10 working days left

7 April 2011

The countdown has begun with 10 working days left before I sign off from ARN in Sydney.

There are still a lot of things on my to-do list that needs to be completed before I can sign off though.

The marketing project is still ongoing and while i refer to it as the 'marketing project', it is in essence 4 different projects in one.

The main components are:

1. Stationery - Going through and changing everything that has an ARN or a MIX FM logo on it. Went through an entire network audit and it came back with 284 items that had logos on it!
There were 13 different kinds of letterheads alone!!

So the plan was to collate and combine wherever possible to achieve consistency, cost effectiveness and a strong brand presence.

End result:
284 logo/branded items down to 98

Envelopes : From 29, down to 3
Letterheads: From 13, down to 1
Complimentary slips: From 13, down to 1
Presentation folders: From 10, down to 5

Now that this was done, we searched for and found the best costs associated with printing the entire suite of stationery again. We have made some very considerable savings on that front.

Current stage: Waiting to confirm the designs to send to the printers to print.

2. Merchandising - In terms of merchandising, it is quite astounding to find out that there hasn't really ever been a formal spending process dedicated to Merchandising for the various stations. It has been quite adhoc and as and when required for a special promo. With me taking over, it gave the promotional managers across the various states to give us feedback about what they would want to give out and have in terms of merchandising.
What was amazing to see was how grateful were even with small things such as caps which were not available previously. Really gave me a personal high knowing that I had made a difference !!

So, we compiled a list of most common merchandising items and then got all the promo managers across the network to give us their feedback on what would be a 'must have' and what would be a 'nice to have'.

This we shortlisted to 10 items and worked out the quantities that would be required.,

Current stage: Waiting to confirm the total quantities per item and confirm designs for the merchandising
3. Outdoor Broadcasting Branding - From time to time, all radio stations go through and broadcast from an outdoor venue like the recent one that Mix 106.5 FM did for the house giveaway. Here, have a look here
For this purpose, there needs to be quite a few different things that are required to host a successful broadcast (and we are not talking about the electrical/music items). The items in question here are branding items. Common examples are Marquees, corflutes, outdoor banners, etc.

So, the question that we had was "what makes a successful outdoor branding?" I didn't know and neither did Jodie so we asked the people who made this possible. Once again we headed back to the Promo managers in the various states and asked them to give us lists of each item that would be a must-have if there was to be a successful outdoor broadcast in terms of brand presence.

The teams have been so co-operative and helpful which has been a bonus because without them I would be more lost than I currently am!

Once we had the list down pat, the hunt for the suppliers began and that included going through very many suppliers. I even tapped into my contacts at GSP from my previous project and they are going to create the corflutes for us at a very special rate!!

Current stage: Waiting to confirm the main supplier for the bulk of the items and drawing up an invoice for the same.

4. Signage - As with any new logos, there has to be changes on all items that have the old logos on them. This extends to buildings and structures as well and is probably the hardest of the lot to complete.
We have radio stations across Australia and each of these have ARN and MIX logos in varying ways. Unlike a letterhead or a business card this is not as straightforward as getting the printers to print a new batch.
As I found out the hard way, each of the items outside and inside the building have been commissioned individually!!

To change each of these would take atleast 3 weeks after the quote has come in.

Current stage: Finalising the quote on all the items that have logos on them that need to be changed.


End results required:
1. Stationery - New suite of stationery printed and handed to various admin managers across the network
2. Merchandising - All items delivered to various promo managers across the market.
3. Outdoor Broadcasting Branding - All items delivered to various promo managers across the market.
4. Signage - All new signage in all buildings and across the offices throughout the network.
As you can see, there is still a lot of work to be done and its only 10 working days to go. No pressure, hey!

Pressure is one thing you expect constantly with this role and then you learn very quickly how to deal with it too.