B2B STRATEGY & REPOSITIONING
THE ASK
Refresh iHeart's positioning, focusing on the B2B challenge of increasing the relevance of the brand to advertisers, their agencies, and other industry influencers.
THE KEY PLAYERS
The Industry
Advertisers (including small businesses)
The listeners
PROBLEM
Radio isn't dead, but the ads are on life support.
People keep saying radio's dead. But the truth is, the radio is still America's #1 mobile mass reach medium (with a 93% weekly reach). Yet hope is quickly being lost when it comes to the idea of a decent radio ad. How can we get an industry excited about radio again and inspire them to create stuff that's worth listening to?
OPPORTUNITY
People are sitting through radio ads, even if they're not enjoying them.
38% of survey respondents said they only switch radio stations when songs they don't like come on. That's versus 13% who said they switch when a radio ad comes on.
And when asked to paint their ideal world, in regards to radio ads, most cited simply having better content
The good news is, people are craving more creativity!
SOLUTION
iHeartMedia has it's hand in all areas of entertainment. They work with big brand names, they host amazing events, and they have countless celebrity endorsers. They’re everywhere. However, we found that many businesses and consumers don't really know about all of the amazing services that iHeartMedia has to offer.
Insight
While iHeartMedia is visible, we need to make it valuable.
Strategy
Inspire the industry to create content worth listening to.
NEW POSITIONING
iHeartMedia is the creative agency that specializes in sound.
Rational
iHeartMedia has all of the tools to make radio advertising great: an in-house production team, high brand awareness, and a network of influencers. We decided to leverage these things and make iHeartMedia the company that focuses on helping clients create quality work pushing the radio medium to its pinnacle
CREATIVE
Concept: Radio Reincarnated
Our creative executions extended to both businesses/advertisers as well as to radio listeners. We wanted to encourage higher standards of sound as well as create excitement for what radio ads could be.
Tag line: The Future of Sound
CONSUMERS
Allows you to choose sounds from live hotspots all over the city to mix and record a track that captures your city in real time. You can then share your favorite track to the city stream. You’re able to explore more mixes from your city as well as other cities around the U.S with the iHeartRadio app.
Example of a Sound of Your City mix.
BUSINESSES
Businesses with Sounds of Your City hotspots can post stickers to mark their hotspots. App users are able to tag their location when collecting their sound, creating a roadmap of their sound journey.
AD INDUSTRY CREATIVES
Ad Age takeover including a writing competition aimed at junior creatives. The competition will provide a prompt along with competition rules. The winner will have their script created into an ad. This execution aims to inspire creatives by allowing them to think about writing in their own terms and remember why they fell in love with this industry in the first place.
A tongue-in-cheek checklist with tips for writing radio for both juniors and small business owners to help inspire creative spots.
Inspirational Direct Mail sent to creatives calling on them to take part in the reincarnation of radio, utilizing Google cardboard.
Inspirational Direct Mail: Google cardboard video.
CREATIVE AMBASSADORS
