The Emap station, which had a 4.6% share at the last Rajars, unveils its new look on 6 September, complete with a new logo, sonic branding, a new pre-breakfast show and a newly overhauled website aimed at encouraging listener interaction.
Kiss is expanding its brand outside the capital by rebranding its Vibe stations in East Anglia and the West Country, acquired from SRH in June last year, to take them under the Kiss umbrella.
An advertising campaign alerting Vibe listeners to its new identity will run throughout September and October, with a larger, brand-led campaign in London next year.
The campaign will draw on Kiss' roots as a pirate station, going back to "street level" to create talkability using a "tease and reveal" strategy in six key cities, using ambient and guerrilla marketing and viral work to represent Kiss' multi-media identity. This is backed up by more traditional above-the-line media in the latter stages.
"It's the people's station and we want to reflect that in the media we use, by putting the media at their level, where listeners are, and not doing a traditional - ITV push," claimed Kiss marketing director Nick Button.
The rebrand is accompanied by a "refreshing" of the stations' music policies, with a focus on a more upbeat, accessible sound.
"Kiss had become quite urban and hip hop focused. It's a very important part of what we do, but it can make the station sound a little dark," said Kiss MD Bill Griffin.
The rebrand also includes an online overhaul, pulling all three stations' websites onto one site, totalkiss.co.uk, which will be heavily focused on user-generated content and interactivity such as DJ blogs, feedback forums and the opportunity to "rate and change" the playlist.
"We want people to feel there's no boundary between us and them," said Griffin. "I'd like a 5% share of the market, because that's where Kiss should be when firing on all cylinders - and I'm not afraid to commit to that."
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