The Re-Brand!

Staff Writer

Yesterday marked a turning point in Australian Radio history as the button was pushed on the re-branding of 68 regional stations under the Hit and Triple M Network. Mickey Maher Head of Content Regional, was the guy charged with the rollout. We caught with Mickey for quick chat on how it all came together.

Mickey MaherSCA announced in September that the move was coming, how long has this been in the winds?

 4 years from first discussion to execution

 

This is massive investment – not cheap by any means – how will the change be realised on the bottom line?

The rebrand gives us the two strongest and widest reaching radio brands in the country making it so much easier for clients to do business with us. And of course, deliver bigger ideas as well as benefit from the efficiencies of having streamlined brands.

You decided not to move some of the larger markets over to Triple M straight up – why was that?

They are our most competitive markets that also carry equity in their name. For Gold Coast and Gosford, consideration for the bleed through between Brisbane & Sydney was also a factor.

 

How will decide when it is time for 4TO FM Gold FM and 2GO FM to jump?

A decision on when those brands transition to Hit & MMM will be reviewed late 2017 .

 

Who crafted all the new production and On-Air branding for both the Hit and Triple M regional networks?

The imaging sounds fantastic!

And has been a great collaboration between Konsky (Hit Metro) & Alli (Hit Regional) and for MMM a team effort between BT & Sidey (MMM Metro) and Jeff Nielsen (Regional Production Manager)

 

 

Crazy co-ordination to make sure all the pieces were ready to go from Day one?

A significant number of talented staff from every business function in SCA across Metro & Regional make it possible,  5,000 pieces of audio, 3,700 marketing collateral and many hours of sweat and (some) tears.

 

 

We have talked about it before – peoples first reaction to the new names was “more networking”?

Yes from people with no idea, no insights and no facts to back up their claims.

We will continue to be committed to creating relevant content for our listeners in our local markets. In fact this year we increased the local hours in our regional markets, that said we will always provide our listeners with the best shows and ideas no matter where they come from.

 

So with shows like Hamish and Andy and Nights – will they now be able to say “Hit”?

You bet and that is one of the benefits for us to be able to expand our Hit & MMM brands within our great shows.

 

Does this make the commercial case for agencies buys a lot more clean cut?

Definitely, along with the regional surveys our National client now have greater insights into regional Radio consumers and a simple Hit or MMM buy nationally

 

You’ve done pretty well leveraging money can’t buy promos so far – has aligning 100 percent to a unified network brand made that just a little easier?

We will continue to create ideas for our regional markets but now we have greater access to opportunities that come with being aligned to the Hit & MMM brands. A win for listeners and a win for our partners who want scale.

 

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