Radio is one of the oldest and longest standing mediums and the key to its success has been its ability to embrace technology and change. In a world that is constantly evolving the key mistake that both media suppliers and the brands they promote can make is being fearful of change.

Evolution of radio

Radio as most people may have known it, has evolved. It’s now so much more than talent, music and content on-air. Today, radio is multi-platform with various touch points to reach an array of different people through social media, digital, events and on the street. This offers brands the opportunity to communicate your message with your core target audience in a really engaging way.

Getting the brand alignment right

A huge part of why some radio promotions end up being so successful is due to effective brand alignment. The New Zealand radio market offers niche station brands, targeting very specific audiences. Finding the right station to fit with your brand, values and message can be a key decision in the success of your radio promotion. KFC Edgefest (a three-day music festival) and ZM’s Fugitive (a collaboration with Spark to promote the new Nokia Smartphone) are both great examples of brands finding the perfect station to align with. Both of these promotions are also illustrations of how radio has embraced change and continues to use technology to be innovative and offer brands greater opportunities. Each week radio reaches over 80% of Kiwis through the airwaves and we now have the chance to strengthen the relationship with our audiences through video content, social media engagement and events.

Embracing change

As an industry we like to view changes in technology and audience consumption of media as an opportunity. The rise of social media consumption has seen us traverse our radio brands into this space. The popularity of podcasting has seen some of our brands explore this form of broadcasting. And with the looming “screenless browsing" revolution that is smart speakers, we are already looking at ways to embrace this technology to bring more radio into peoples' homes using smart speaker technology. We are the media cockroach that lives on!