Cornwall's 105 to 107 Itchy FM - Ofcom Licensing

We have presented a number of key national brands with some of our plans for station activity,
including beach parties, festivals and new music tours, centred around the busy summer months, and
received a number of positive responses, which are available on request.
Our ability to link professional event management with radio promotions, outside broadcasts, advertiser
funded programming features, spots and sampling makes Itchy FM a valuable component of any
national youth targeting brand’s summer campaigns. Furthermore IMD Group with its sales, events
and content development staff of 23 is uniquely placed to direct this spend, and manage these
campaigns on behalf of national clients. Our recent national client roster includes Mini, Siemens, The
Times, Bacardi and National Express. Our account handling team oversees relations with all of the
major media agencies in London and our regional staff and Northern office maintain similar agency
relations within the regions. Only IMD can present the required levels of 360 0 campaign planning,
implementation and fulfilment to gain the confidence of national and local brands looking to engage with
Itchy FM’s Cornish audience.
We are aware of RAJAR’s weaknesses at identifying any of the additional visiting audience, but our
research has shown that national clients (rather than their media buyers) fully recognise that through
strong brand marketing for Itchy FM within the county, and for the Itchy brand nationwide, it is highly
likely that a large proportion of the summer influx of young people will be tuning in, attending our events
and meeting our “branded” sampling teams throughout the summer months. Furthermore we intend to
commission additional non-RAJAR research into unprompted brand awareness for Itchy FM and our
events, and their sponsors, during the summer months, to reassure national brands of the
accountability of both on and off-air activity with Itchy FM in Cornwall. This will be required as this is a
unique county station with an unusual audience and composition, which needs an equally tailored
approach to its operational and commercial management.
These events will become central to both our summer time additional revenue plans and our year-round
local audience marketing plans. With regular high quality summer time events, we will ensure
“Cornwall’s 105 & 107 Itchy FM” is a familiar Cornish brand and essential frequency for the local and
visiting youth audience. These professionals have a complete focus on achieving these goals across
IMD Group, and this presents Itchy FM with an unmatched ability to access very specific skills, which
may otherwise be deemed peripheral to a local radio station.
Non-traditional radio revenue / range of inventory
IMD Radio Cornwall will multiply station revenue opportunities through developing effective nontraditional
radio income streams beyond merely selling spot advertising to predominantly local
businesses.
We recognise that through integrating conventional commercial radio sales expertise with other
revenue-generating activities tailored specifically to the uniquely underserved younger radio listeners of
Cornwall, IMD’s Cornish youth radio station can attain early profitability and will become a high margin
long term asset for its shareholders.
These ‘non-traditional’ revenue and audience marketing opportunities will be supported by IMD’s expert
team; with station events, marketing strategy and sponsor attraction assisted by IMD’s Events
Marketing Manager, Ben Hylands and Advertiser Funded Programming opportunities presented to
national clients by Rob Wood, IMD’s Head of Content Development.
For several years, IMD’s management have presented commercial radio as an integrated marketing
opportunity, selling trusted access to a defined demographic rather than just selling radio spots. This
philosophy has been successfully implemented in IMD’s wider business emphasising our confidence of
making this local youth station a commercial success. With the station at the epicentre of a client’s
youth targeting activity, we will offer clients a range of (traditional and non-traditional) marketing options
to enable effective audience interaction, including:
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