Bell Media’s Virgin Radio 96 is trying to show consumers its music is work-appropriate with some not-so-work-appropriate marketing.
Virgin’s integrated “#Approvedforwork” campaign launched last month, targeting a 50-km radius around Montreal (where the station is based) with TV, radio, OOH, print, web and social media, and in-theatre advertising at Cineplex theatres. The campaign’s creative was handled by Montreal-based Les Évadés.
The 15-second TV and radio spots show people responding to banal office questions by quoting risqué lines from some of the pop songs heard on the station, eliciting shocked reactions. That’s followed by the actual song being played, demonstrating that it’s “approved for work.” The station worked with digital media agency Dialekta for the media buy along with the Bell Media team.
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Anne-Claire Lefaivre, marketing and communications director at Bell Media, says the station, while number one with its target of women 25 to 49 during the morning and afternoon drives, is not getting the same attention during 9-to-5 office hours.
“We wanted to show people that Virgin is a station that can accompany them the whole day,” she says.
The station competes for a share of day-time listeners with digital players like Songza and Spotify, along with radio stations including The Beat 92.5, Virgin 96’s main competitor. Lefaivre says the station wanted break away from traditional radio advertising.
“We wanted to do something really different to what we usually see for the promotion of radio stations, while still focusing on music,” she says. “We wanted to have a concept that was still edgy but focused on the music up front.”
In addition to the media buy, the station is running a “Suitcase Party” contest for listeners to enter their office in a draw. At 10 a.m. each day an office is drawn on the station and has 30 minutes for the entrant to call in. Then the next day, a Virgin Radi#Approved4Work crew will come to the office with prizes and an invite for four friends to go to the party.
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I think that the approved for work campaign is the stupidest, and most ignorant campaign that I have ever seen on television. I am soooo sick of seeing it every night on the television news. It is hard to imagine that someone actually got paid to produce such drivel!!