Car Giveaway or Cash giveaway

[collegeradio]

I manage a commercial college radio station. How do you work a deal with a car dealer to give away a car on air? Or big cash giveaways? Is it dollar for dollar for ads? I would love to do a car giveaway on campus.... what are the chances? Hey, I figure it's worth a shot--but where do I start?

 

[bd1213]

Talk to the car dealer and find out if they would be interested first. Someone will have to pay TT&L regardless. You might want to try a drawing for a key and the right key wins the and give out 100 keys.

 

[paul42141]

The 'which key starts the car' is a good, reliable promotion. Sure,
it's been done nearly to death, but if it hasn't been done in YOUR
market, it's new to your listeners. If it HAS been done in your
market previously, you should go a different route.

What about renting several (6-10) of those Nascar racing arcade
games (the big ones that you sit in & can be networked together)
and having your qualifiers race each other to win the car? Single
elimination, winner from each preliminary 'heat' comes back to race
the other heat winners in the final feature race...winner of that
one gets the car. Fun for the qualifiers, and entertains anyone
else who happens to be gathered around.

Or how about the very same idea, but racing go-carts at a local
go-cart track?

You could team up with a sports bar & have your qualifiers race
slot cars. If your manger's cheap (and what mananger isn't?) you
might even trade with a toy store for the race track.

Here's one that takes speed out of the equation. Remember the
old Brady Bunch episode where Greg & Marcia drive an obstacle
course to see who's the best driver? Borrow some cones & barrels
from your local road department & set up an obstacle course in a
sponsors parking lot. Put raw eggs on top of the cones, of course.
Qualifier who navigates the obstacle course destroying the fewest
eggs wins.

Just some idea-starters. Maybe one of 'em will get your creative
juices flowing.

 

[tjthedj]

The arcade GAME or slot-car idae seems better than the race. There would be a zillion (expensive) insurance liability issues with the "real" race, unless there is already one around that you could co-op into. You don't want someone injured or hit by a car to sue you.

There are some Indiana colleges that have "little 500" races.

Any relatives of a car dealer involved in the college, or migt there be an alum who is a car dealer? Maybe you want to give away the "use of a car for a year" or a "good" used car instead of an (expensive) new car. BIG cost difference. I bet you could much easier sell a dealer on THAT than a new car forever.

How about somehow involving a charity? The more people involved in this, the better.

 

[RussAllen]

The 'which key starts the car' is a good, reliable promotion. Sure,
it's been done nearly to death, but if it hasn't been done in YOUR
market, it's new to your listeners. If it HAS been done in your
market previously, you should go a different route.

I TOTALLY get it when you say "if it hasn't been done in your market, it's new to your listeners" but I really think I'll scream the next time I hear about a radio station doing the "key that starts the car" method. At least update it and use those key fobs that lock/unlock the door (or if it's a real nice vehicle it may even start the engine).

Or put one of your jocks in the car with a cell phone (see you can sell this aspect to a wireless company). Each finalist is given a phone and they reach into something (use your imagination) and pull out a cell phone number and call it. If it's the number to the phone in the car with the jock then they win.

But NEVER do the contest live on the air. A friend of mine heard one once and describe it thusly: I was in Kansas City a couple of Summers ago for my niece's graduation and was listening to one of that market's heritage stations as they did the key turning finale at a car dealership. Live. Let me paraphrase what I heard for 49 minutes: "And our next contestant is Debby. Debby, where're you from?" "Olathe" "All right Debby, sit in the car and try your key." Silence for a few seconds and then barely distinguishable "Aw!!" from the crowd. "Too bad Debby. Our next contestant is Phil. Phil, where're you from?" For close to an hour.

So definitely don't do it live.

 

[Stewy]

College Dude,

In this day and time of fire sales from the clusters (or cluster _____ers) you'll probably have to give the car dealer $ for $ on ads + all the promo mentions (2 recorded 60's/hr and 4 live 15's/hr) for the car. Write the rules so that you have the winner pay tax, title, doc license and proof of insurance. Offer to run the ads as coop for the dealer so they can get a reembursment from the manufacturer. Car dealers are the toughest to sell anything, the great whites of the business sharks. Good luck, show no fear but be calm and not arrogant!