The BIG 2021 rule book: Abraham Thomas, CEO, BIG FM
Abraham Thomas – CEO BIG FM, Reliance Broadcast Network Ltd
The year 2020 gave radio the power to showcase its true potential on the back of its high mass-local reach, trust, credibility and influence, whilst enabling it to explore possibilities that weren’t pondered on before. The year also reaffirmed the power of audio, consumption of which across formats from music to talk to unscripted podcasts to scripted podcasts and audio stories snowballed exponentially. It is undoubtedly the best time for audio, both in terms of terrestrial FM radio and online audio.FM Radio has consistently reinvented and evolved with the times, and will continue to dominate the audio content space going forward as well.
While this year, we established ourselves as a holistic audio entertainment player, in 2021, we intend to expand the audio space by venturing into avenues that harness the power of audio and progress to integrating with new-age offerings for our brand, clients and advertisers with holistic solutions that will drive engagement amongst today’s digital savvy consumer.
With our feet firmly grounded in the present and our eyes on the future, the five focus areas for BIG FM for 2021 are:
Engagement through Interactive Stories
As a network, our DNA of storytelling and creating engaging content is what has set us apart. In the new year, we intend to take it a notch higher as we foray into the space of interactive stories. Making listeners a part of our storytelling, they get to decide the narrative and the direction the story takes by choosing an action at specific junctions.
Gamification around Marquee Properties
Gamifying our listener’s experience for a more immersive form of entertainment will allow us to effectively engage with our audiences. We will continue to explore newer content, formats and technology to enable this. This will include contests and quizzes around our marquee shows with rewards in the forms of leader-boards, awards, gratifications, et all.
Enabling Social Commerce
Developing a new platform and space for our listeners to engage with us, we aim to explore approaches and techniques by implementing new operation models. By mixing social engineering with e-commerce, our aim is to curate a platform where our audiences can choose from a hand-picked selection of products and services that are perfectly in line with our brand philosophy of ‘DhunBadalKeToh Dekho’.
Interactions through Chat Bots
Being a brand that pioneers various purpose-driven initiatives and campaigns, we are looking forward to curating chatbots, enabling user interaction to spread awareness and drive engagement about our key endeavours. It will also act as a modern tool which will help partner brands to interact with audiences in a more direct and intimate manner.
Going BIG on Advocacy Marketing
Our radio jockeys today have become the voice of change, they have played a huge role in strengthening bonds between listeners, radio and brands. They are not just comfort companions but also have the immense power to influence millions in the country. We will be leveraging their voice of reason as they endorse products and services that have been personally tried, tested and loved.
For us, this confluence of radio and digital is not only about innovations, but being relevant that strikes the cord with the audiences making them a part of the brand journey. We look forward with optimism to an exciting 2021.
