What do you do if you`re a major television network trying to get the word out to the public that you`ve breathed new life into the plots and characters of a daytime soap opera that has been on the air for 28 years?
If you`re ABC-TV and the show is ”General Hospital,” one of the things you do is hire a marketing company to devise clever promotions on radio stations in 14 major markets whose audience demographics mirror those of the TV show.
For the next few weeks, listeners of WBBM-FM, WGCI-FM and WYTZ-FM will have a chance to win all sorts of ”General Hospital”-related prizes.
”ABC-TV wanted to create an awareness of the new `General Hospital` and encourage people to sample the program,” said Jon Kramer, executive vice president of Local Marketing Corp. in Stamford, Conn.
”We`re doing a lot of `watch and win` things that hopefully will get more people hooked on the program.”
From next Monday to Aug. 2, WGCI-FM 107.5 is running a ”First Kiss Sweepstakes” on Shannon Dell`s midday show, in which listeners will win prizes for giving the names of the ”General Hospital” stars who had the first kiss on the previous day`s show.
Through Aug. 9, WYTZ-FM 94.7`s ”G.H. Tattle Tale” contest will ask listeners to tell morning men Welch and Woody about a friend whose life is like a soap opera.
Each day`s winners qualify for a trip to the ”General Hospital” set in Los Angeles.
On July 31, WBBM-FM 96.3 listeners will be invited to a ”New General Hospital Theme Party” at Excalibur, where the $5 cover charge will be donated to Wyler`s Children`s Hospital.
There will be ”General Hospital”-oriented contests and giveaways, including another trip to the show`s set.
”Let`s face it, the involvement viewers have with soap operas is extraordinary,” said Kramer, whose company created a similar cross-promotion last year for ”Twin Peaks.”
”And to be a radio station able to provide a chance for one of your listeners to visit the set is really exciting. It`s a win-win-win situation for everybody: the network, the radio stations and their listeners.”
Mark Stough, WYTZ-FM account executive, said the promotion is perfect for his station`s audience.
”When we do promotions, we look for something that has a payoff for the listener,” he said. ”People love to listen to other people`s dirt, and this was a good opportunity to hear some of that and have some fun with it.”
Dave Glavan, WBBM-FM senior account executive, foresees more tie-ins between the two media.
”My feeling is that in the past TV stations viewed themselves as the kings and radio stations as the princes,” Glavan said. ”TV just didn`t feel that radio could do the job for them promotionally. Now they`re using radio`s creative strengths to promote their shows.”
Bill Ryan, WGCI-FM national sales manager, said that some radio station program directors balk at the idea of promoting a ”competing” medium.
”I really think cross-promotions like this help both mediums, though,”
Ryan said. ”The best place to advertise TV is on radio, and the best place to advertise radio is on TV.”
