I have had the rare honour of organizing 50th anniversary promotions for not one, but two media businesses.
Both promotions were GOLD, literally.
In 1993, I was Program Director and Morning Host at AM58CJFX in Antigonish, Nova Scotia and charged with creating a 50th Anniversary promotion. Golden Anniversaries call for a 'GOLD' Giveaway right?
The anniversary day was filled with tributes from local businesses, listeners, musicians and staff who had long established ties to the station, and we reached back to the archives for commercials and clips of announcers, like Danny Gallivan from back in the day.
Listeners were invited to call in to qualify over a 3 week period to enter their names to win an ounce of gold, in those days worth about $900. You'd think we were giving away a gold bar given the listener reaction.
We sold commercial packages designed around '50', it was a resounding success for the promotions, programming and sales departments.
Flash forward to 2010, as Publisher of the Gulf Islands Driftwood, on Salt Spring Island in British Columbia - it fell to me to organize the newspaper's 50th anniversary celebration.
Would readers of the paper 'Go for the GOLD' too?
Turns out everyone has heard about gold.
The paper organized a 50th anniversary section, highlighting a handful of news stories from each of the newspaper's 50 years. As there was no museum on Salt Spring Island, we partnered with a number of businesses (all older than the newspaper) to create a 3 day display of what life was like 'back in the day'.
The hall was complete with old typewriters, cameras and poster size blowups of front pages from over the years. We gave away prizes to folks who came wearing the newspaper.
And yes, we gave away an ounce of gold.
We took names online for the draw, which was held at the event.
Lo and behold the winner was in attendance, which made it all the more exciting! Can you say 'Photo Op'?
(The ounce of GOLD was about $1100).
The motto of the story is never underestimate the power of GOLD and always look back at successful promotions to see how they can be re-worked.
What would you promote?
Below; At the Gulf Island Driftwood 50th Anniversary. Former Publishers Penny Sakamoto, (retired from Black Press), Tony Richards - Managing Director, Peter McCully, (Newspaper tie) and Joyce Carlson, (retired from Peak Publishing).
