When Clive Dickens, chief operating officer of Absolute Radio, saw the station's debut Rajar figures, it is unlikely that he was moved to say 'that's good, that's real good', a line uttered by Doug, the diminutive security guard in the brand's TV ad campaign.
In fact, the news was rather stark and, much like Doug, Absolute Radio looks undersized - it has lost one-fifth of its listeners since rebranding from Virgin Radio last September. Dickens responded with the following analogy: 'When Oasis were 15 weeks old, they told everyone they were going to be one of the biggest bands in the world. Fifteen years on, now look at them.'
Perhaps drawing parallels with a band that was at the height of fame more than a decade ago, and whose popularity has waned, was not the best illustration of Dickens' ambition. The station's fortunes have, arguably, mirrored that of Oasis. When the band released its 1997 album Be Here Now, which became the fastest-selling album in UK history, Virgin Radio was also approaching the apex of its fame, culminating in its £225m sale to SMG in 2000.
Although the station's current owner, Times of India Group, paid less than a quarter of this, the £15m that it pled-ged to spend on building the brand has not yet worked (or not yet been spent). Should Absolute stick with its strategy, or have a rethink? We asked Kathleen Sax-ton, partner at Grace Blue and former strategy director at Virgin Radio, and Cable Daniel-Dreyfus, of brand consul-tancy venturethree, for their views.
Kathleen Saxton partner, Grace Blue
Under the ownership of Times of India, Absolute's management is running fast to deliver its business plan, which it set in more heady times. In cutting ties with the Virgin name, freeing the station to profit from more than just the airtime, broadening the playlist, while tantalising and involving its many loyal listeners via live sessions, this brand has proven it is for real music lovers, rather than the ubiquitous ABBA harems.
So to receive the latest Rajars, which technically wiped 20% off Absolute's audience, must have been a frustrating blow. The results are deemed unfair by many in the radio industry. Absolute has long suffered diary misattribution because of the AM/FM and digital measurement issues, and has worked with both Rajar and the IPA to solve them. To add a brand name-change slap-bang in the middle of the survey meant a drop-off was inevitable.
Grown-up radio traders need to respect the team and support it for at least another 12 months, while the marketing department needs to ensure listeners are reminded of the maverick spirit, entertaining content and broadening experience they enjoy for being loyal to the Absolute brand.
Remedy
- Invest in building brand awareness for the name, as research still shows misattribution and confusion.
- Throw plenty of energy into connecting to the Absolute community via any means possible: time-shift broadcast-ing, session streaming, ad free subscription, and listener-created content.
- The playlist has broadened, but people still like to know what they get when they engage. Stay focused on genre and classics - listeners may love prog-ressive, but they need a bit of popular.
Cable Daniel-Dreyfus consultant, venturethree
You don't have to search far to read what true fans of the old Virgin Radio station feel about Absolute. They don't like the new name and, coupled with the changes to the music line-up, listeners have naturally migrated away.
The issue is that Absolute Radio is an empty vessel, and the company needs to imbue the brand with meaning. Virgin has had almost 40 years to build a strong masterbrand with a clear personality, values and behaviour. Consumers and listeners had an instinctive idea of what they would be getting with Virgin Radio and liked the brand image. Absolute does not have that advantage.
Building a brand takes time. Unfortunately, businesses and brand managers are too often subjected to unrealistic short-term financial goals that force them to chop and change the brand strategy as a reaction to corporate pressure.
Absolute is working hard to give its new brand a personality. It is creating differentiation by co-creating playlists with its VIP listening community, and offering a YouTube station featuring Absolute DJs interviewing major bands.
What's needed is patience. But in this kind of economy, will Absolute receive that grace?
Remedy
- Don't chop and change. Stick to your guns, and follow through on the current brand strategy.
- Ensure tactics support the Absolute brand proposition. This is imperative at this early phase, as people are getting to know the station.
- Consider a new identity and website redesign. The current identity and website look corporate. With the 'vanilla' name, it's difficult for first-time visitors to see any edginess.