NOVA Launches Feel Good Campaign Featuring Amazon Alexa

NOVA Entertainment announced the launch of a new marketing campaign, bringing smoothfm’s ‘Feel Good’ music proposition to the nation from Sunday 4 September 2022.

Ten years after launching in Sydney and Melbourne, NOVA Entertainment is extending the successful smoothfm brand across all Australian markets. For the first time NOVA Entertainment will undertake a brand campaign to launch and support smoothfm’s digital stations in Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth. The multi-million dollar investment will include local breakfast shows in the new markets, a comprehensive experiential campaign and a multi-phase brand awareness campaign with investment continuing into 2023.

Smoothfm has become one of the most successful media brands since launching in the Australian radio landscape in May 2012. The first Australian radio station to be programmed based on a mood rather than an era or genre, smoothfm’s playlist is curated to make listeners ‘feel good’ with announcers handpicked to complement the music format. The brand has attracted a highly engaged audience across broadcast with 2.4 million listeners in Sydney and Melbourne, a 291 per cent increase in cumulative broadcast listeners since launching in May 2012, and a further 76 per cent increase in audiences accessing the station via streaming from March 2020 to July 2022.

Adam Johnson, NOVA Entertainment’s chief growth officer said: ”As radio listening becomes increasingly less reliant on a traditional broadcast signal, taking smoothfm national makes perfect sense for audiences and advertisers. With live, local content across DAB+ and streamed across mobile, web and smart speakers, and a brand that transcends geographies, we can’t wait to bring smoothfm’s unique station feel to more markets. The campaign is designed to quickly build awareness and brand considerations in these cities and, crucially, educate new listeners how they can access the station.’

The marketing campaign will run across TV, out of home (OOH), cinema, podcasting, digital and socials and will be supported by a comprehensive experiential campaign that will include smooth ‘Feel Good’ café pop ups located at key events and precincts in Perth, Brisbane and Adelaide. The brand campaign will roll out in several stages, initially highlighting the station’s ‘Feel Good’ format and providing awareness on how to discover the station via The Smooth Player, website, DAB+ and smart speakers, followed by localised outdoor formats to showcase the local breakfast announcers, with a burst later in the year and continued investment throughout 2023.

The TVC’s existing creative, featuring smooth ambassador Robbie Williams, has been broadened to show multiple listening occasions and educate listeners on how to access smoothfm in Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth. The TVC is set to three iconic smoothfm ‘feel good’ tracks, Williams’ Feel, September by Earth, Wind & Fire and Billy Ocean’s Get Out of my Dreams, to give audiences a taste of the music variety of smoothfm.

Reflecting the opportunity presented by the growth of smart speaker listening, smooth is partnering with Amazon Alexa to assist listeners in Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth in discovering the brand. An integrated partnership will see the popular ‘smooth stars’ promotion delivered nationally for the first time and with the help of Alexa on air, listeners will learn how to engage with their Amazon Echo device whilst enjoying their favourite ‘feel good’ station.

Kate Burleigh, country manager, Amazon Alexa ANZ, said: “We’re thrilled to partner with NOVA Entertainment on this launch, and bring smoothfm into the homes of even more customers around Australia. We know that customers love asking Alexa to play their favourite radio stations and increasingly they are adding Amazon Echo smart speakers to multiple rooms in their homes which is extending radio listening patterns. We’re excited to reach new audiences with this ‘feel good’ partnership between Alexa and smoothfm.”

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