STICKING WITH STICKERS QUESTION FOR DAN O’DAY: I have a question about the value of stickers and sticker campaigns. We've just purchased our annual supply and our ongoing question every year is, 'How do we get them on the vehicles?' I've heard comments about stickers on some of the PD GRAD SCHOOL tapes I've purchased, but I'm wondering what the latest thoughts are. Have they run their course? Is there some new secret to get them on the vehicles? We're trying to use some decent prizes (concert tix, WCW Wrestling Tix, etc.) to get them to put the tickets on their vehicle and enter for the prizes, but it's still tough sledding. The thing that brought it up today was a comment from one listener who wanted a sticker and we asked him if he could put it on his car (which, by the way, was not some fancy vehicle you wouldn't put a sticker on, but an older one where it shouldn't have made any difference.). He said, "No, I just want the coupons off the back...I'll put the sticker on my kids' bike or something." And he was a loyal listener... DAN REPLIES: Bumper stickers serve four major functions for a radio station: They build affinity. When a listener puts YOUR sticker on HIS car, he's announcing to the world that he's part of your team...and that WXXX is HIS radio station. Top of Mind Awareness -- keeps your call letters in front of people. Endorsed Top of Mind Awareness. When your call letters appear on a billboard, the person seeing it thinks, "Oh, look, WXXX paid for a billboard." But when your call letters appear on car's bumper, the person seeing it thinks, "That guy really likes WXXX." And if that person sees enough of those bumper stickers around town, he begins to form an impression of WXXX as a popular radio station. Interaction -- The very act of peeling off the back and slapping on the sticker enhances and reinforces the connection between your station and that listener. Here's how to get listeners to put them on their vehicles: Give them a reason. Randomly awarding $1,000 to drivers with your stickers on their cars is one reason. Shared pride can be another, if the listener identifies with you not just as a radio station but as part of a larger, important community. Examples: Religious radio stations, public radio stations, alternative rock (if successfully positioned as the epitome of Cool). John Frost at KROQ/Los Angeles does a phenomenal job of marketing station stickers through his "story" promos. These promos aren't about the sticker; they're about some person who in some way is involved with the sticker. (Like the intern who got too close to the sticker-making equipment...which is why the new KROQ sticker is red.) There are several such KROQ sticker promos included on the RADICAL STATION IMAGING tape.