Creating a new brand

Creating A BrandSo what do I write on my first ever blog post?

How can I write something longer than my infamous three-word email replies or, as Adrian will tell you, my tendency to miss out words in my written sentences (a flaw my junior school teacher couldn’t beat out of me!)

But let’s give it a go…

Donnach, Adrian & I started this incredible journey, on what we then called ‘Project Tony’, back at the start of the year. At the time all we had was our passion for radio, and a fantastic relationship with our colleagues in India. The journey ahead seemed even longer than the queue for business visas at the Indian Embassy in London.

Five months later though, here we are, staring at the what has to be one of the highest profile media projects of the year. But from the end of June it’s not just about just our ambition, but also the creativity and experience of the teams within Golden Square. It’s about working together to create a new music & entertainment brand, via radio.

So what brands do I love, and how high some do I think we should aim? Well, here are some that spring to mind:

  • Leon. Jon Vincent and Allegra McEvedy have taken ‘fast food’ and completely over-turned the stereotype that fast means bad. Have you tried the Super Food salad? It’s incredible. Eight locations in London and many more to come I suspect.
  • LinkedIn. My ‘must use’ daily routine, well before Facebook or MySpace. LinkedIn had me hooked straightaway, as an essential professional network that really demonstrates value to my business. Go on, add me to your network!
  • Hugo Boss Black Label. Any 40+ man like me, who has long since waved goodbye the 34 inch waist, will appreciate the colour label system at Boss: Orange, Green and Black. It’s a piece of genius branding, to avoid the humiliation of looking for ‘your size’ when browsing for comfort and style. It seems Orange and Green is available on Carnaby Street, whereas Black is prevalent at Airports – should I read something into the that?

Our challenge is to build the foundation for a brand that good in the next 100 days. I know we can do it, if we behave like they behave. And what do they all do? Well they really understand their audience, and they’re absolutely committed to exciting and engaging that audience.

To finish off (for now), I want to borrow a quote that I hold dear, and that I hope you agree with: “No-one listens to the radio, they listen to things that interest & entertain them, and sometimes that is the radio.” So let’s make sure we’re all working to create ever more interesting entertainment.

What do you think? Comment below, and let us know your thoughts…

Comments (4)

  1. Dan Davenport @ August 14, 2008 at 9:31 pm | Permalink

    hi iam Dan from Banbury oxfordshire near stratford upon avon iam going to be doing a media course on radio broadcasting at Banbury college in September. Iam very keen to get a job in the radio industry at a radio station I used to help my friend out at my local radio station in Banbury called Touch Radio Banbury I used to help my friend Micki Innotta do the saturday sport show but the show got taken off because of money problems. My other friend Simon Hill used to do drumming for Kim Wilde and Pet shop Boys in the 80’s and he met Tony Hadley who does Party classics on Friday and Saturday nights at Gary Stevenson’s Music Studio in Aynho. Simon now owns a music company called Sitting Duck Productions doing music for Setanta Sport channel done drumming for Natasha Beddingfield’s first cd album and done music for Victoria Beckham.

    I was wandering if someone will be able to give me some work experience when iam doing my media course on radio broadcasting?

    When you do Party Classics will listeners be able to call the studio number and speak to Tony Hadley and request a party classic song?

    My mobile number [REDACTED]

    i will look forward to your reply

    Dan Davenport

  2. adam @ August 14, 2008 at 9:53 pm | Permalink

    Dan,

    We do offer work experience placements at Golden Square, but you need to write in. The details can be found here:

    http://www.virginradio.co.uk/about_us/workex.html

    That page tells you who we’re able to accept and the likely things you’d be likely to do.

    Good luck with your radio career.

  3. honey-05 @ August 14, 2008 at 10:32 pm | Permalink

    Why do you haved to mess with something which doesn’t need fixing? If you think I am going to admit to listening to TIML radio rather than Virgin then you are sadly wrong_I’d rather admit to listening to Chris Moyles!!! and thats bad. WTF – WHY CAN’T SOMETHING REMAIN BRITISH THESE DAYS??? WELL YOU HAVE LOST ANOTHER SUPPORTER.

  4. adam @ August 15, 2008 at 11:31 am | Permalink

    “TIML” is simply the name of the company that owns the station. It’s not the brand name of the station. SMG plc used to own Virgin Radio but you’d never have heard “SMG” on-air.

    The station is remaining British and will be fundamentally unchanged with people like Christian and Geoff, as well as “I Haven’t Heard It For Ages” and our sessions live from the Zoo.

    Watch this space, as what we’ve got planned is very exciting indeed!

Post a Comment

Your email is never shared. Required fields are marked *

*