Jacaranda FM created South Africa’s first live multi-artist digital concert in the space of 11 days (from marketing to execution). Whilst many businesses realize the need for online adaptation during this novel pandemic, few have been able to make the pivot.
We spoke to Deirdre King (Ex Nando’s Head of Brand Experience) who joined Jacaranda FM as the Managing Director in May this year. Since then, she’s led the station with an ‘outsider’ mentality and an appetite for risk. Deirdre shares her insights on how to adjust a business strategy during a pandemic, her attitude towards risk and the importance all brands will need to put on timing moving forward.
“Have you ever looked at a problem for so long you overlooked the obvious solution? Similarly, people who have been immersed in an industry for a long time may lose perspective, a newbie isn’t hampered in that way.
“The greatest gift during the pandemic has been the newness of my career at Jacaranda FM. It’s allowed us to energize the team and innovate during uncertain times. The best advice I can give anyone is, consult with people outside of your business.
“Invite “newbies” to ask the “stupid” questions that spark new thinking. Take a concept you have used elsewhere and see whether you can drive results if applied in a different space. Diversity of backgrounds and opinions is key to innovation and survival.”
1/ Partner with trusted brands
The future of business success will come from well-aligned partners. Computicket (the platform where most people streamed the concert from) is a tried and trusted brand with a known online platform. Even though our idea had never been implemented before – we had a partnership with a brand people trusted to deliver.
Our headline sponsor was Tracker. An established brand that values innovation and wants to be part of a product with a greater impact on society. It’s easy to identify these brands by how reactive they are. It took tracker 1 day to come back to us on our proposal, this won’t always happen but seek out brands that are engaged and don’t hide behind red tape.
In the past we used to say partner with brands that share the same values – now you need to partner with brands that share your sense of urgency as well– these are partnerships that will survive this pandemic, which brings me to my next point.
2/ Timing is business-critical
Timing has always been a crucial component in business, it determines success in a big way. From now on, timing will determine whether a business survives or not. We had 11 days from our sale of tickets to the live concert. This included a public holiday so the success of our event was based on the team’s buy-in to help us create something truly meaningful during this time.
Overall it took a little over a month from idea to execution. We could have refined and refined the execution for months, but the human truth was that our local artists earning potential was devastated, and our fans were stuck in a ‘new normal’ that was everything but normal. We had to show up for both as soon as we could. Let your timelines be driven by the human truth you have built your idea around.
3/ Risk – it’s now or never
It may feel counterintuitive to develop a new product amidst a pandemic, but we found the excitement of creating something new within a limited timeframe to energize the company. We self-imposed time limits and resources to regain control and shift perspective – this means we were taking a risk on our terms. If you trust in your team and have a clear vision of success, risk is an opportunity.
The risk for us was having our audience see every technical glitch, every delay, and change in real-time. Cameras had to be moved to accommodate various angles and between sets, presenters were asked to keep the conversation going whilst bands set-up; and this, in turn, affected the line-up of the next act. There were instances where sets had to be shortened due to time limit restrictions, camera teams were running between normal Band setup to the DJ Stage.
4/ Support local businesses
The Good Morning Angels Benefit Concert had a very clear intention. Support everyday South Africans through incredible acts of generosity and assistance, and to support artists that have contributed to our culture and zeitgeist.
Our fans and consumers at large are scrutinizing the brands they engage with and want to see clear action and a local alignment to make their immediate worlds better. Supporting local businesses is important to most but a new generation of consumers are building brand loyalty based on it. Who are you supporting locally as part of your value chain?
5/ Do good
It’s critical for brands to demonstrate heart. At Jacaranda FM it’s the morning drive team that answers prayers and wishes – it’s authentic, simple, and impacts our community directly.
Businesses who genuinely do good because they value social investment won’t find it hard to talk about or share their news with consumers, if it’s organic it feels right. This builds the increased brand loyalty all businesses rely on. Does your idea make an impact for good, if the answer is no – ask how can your idea make an impact for good?
6/ Grow your online capability by leveraging existing channels
How a business shows up at every contact point has long been a passion of mine. COVID 19 and the regulations that came with it forced some businesses like restaurants to sever ties with consumers instantly. Customers could no longer experience the brand like they previously did.
The question is where are your customers? For businesses, that has been the ever-elusive question. Now we have the answer, more people than ever are at home. How do we provide a new brand experience in their homes? How do we add back that human element physical distancing has taken away?
Most of the sales for our Good Morning Angels Benefit Concert originated through the website. We did this by driving traffic to our site using existing social media and partner networks. We also added back the human element through the live format. I think a big part of the success of the concert was that people were experiencing our product in real-time.
7/ Ideas are rooted in people not a reaction to a virus
Ideas to help businesses survive need to be rooted in people. Every single business needs to react and adapt to the pandemic, but that’s the trigger here – not the problem. The problem is that consumer behavior has changed drastically.
Our problem was rooted in assisting artists in their livelihood and funding our CSI programme. We decided to put all our energy into a solution for both, more ambitious yes, but also with greater rewards.
Ideas are also rooted in people outside of the marketing team. Martin Bester – our Morning Drive presenter mentioned his dream of creating a benefit concert, that’s where the spark was born. Our marketing team worked closely with him to take his idea and make it work. I’ll say it again. Invite newbies, outsiders, and unusual suspects, it’s where your next big idea could come from.
8/ Attitude
Surround yourself or build a team of people who will not allow a virus to dictate how they run a business or do their job. Yes, people are stressed and stretched and adapting, but attitude is half the battle won.
Embrace the changing world, be first adopters, trial new methods, and cultivate an attitude that views these changes and restrictions as opportunities. How? This space and attitude is cultivated when people do not fear failure. Our fears have expanded and heightened all at once now, leaders need to trust in their teams and lead their teams in failing fast and learning more for the next round.
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