BFM - Breaking The Mould

In a sea of format radio, limited media channels, and a tiny advertising budget; can you launch an independent business radio station aimed at a jaded white-collared audience? BFM89.9 branded itself fast with a witty, acronym-based and topical (eg Obama’s win) taxi-back campaign. Very high visibility and word-of-mouth was created within weeks. Traffic to its website has soared and sponsorships and tie-ups with big brands have exceeded expectation. Listenership continues to rise. BFM 89.9 is on its way to being the must tune-in station for Malaysian business people.

What was our strategic communications challenge?

Building an identity for a new business radio station. Radio stations in Malaysia have become very formatted, playing the same music over and over again and consisting of entertainment considered trivial and inconsequential, with too many contests. The more discerning white-collar listeners were beginning to turn off the radio preferring to listen to their own CDs and MP3 players. Business FM (BFM) saw an opportunity in introducing a radio station that would appeal to these listeners; a radio station that would engage, educate and enlighten them. BFM would feature matters that would appeal to them like business, finance, marketing, technology and productivity, in addition to sport and a fresh music offering.

What were our campaign objectives?

a) Create curiosity, awareness, affinity among discerning listeners, and get them to tune in.

b) To quickly plant the alternative nature of “B.F.M.” and what it stands for with a very small marketing budget.

c) Create listener experience by igniting a dialogue with them.

What was our big idea?

Acronyms of B.F.M

Using witty acronyms based on the station call sign B.F.M. to create curiosity about the brand, establish a brand personality and creating listener involvement.

How did we arrive at the big idea?

Our listeners are knowledgeable, reputable and established professionals. They are entrepreneurs, investors, decision makers and influencers. They don’t want fluff in their life, they want straightforward news/information and they do appreciate a little wit. There was too much ‘sameness’ out there, it was time to break the mould.

How did we bring the idea to life?

Our listeners appreciated wit and candor. They liked to be challenged intellectually. So we took the abbreviation that represented our radio station (B – business, F – frequency, M – modulation) and created acronyms that reflected our brand essence and the type of topics we cover.

Media channel wise, we faced challenges with both the budget and the medium. Other radio channels were out of the question as they would not support a competitive radio station. The same went for TV stations which were “media owners” of radio stations. So we chose to advertise where radio was most consumed – on the road. Taxi back stickers and car stickers were created. The leading financial paper was also considered with simple B&W panel ads.

Tie-ups with program sponsors also involved playing with BFM acronyms but with a spin on the sponsor’s product or service.

As our campaign idea was so simple and adaptable, we could quickly and easily swope the advertising content and materials to keep the campaign topical for consumers and listeners alike. Topics like the US Election, oil prices hitting an all time high, the subprime mortgage crisis, the F1 season and even Sharukh Khan receiving his Datukship provided fodder for the campaign

How do we know it worked?

The campaign had a soft launch in October 2008 with the station officially launched in February 2009. Results have been very positive. The creative work is being recognized among our listeners who are also industry leaders, resulting in them being one of the “topics” on the station. The campaign is already successfully driving listeners to the station and its website. Multinational companies in Malaysia have chosen to tie up with BFM for their promotion efforts because they believe the station is targeting the right listenership. There was extensive press coverage by leading business news portals and dailies.

a) Create awareness among the discerning listeners, and get them to tune in.

• Over 55% of our listeners are corporate decision makers or influencers with a household disposable income of more than RM 7,500 per month. More than 70% had funds earmarked for investments and over 40% had an investment portfolio worth over RM100,000. (Source: Advertiser Data - BFM online survey among 543 respondents, May 2009)

b) Define what BFM stood for, and build affinity among listeners.

• So clear was the campaign and positioning of BFM that listeners contributed their own innovative acronyms for the brand. We received a total of approximately 240 acronyms (80 entries with an average of 3 acronyms submitted per entry) within one week of requesting for submissions.

c) Deepen listenership experience by igniting a dialogue with them.

• Traffic to the website increased from 1,629 in Oct 2008 to 19,918 in May 2009 (a 1,122% increase).
• Number of unique visitors to the website rose from 965 in Oct 2008 to 11,015 in May 2009 (a 1,041% increase).
• Page views on the website increased from 4,699 in Oct 2008 to 45,815 in May 2009 (a 875% increase)

(Source: Google Analytics dated 25 June 2009)

• Run rate of podcasts downloaded/played stood at about 105 a week at the end of September 2008. The current run rate of podcasts downloaded/played has since dramatically increased to 2,160 per week or over 300 per day. Total podcasts downloaded/played to-date is 45,322. (Source: BFM)

• Ranked number 8 in the “Most Interesting Use of Web 2.0 by Malaysian Brands” (Source: GreyReview – news and analysis of the business of web 2.0 (published 25 February 2009)

Anything else going on that might have helped drive results?

The world was experiencing a period of dramatic social and political developments at the time, which provided fodder for our acronyms. This included the credit crunch in the US which eventually led to a global financial crisis, escalating fuel prices globally, US elections for a new president, new leaders in the Formula One race, just to name a few.