025 to kickoff the sales and production effort for the following year.
- Random Acts of Kindness Day (17th): If you don’t know what to do with this, then don’t attempt.
- Love Your Pet Day (20th): If food is the great equalizer, then pets are a close second.
- Encourage your office colleagues to bring their pets to work for the day if your lease allows it. Watch the mood of the office improve for the day. Productivity? Not so much, but the payoff is worth it. Pets are photo and video gold for content.
- Bonus: Get public service animals involved and win the hearts of government organizations.
March 2025
- St. Patrick’s Day (17th):
- Live Broadcasts: There a some markets where St. Patrick’s Day is like a holiday around the office. Get out and find the people and make connections in the bars. Party people love to take selfies with your logo in the background.
- Parades: If we’re competing with the noise of competitive content, then a parade of stationary people is a good way for someone to see your float or your people in a parade.
- Promotion Ideas:
- Music features for gold-based formats need a revival. There’s something you can do with U2 music on this day.
- Irish Music on HD2. Hey, there are more Irish artists than U2, Van Morrison and The Boomtown Rats. Research it and dedicate 24 hours to All Irish Music on one of your HD channels. The real benefit is the promo you’ll play on the main channel to show that you’re creative and being in the moment.
- Pot of Gold scavenger hunt: If part of the ratings game is about impressions, then turn your daily contesting on St. Patrick’s Day into a themed promotion and add a bonus prize.
- More Content Opportunities in March:
- National Day of Unplugging (1st):
- Find the most plugged-in person on your staff and follow he/she around for the day and video them detoxing from electronics and digital connections.
- 97th Annual Academy Awards (2nd):
- See the Golden Globes above. Remember: most of your audience doesn’t care about these shows, so make the content you create stand on its own. You’re just using the event as a way to be in the moment and entertain your audience with your content.
- International Women’s Day (8th):
- The 2025 theme is Accelerate Action.
- Use the power of audio to enhance your imaging for the day.
- Use the power of your playlist to promote the day.
- Digital and Social content awareness opportunities are plentiful.
- National Day of Unplugging (1st):
Check the dates of everything I suggested. Sources can be different. Although, I’m certain New Year’s Day is January 1st this year.
Reach out if you want to talk about ideas and What If…
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.
