Radio Teaser Campaigns

Teaser campaigns can be fantastic if they are planned properly. There are some guidelines you need to follow or you’ll end up worse off than when you started. Just so we’re all on the same page, I’m talking about advertising campaigns where you leave the audience not really knowing what’s going on. There are two different ways to do them.

• Totally oblivious – In this type of campaign you don’t give any clue into who is running the ad or what it’s for. You’re just raising interest for people to find out what “those ads” are about.
• Slightly oblivious –With this type of campaign you can mention your business, but you probably won’t give away what you’re promoting yet. You’ll most likely attach a future date to watch for for an exciting new offer/product/whatever from your company

No matter what you do, there’s one main rule to follow. Make it interesting. There are few things worse than a teaser campaign that falls flat. Not only have you failed in raising interest, but you probably never mentioned anything about your company. Your money is wasted. So, make it count. If you aren’t brave, this is not a campaign strategy for you. Plus, keep in mind, they don’t always work. Here are some other important things to remember.

• Qualify your idea – People get lost in a good mystery, but it might backfire if you reveal an uninteresting product at the end of it. If you run a great teaser campaign that eventually is revealed as a boring product, people will be irritated with you. There needs to be fulfillment. Teaser campaigns are most successful when your final reveal is for something new, interesting, and cool. Don’t make people say “oh, that’s what that’s for? Who cares?”
• You need some cash to do it right – As with anything, this is a loose rule. There’s always some amazing idea out there that grabs the public’s imagination and spreads like a deadly virus. But, in general, you probably won’t have that idea. So, it’s best not to plan for a cheap campaign. If you can’t afford to get your teaser campaign message out there, it may not reach enough people to create a buzz. Ideally people will talk about your ads and guess who’s behind them. When Now Radio launched in Edmonton they put up billboards on (what seemed like) every other available space in town that simply said “When?” They stayed up for a month or so and garnered a lot of attention. When the station was close to launching the billboards changed to “Soon.” People began to get excited to find out what this was all about. When the station launched, the billboards changed to “Now.” The campaign was a huge success. Which is why you need to...
• Build the mystery – People love a good mystery. Actually, more than that, they hate being left out. We all want to know what’s going on. When you supply an insatiable mystery on a grand scale, you will get people talking. So, make sure your teaser ad stands out. It needs to get noticed.
• Don’t solve it too quickly – A good teaser campaign has a window to work in. If you hold on to the secret too long, people will lose interest. If you solve it too quickly, there won’t be enough time to build a good buzz. It doesn’t matter whether you supply a reveal date or not, just make sure you deliver. I’d suggest a month.
• Back up your reveal – You’ll eventually give up your secret, and it has to be a big deal. Your product/business should be really unique, cool, or interesting. Hopefully, all of those things. Some people will ultimately be let down when they’re in on the secret. That’s just the way this stuff goes. It’s your job to keep those people to a minimum. Try to make your product/reveal is as exciting as the teaser campaign that preceded it.

The trick that you need to accomplish is to make the teaser interesting. Don’t supply much information. Make it sound different from anything anyone has heard. Make people wonder what the hell they just listened to. The further you go with this the better. Just remember to back it up when you unleash your creation on the world.