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Are You Delivering on Your Brand Promise?

By David Kidd, BPR

In 1914, Gerald Lambert was working for his father’s failing small business and slowly going broke. His company, Lambert Pharmaceuticals, sold an acrid liquid antiseptic to surgeons and dentists to kill germs, but nobody was buying it anymore, leaving the company on the brink of bankruptcy. As Gerald took over, he was struck by inspiration: what if his brand, Listerine, could answer something the public really wanted and recover all those lost sales as a consumer product instead of a surgical agent?

Coining the medical-sounding term “halitosis” for bad breath, he launched a mint-flavoured version of his father’s surgical germ-killer and a star was born. The idea that Listerine kills the germs that cause bad breath is one of the most successful brand promises of all time. It told customers that they had a problem and Listerine was the solution they needed.

Radio stations make brand promises all the time. It’s part of the DNA; it tells (or at least should tell) the listener what to expect when they tune in to your station.

The brand promise is your commitment to the listener on what you will deliver on air.

“Chicago’s Classic Rock”, “Today’s Best Music”, “Best Music Variety”, “Good Times and Great Classic Hits”, “Atlanta’s News Leader”, “Real Texas. Real Talk”, “Real. Raw. Radio”.

But just saying it a few times an hour counts for nothing if you’re not delivering on that promise.

Remember, listener loyalty begins with trust. If your station is not keeping its most important promise, the brand promise, you will have trust issues.

Everything on your station must support the brand promise; if not, it should not be on air.

Think of each element on your station as a pillar that supports the overarching brand promise and strengthens it.

On a Music station those pillars would be Music, Talent, Promotions, Marketing. On a Talk station they would include Talent, News & Information, Promotions, Marketing.

However, if a pillar doesn’t support the brand promise, then it weakens it.

A brand promise must be stated clearly to the audience and provide them with a benefit they actually want (not something you think they want).  Fresh breath = Listerine.

Your station must live up to the audiences’ expectations that you will actually do what you promise to do. Otherwise, you lose credibility, trust, and eventually listeners & market share.

Take for example the major market radio station whose brand promise was “playing the hits you love from the 90s to now”. Trouble is, they were playing three 80s songs per hour and the 90s to now imaging immediately preceded an 80s track!!! That was 18 months ago….. there have been two new brand promises since then…..and the station is still the ratings cellar-dweller.

Provide a benefit the audience wants, explain in clear terms why your station can provide what they want and deliver on that promise 24/7…with no exceptions.