Red FM: Social message, Bollywood twist

The radio station has launched a major out of home campaign in Bengaluru to strengthen its position as a 24X7 Hindi music station.

The Sun TV-owned Red 93.5 FM has launched a high-decibel out of home campaign in Bengaluru to strengthen its new position amongst listeners in the city. Red FM repositioned itself as a Hindi music station from a regional channel in November, 2012.

The campaign delivers social messages in a quirky manner. The creatives integrate local issues of the city with parodies of popular Hindi songs. For example, one creative says, 'Traffikum Signalum Critical Conditionum,' referring to the increasing traffic creating bottlenecks in the city, in a parody of the song 'Dreamum Wakeupum'.

Other creatives are 'Chalao Na Kachre ke Baan re, Jaan le lo na Jaan re', '12 Maheene Mein 12 Tareeke Se Boss Ki Waat Laguanga Re, Dhinka Chika Dhinka Chika' and others.

The campaign addresses relatable issues such as traffic jams, potholes on the roads, early closing of pubs, parking problems at markets and malls and boss-employee tiffs. The creatives are designed by Yang Saints and Warriors and the out of home activation has been done by Crossroads.

Nisha Narayanan, senior vice-president, programming and projects, Red FM, says, "The campaign aims to establish the super hit Hindi music positioning through the communication delivered in a truly 'Bajaate Raho' style of being quirky, irreverent and fun."

Speaking to afaqs!, Rajat Uppal, general manager, marketing, Red FM, says, "Things which impact a person's life in the city on a day to day basis are relevant to him/her and any communication based on such issues registers better."

The OOH campaign uses billboards, pole kiosks, banners, mall and cinema branding and taxi cab advertising. Digital media and on-air promotions on Red FM's Bengaluru station are also being used to spread the message.

The radio station has erected 30 large format billboards at strategic high footfall points such as Richmond Circle, Kormangala Ring Road, Majestic, Residency Road, Silk Board Junction, St. Marks Road, Old Airport, Adugodi signal, Indiranagar 100 ft road and Lalbagh Road.

It has also placed 100 units of pole kiosks at locations such as Dairy Circle and BTM Layout. Twenty bus shelters at places such as Cunningam Road have been branded with the creatives.

Red FM has also collaborated with Meru cabs and rebranded 225 cabs for a period of one month. An association with four malls in the city, namely Garuda mall, Forum Mall, Orion Mall and Mantri mall, has extend the campaign further.

The city being the hub of the IT sector in the country, the brand has also associated itself with five tech parks to extend the advertising to techies. Food courts of the parks, which see a high number of footfalls, carry messages that grab eyeballs. Red FM has also tied up with three bowling alleys.

At all the properties of multiplex chains Fame and PVR cinemas in Bengaluru, wash room branding has been carried out.

The station has organised contests where the listeners have to spot an outdoor or a hoarding of Red FM, click a picture and upload it on the Facebook page of the brand to get gifts.

On the digital front, Uppal says, "We have revamped all social media handles for Red FM, including Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. In fact, the new line up of RJs also have their show pages on Facebook."

He adds that across the social media platform, Red FM has initiated customised contests for listeners. There are special videos with the radio jockeys that have been plugged on these platforms. RJs also share their show features on their pages for those listeners who might have missed the show.

According to Red FM, the marketing spend for the entire campaign is Rs 75-80 lakh.

The target group for the campaign is any listener who seeks super-hit Hindi music; the core TG is people in the age group of 20-44 years hailing from SEC AB.

The current campaign began on January 10 and will continue till mid-February. Uppal adds that Red FM plans to launch several follow up campaigns to strengthen its new position.

Red FM has its operations in 38 cities across the country and began its operations in Bengaluru on November 6, 2006. Its tagline is Bajate Raho.

The Bengaluru station shifted from regional to Hindi music after internal research indicated a steep rise in the music preference of listeners of the city towards Hindi music. The station was then positioned as a 'Superhits 24x7 Hindi radio station'.