In radio – as in life – sometimes the cheapest and simplest ideas end up being the most effective.
A sausage in a pot plant is a far cry from five million bucks buried under the sand at St Kilda Beach. But some of the most successful radio promotions of all time didn’t rely on big ideas, big prizes or big budgets for that matter.
Today we look back at a couple of classics you may or may not have heard of.
Hide The Sausage
Former radio and TV host Rob Elliott fondly remembers this thrifty and cheeky little promotion with a particularly memorable name.
Hide the Sausage … and Win a Meat Tray was a contest which famously played out at both at Triple M Melbourne and KROQ – as it was then known – on the Gold Coast.
“It was hilarious and very popular, the old sausage,” Rob tells Radio Today.
The promotion required some fancy footwork from legendary fellow Triple M announcer ‘Captain’ Karl van Est.
“Captain would hide the sausage somewhere in Melbourne, we’d give a clue every 30 minutes, then after the 6pm news, we’d give a clue that would pretty much give away the location,” Rob explains.
“Karl and the Thunders would be there waiting and whoever found the sausage first won a meat tray.”
In a classic case of radio mind games, Rob says the funniest place they hid the sausage was in a pot plant in the reception area of rival station 3KZ.
Fair to say it got a few people off-side.
“Apparently people were running through the station looking for it,” Rob remembers. “We were threatened with legal action after that one. Priceless.”
Broadcasts from the Islands
3XY’s Broadcasts from the Islands was another budget-friendly promotion which promised listeners a tropical experience at various islands with members of the on-air team.
Perhaps hoping for a holiday to the Whitsundays or the West Indies, the winners packed their suitcases, all set for a tropical getaway. As it turned out, the ‘islands’ in question were traffic islands around Melbourne.
The 3XY jocks were each assigned a different ‘island,’ and hosted their shows from there.
This promotion was a favourite of former 3XY presenter and now ARN host Craig ‘Huggy’ Huggins, who remembers “We did set up the islands like tropical resorts with blow-up palm trees and sun lounges. It was hysterical.”
Fun and memorable. The very reasons these events, promotions and stunts are held in the first place. None of us really expect to win the Powerball jackpot, but a meat tray or a sun-filled holiday? Yes, I might be a chance.
The simplicity of the promotions mentioned is also worth noting. There were not a lot of Ts &Cs involved.
Times have changed but the underlying objective of radio promotions has not: keep the listeners you have and get them to listen longer – albeit with an ever-decreasing promotional budget.
It is a challenge, but it is one that radio has always been good at.
Is that hunger for the next great idea still alive and well?
*Images: ARN and Facebook