Kellie Pickler mobile campaign works for radio network

By Mickey Alam Khan

May 12, 2008

Kellie Pickler

A Citadel Broadcasting Corp. country music mobile campaign for a Kellie Pickler school concert generated more than 2 million text messages.

The text-to-win effort, handled by mobile advertising network mSnap, ran April 14-23 in conjunction with Citadel’s WKHX/KICKS 1015 FM country music station in Atlanta. Named the “Kellie Pickler High School Hook Up,” the effort relied on mSnap's SMS opt-in text messaging platform.

“The radio station wants to engage and reach the audience in a much better way,” said Martin Kristeseter, founder and executive vice president of business development of mSnap, San Francisco.

“They wanted to reach a younger demographic through a high school to make country hipper and better than it is,” he said. “Country has a stigma – older, more conservative, less text-friendly.”

Well, this campaign certainly resonated.

A pat on the back

The radio station targeted the effort at all high schools in the Atlanta metro area. The SMS promotion was complemented with a site with detailed contest information and post-updated lists of the top 10 participating schools.

Station DJs promoted the contest on their shows. That and a sponsorship from fast food chain Wendy's helped the promotion cover more than 150 high schools in the Atlanta metropolitan area.

The winning school would host an exclusive private concert with Kellie Pickler, an American Idol season five finalist and a Sony BMG/BNA recording artist.

Woodstock, GA-based Etowah High School was named the official winner April 28, honored for submitted the most text messages -- 544,779, or more than a quarter of the total text messages received by the contest organizer.

Ms. Pickler performed live in that school May 5.

The school wasn't the sole beneficiary of this exercise.

Sony BMG in Nashville, TN, won an opportunity to get the word out on future contests, album releases, tour dates and ringtones. And WKJX-FM not only saw an increase in its ratings, but also added 10,000 new subscribers in less than two weeks.

"We managed to engage the audience for over nine days," Mr. Kristeseter said. "For radio stations, that's huge. With a promotion like this, you're top of mind.

"On top of that, it's definitely a new revenue stream for radio," he said. "Traditional radio revenue is flat to down."

That said, radio still has an estimated 200 million listeners nationwide. Most of the 12-plus demographic listens to the medium in some way or the other.

WKHX-FM owner Citadel Broadcasting is the nation's No. 1 pure-play radio firm nationwide, reaching more than 50 markets with its 165 FM and 58 AM stations.

The Las Vegas-based company also owns and operates ABC Radio Networks, a creator and distributor of programming to more than 4,000 affiliates around the country.

"Radio is not a dying business," Mr. Kristeseter said. "[But] they're losing their audience. They listen in, but they don't listen in that much.

"We need some kind of hook to stay closer to that audience," he said. "For them it's all about reengaging that audience and making sure they stay longer."