Not just another Mild-mannered company

Much is said about the unrivalled power of a multi-channel campaign. In the planning process it is almost inevitable that digital will attract the first, and possibly most, attention with other media such as print being used for their longevity and different demographic.

But when you are planning a campaign and there is the need to reach thousands or tens of thousands of people simultaneously what do you do? You have to consider which media offers you the ability to connect with a huge number of people in a variety of locations at exactly the same time. Location, socio-economic status, education levels and various other elements are critical factors. The result is that the medium with the greatest reach is clearly radio.

So, how do you go about getting your message onto radio? While you may not want to be bothered with the technical details, you do need to know whether your message will get through with an acceptable degree of clarity to be understood and that it will reach the desired audience.

You can select the obvious choices of the big broadcasters but there are potential hazards associated with this option. The first will be price and the second will be the level of service you will receive.

The Brand Connection is a focused company which offers a viable and consummately professional alternative. It has been involved with the broadcasting sector for many years starting out with Community Radio based product activations in rural communities across the length and breadth of South Africa, Botswana, Namibia and Moçambique. Working with local community radio stations and personalities it has developed not only a network of knowledgeable and skilled radio-competent people, but also the technical know-how to ensure strong and stable radio connections.

This know-how and expertise has been developed to the point where The Brand Connection is now able to offer a full Outside Broadcast service on a larger scale – extending to international broadcasts if required. The process began two years ago with the customisation of a dedicated Outside Broadcast (OB) vehicle. According to Bevan Milne, outside broadcast manager at The Brand Connection, the company had no first-hand experience in building a vehicle of this nature. However, with a clear vision of what was required, the build commenced. This culminated in a different design and layout for the vehicle compared to the industry norm. ‘Our layout is open and welcoming, there are no unnecessary wall panels and all the equipment is easily accessible,’ said Bevan.

The initial build, which was completed two years ago led to bigger and better things with a second larger OB vehicle being assembled with all the latest technology, bells and whistles including self-scanning satellite dish.

Simon Milne, operations manager at The Brand Connection commented, ‘We realised very quickly that our first vehicle was better than most of the vehicles that were available in the local market. However, we also knew that we could do even better and we designed and built our second vehicle along the same lines but with even more facilities. This is possibly the most advanced OB vehicle in the country. It is a fully-fledged radio station on wheels. We have run very large events from this vehicle without any glitches.’

Bevan added, ‘We designed this vehicle to be completely self-sufficient. It has full battery back-up using deep cycle batteries in the case of a loss of power. This means that even if the power to the vehicle were to be interrupted, there would be no loss of signal, the listeners would not even be aware of the loss of power, our systems provide an instantaneous switch over. We have our own Sentech Channel – 329 and we can run all industry-standard connections such as Webstreaming, ISDN Codex, IP Codex, POTS systems, Satellite Uplink and Sentech Multicasting.’

For your next campaign remember to consider radio and its widespread appeal. It may just mean the difference between a good campaign and a great one. Then consider The Brand Connection – where innovation is the norm.