Australia – NOVA Entertainment, Australia’s radio broadcast network, is making some big exciting changes to its local marquee programs.
For its breakfast show, Nova 96.9’s Sydney breakfast show, its three mainstay hosts – Kate Ritchie and Fitzy & Wippa – will now be a single crew to bring fun and entertainment to viewers’ early morning rush.
Sydney audiences are used to seeing local comedic duo Fitzy & Wippa and Aussie actress Kate Ritchie separately in various Nova campaigns, and to mark the refreshing change, the network has whipped up an equally exciting teaser – in the style of the iconic music outfit Queen’s cover art for its album, The Miracle.
Developed by creative agency The Hallway, the visual concept saw all three faces of the radio hosts merged together – a true adaptation of the creative by Queen.
The collaterals ran alongside a ‘Coming Soon’ message as the main teaser message, and afterwards, under the headline ‘A new face for breakfast radio’ post-announcement.
Adam Johnson, NOVA Entertainment’s chief growth officer, spoke about the creative norm in radio show marketing where teasers usually take the form of an amusing image to give audiences a flavour of the upcoming show’s personality.
With the fan base of the three hosts, they couldn’t let the chance slip to deliver their share of such marketing direction – and make an even catchier and clever version.
“With somebody as loved and recognisable as Kate Ritchie joining such an established and successful show as Fitzy & Wippa, we knew we had to do something in the announcement stage to make people [sit up] and take notice to generate talkability. The image may be somewhat visually challenging, but it’s achieved its aim and we’re proud to have delivered something different to anything else in our sector,” said Johnson.
The Hallway CEO Jules Hall also commented, “Kate Ritchie joining Fitzy & Wippa on the breakfast show is huge for radio. Our job was to amplify the news which is a lot easier when you have brave clients willing to shake up category conventions. With the announcement out there and Kate on air, we now get to enjoy an even more entertaining start to our days!”
The network further shared that once the launch period for the new breakfast show is over, the campaign will move into a new phase to share a more traditional radio image that will be accompanied by the headline ‘Look who’s come to breakfast’.
Aside from Nova 96.9’s Sydney breakfast show, NOVA has also just announced that artist and broadcaster Ricki-Lee will officially join the network’s highly successful national drive show.
For the new show, NOVA has similarly cooked up a simple but clever campaign designed to highlight that listeners will continue to enjoy everything they love about the show – but with the addition of Ricki-Lee – who is set to deliver a whole new energy and tone.
The popular expression ‘Same, same but different’ was used as the main tagline to reinforce such new set-up, similarly laid to a striking show image that brings to life the individual personalities of the presenters.
Both campaigns for the two new shows will run nationally in digital large format sites, impulse screens, as well as transit megasides and showcase sides.
Ricki-Lee and Tim & Joel of the national drive show can be heard nationally from 4 pm to 6 pm, whilst the breakfast show featuring Fitzy & Wippa and Kate Ritchie airs weekdays on Nova 96.9 from 6 am to 9 am, and nationally on the Nova Network from 6 pm.
It was in November last year that The Hallway announced it has been tapped by NOVA Entertainment to manage the network’s brand strategy and creative business.
