Commercial Radio Australia and the major radio networks are set to launch an multi-million dollar ad campaign to promote the launch of digital radio next year.
The CRA has appointed an advertising agency, believed to be independent agency Smart, to produce the radio and online campaign which has total industry collaboration. They are understood to have beaten Clemenger BBDO for the project.
Michael Anderson, Austereo chief executive and chairman of CRA, could not confirm Smart had been appointed, but said CRA was deciding on final creative executions with the winning agency and discussing the best way to roll out the campaign.
“It will have massive support from the industry, on an annualised basis we are talking in the tens of millions of dollars of on-air support, so it will be quite ubiquitous in terms of talking to the consumer,” he said.
Despite speculation that each radio network would promote digital radio independent of the CRA and rival networks, CRA has confirmed that the push would involve the entire radio industry.
“We see this as a whole of industry exercise, so whatever comes out of the marketing plan as we move forward for digital radio, we see it being completely supported by the metro stations – because that’s the first launch for digital, but we see it being supported by the whole of industry,” Anderson said, adding that ABC and SBS would also be involved in the campaign.
The campaign, will primarily be radio-based, but will also include online and trade press executions and CRA will be working closely with retailers to produce catalogues and TVCs, according to CRA chief executive Joan Warner.
“We’re trying to talk to our listeners and 80% of Australians listen to commercial radio,” Warner said.
The campaign will be rolled out in a number of stages starting with an awareness campaign from October followed by a call-to-action closer to Christmas, and then once signals and content is created, a third phase of the campaign will be launched, Warner said.
Angela Clark, chief executive of Macquarie Radio Network, said all commercial broadcasters have agreed to support the campaign.
“All the commercial broadcasters are equally involved, the (CRA) brand committee has briefed an agency, they have got a campaign and they are going to be rolling that out across everyone’s networks,” Clark said.
Earlier this month, digital radio in Australia moved a step closer with the unveiling of the companies that will develop the medium’s infrastructure.
CRA revealed that Rohde & Schwarz will build the high-power DAB+ transmitters, with Factum handling the DAB+ multiplexes and coders. The United Group will oversee the integration of the system, while Kordia will provide project management support.
The implementation of digital radio has been hampered by a series of delays over recent years, but the radio industry is confident that the DAB+ technology used will be far superior to the DAB system used in other markets, such as Britain.
Also this month, leading radio stations revealed they are likely to operate only one additional station for each licence they hold when digital radio is introduced on January 1, 2009.
The revelation comes amid concerns from the industry about possible digital radio black spots in the state capital cities, which may have resulted in more than 20% of city areas being left without indoor reception.
Metropolitan stations initially expected to be able to launch three new stations along with their existing analogue station offering.
