Go beyond selling spots to get government dollars, radio industry told

Radio stations are missing out on government adspend by failing to think beyond “spots and dots”, the industry has been warned.

The advice came from Malcolm Connor, MD of media agency UM Sydney, which buys media on behalf of the federal government.  

He told the National Radio Conference: “To improve your chances with government spend, move beyond spots and dots, and move towards cross platform, campaign message extension.”

Among the examples given by Connor of succesful work on behalf of the government was a project with DMG’s Nova Network. The station put a call out for gamers to attend a Navy video game showdown that would incite interaction with Naval personnel. The insight was that the target demographic required for the positions – which were “techy and nerdy” – were also gamers.