{"id":606,"date":"2008-07-30T09:53:38","date_gmt":"2008-07-29T23:53:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.e-cbd.com\/zakazukhazoo\/?p=52"},"modified":"2020-09-28T05:22:07","modified_gmt":"2020-09-28T05:22:07","slug":"marketing-triple-j","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.e-cbd.com.au\/blog\/case-studies\/marketing-triple-j\/","title":{"rendered":"Marketing Triple J: 21st Century Communication Strategies for Radio"},"content":{"rendered":"

I was in Melanesia last week, mainly to climb a volcano, but also to have a good long chat about marketing strategy with Stuart Mathison, the Head of Operations of the National Bank of Vanuatu<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Reaching an audience<\/h2>\n

Stuart is a client of ours and he\u2019s got a problem. He is responsible for running an (underfunded) government-owned organisation that is duty bound to provide a loss-making service to a rural nation. But, he also has to compete for profit in the cities (where the money is) with a bunch of foreign-owned banks that have a virtually limitless PR budget and advertising spend.<\/p>\n

Stuart has a brilliant brand with some amazing stories (for example, their mobile banking reps travel on speedboats to reach isolated island villages), but in order to get the message out there he\u2019s got to find some innovative and alternate ways of reaching his audience. He hasn\u2019t got the money to compete with ANZ and Westpac. What he is going to do will make an interesting blog post one day, but it\u2019s too early to say too much just yet.<\/p>\n

How to market Triple J<\/h2>\n

It got me thinking though. The kinds of innovative marketing strategies the National Bank of Vanuatu are going to have to put in place aren\u2019t that different from the kinds of strategies that can be employed by underfunded government organisations around the world.<\/p>\n

One of those that is quite dear to my heart is Australia\u2019s national youth broadcaster Triple J<\/a>. When I started this blog I had a long list of things I was going to write about, one of which was going to be a series of posts on how to use digital strategy to market a range of different organisations circa 2008. \u2018Bank\u2019 was on that list, and I\u2019ll get there one day, but I think a more interesting post for the moment would be \u2018how to market Triple J\u2019.<\/p>\n

Triple J is the youth arm of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation<\/a>, encompassing a national radio station, some TV shows, a magazine and a number of websites. It has a lot of diehard fans and a national audience numbering in the hundreds of thousands, but in an era where iPods, online file-sharing and YouTube have become the kids\u2019 tools of choice for finding and experiencing music and entertainment, Triple J\u2019s marketing team has its back against the wall. It needs to fight back, and it needs to change the way it operates.<\/p>\n

\"Digital<\/p>\n

Expanding the reach<\/h2>\n

Triple J\u2019s aim is not to win the ratings war, and it shouldn\u2019t be, but the more people it can reach, the better it will achieve its goals under the ABC charter, namely: encouraging and promoting music and the arts, informing and entertaining the youth of the country and contributing to a sense of national identity that reflects Australia\u2019s cultural diversity.<\/em><\/p>\n

The yardstick shouldn\u2019t be ears listening to any particular radio program or eyeballs viewing a show, it should be how well the organisation achieves its goals. It goes without saying that it has a much better chance of achieving those goals successfully if it can win over people who aren\u2019t currently paying attention.<\/p>\n

There are a number of groups of people who aren\u2019t currently paying attention and Triple J\u2019s marketing and branding goals should be to wake them up, they are:<\/p>\n