Kim Kardashian selfies are no longer radio gold. At least, that’s one of the findings from Southern Cross Austereo’s study on women.
The media entertainment network – which is split into the Hit Network and Triple M in the radio world – presented the findings of its study on marketing to women at a breakfast in Sydney Wednesday morning.
The study, Complexities and Commonalities: A study of her, comes as the Hit Network announced it was changing tack and purely targeting women, with a new mantra to match.
We celebrate that women are beautifully imperfect.
“When you think of Triple M, we all know immediately it’s a brand targeted towards men,” began Gemma Fordham, head content director for the Hit Network.
“The interesting thing for us with Hit is that we hadn’t previously targeted towards females. We definitely skewed towards females, but we hadn’t really been specific in the way we were scheduling and programming out content.”
Fordham also noted trust is not something that’s gained in one big gesture. It’s a series of little gestures of a long period of time which build up consumers’ trust in brands.
And that means the network has changed its music style, tone of voice and non-radio activations.
Change in tone of voice
Part of the content change and tone of voice switch-up means less natter about Kim Kardashian’s latest selfie, and more focus on women themselves, quipped Fordham.
It’s about storytelling.
“Women aren’t necessarily interested in hearing a five minute segment about Kim Kardashian’s hundrenth, millionth new selfie,” she said, “they would want to hear a segment about how to get ready for work.”
It comes down to the network’s research, which found women align themselves more with influencers nowadays, not celebrities.
Too, bullying and judgement aren’t tolerated anymore as a new wave of feminism sweeps through, so Fordham said “it’s talking about issues that have real priorities for women. Especially large issues like equal pay and body image”.
“We’ve started talking to women in a way that’s very in,” she added. “We are smart, strong, authentic, humourous and empowered.”
Music Change
Noting the power of music in mood and connections, Fordham said they’ve rejigged the music style across the Hit Network.
The network started R’n’B Fridays and has moved the genre of music to be more old-school.
Fordham noted the old-school trend was a widely dispersed genre at the moment as many reflect on the good ol’ days and a simpler time.
Change in non-radio implementations
And as radio is no longer just radio, the Network’s other bits and bobs – bootcamps, Rooftop music events, digital, podcasts and videos – are taking a more female spin.
“It’s going beyond radio for us and actually having content outside of that and still connecting with her,” said Fordham.
“It really is that whole 360 approach to make sure that we’re connecting with her very deeply across all levels of our assets.”
