So we thought about our two core insights: adults tune out radio spots, and DJs have low passion in delivering them. And we realized: it was the same problem.

Turns out the best way to break through with media savvy 18-34 year-olds is to reinvent the entire radio platform -- by breaking down the walls around individual stations and crossing their frequencies. 

We also knew that nothing like this had ever been done in San Francisco, and that we had to engage the DJs to, well, care. Fortunately, our idea included them in a way they had never been asked before.

We took three top-rated radio stations and turned a traditional spot radio buy completely on its head. We avoided typical live reads by creating a real cross-station rivalry, yes...we entered the DJs into the race. Against each other. And built into our radio schedule time for them to call each other and go way beyond just talking about the event itself.

Each station entered the race and was instantly passionate about winning, with the DJs interrupting each other’s shows and posting on each other’s personal social media accounts. The rivalry got so real, two of the stations’ morning shows wouldn't talk to each other in real life.

As the media schedule and rivalry intensified in mid-September, the pressure built:

“Cykelscramble, be there on September 24th”, turned into:

“Jane, wait, you think y’all are gonna win…ain’t gonna happen!” & “All the other teams are GOIN’ DOWN!”

The rivalry was on.

Nothing quite like this had ever been done before, and the response was incredible:

-Reach: Consumers heard the Radio program alone over 4 million times...

-Passion: ...thanks to 1.6 million earned media impressions – an amazing 41% bonus because the DJs loved the program so much

-Engagement: Media had 15,700 consumers add the event to their mobile calendar!

-Engagement: An outstanding 1% clickthrough rate for our Digital elements (2x benchmarks)

-Attendance: Most importantly, Cykelscramble had a 19% increase in spectatorship over goals, over 8,300 spectators attended the day long event!