Undisputed: a brand, a radio network, a success story…
Business Radio Network launched to address business challenges being confronted by AM radio stations nationwide. FM radio had taken over the music side of the business. Shrinking budgets required staff layoffs. Satellite signal delivery made it possible for AM stations to carry more syndicated programming. AM news/talk listeners tended to be more upscale and interested in relevant business programming. Consequently, BRN became the first 24-hour, all business news and talk, satellite-delivered, broadcast information service. Think of BRN as The Wall Street Journal for radio.
Mr. Richard Faulkner, an entrepreneur who started BRN, had previously owned and operated 14 McDonald’s restaurants in Southern Colorado, and Brent Green served as the account supervisor handling this large advertising and sales promotion account. Thus, Mr. Faulkner insisted that Brent would be the best person to brand and create all marketing communications for BRN. With a handful of associates, Brent and his team proceeded to create from scratch a branding campaign for the new radio network. Brent landed on the idea of branding BRN as “The New Contender” in radio broadcasting, a scrappy newcomer capable of taking on the big network services. And it didn’t take long for the network to prove its resolve.
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As the network grew, we used trade media advertising, such as Advertising Age magazine, to demonstrate our momentum:
We were invited to get involved in every aspect of marketing communications, from public relations to sales promotion materials supporting the sales team, including a handsome brochure. This brochure is actually the narrative for a new network and a presentation of its value proposition from the perspective of AM radio station general managers and owners.
This network succeeded because we addressed the mindset of an industry besieged by competition and technological obsolescence. We told the story so it could be heard, created a brand, and changed an industry:
We fostered many marketing achievements for BRN, but perhaps the most gratifying occurred when FORBES magazine wrote about BRN as one of its elite Up & Comers (a PR process that took six months to bring to fruition).
