Success Story

WGN Radio Sees 75% Increase in Ad Revenue via Recurring Campaign

Learn how WGN Radio used an Advertiser Lead-Gen Recurring Revenue campaign to secure a 75% increase in their advertiser's yearly spend.

Case Study Highlights

  • $131,000 in total revenue – 75% increase YOY
  • Nearly 800 sponsor opt-ins
  • Campaign now replicated for other advertisers in different markets

The Idea

Sara Tieman and the team at WGN Radio were working with their current client, Toro, brainstorming how to secure a larger advertising buy from them, while further fulfilling their client’s need of driving leads for their line of battery-powered tools.

The Execution

The WGN Radio team developed a year-long recurring revenue campaign that included one sweepstakes per month that featured and offered one Toro product as the prize. Within each sweepstakes, they provided:​

  • A sponsor opt-in
  • Lead-gen and zero party data questions
  • Curated cover graphic with product image
  • Product description and link to more product information

Multi-media offerings were also included in their package to provide as much value as possible to their sponsor more revenue opportunity for themselves.

Radio

  • 10-12 :30 recorded promos per sweepstakes
  • Every week, the host of WGN Radio’s HouseSmarts Radio with Lou Manfredini promoted the contest and prizes leaning on own expertise and familiarity with Toro​. The WGN Radio team saw a lift in entries after every time the promotion was mentioned on the radio show.

Social Media

  • 2-3 posts per sweepstakes

Emails

  • Two invite emails sent per sweeps – one the first week, and one the last week

The Results

The WGN Radio team was blown away by the results. They saw over 9,000 entries through the run of the campaign, engaging with over 1,100 new people to their audience. They were also able to collect nearly 800 opt-ins for Toro and over 400 opt-ins for both the WGN newsletter opt-in and their promotions opt-in.

Arguably the biggest success of this campaign, WGN Radio was able to use this advertiser lead-gen recurring revenue model to secure $131,000 in total revenue from Toro, which was a 75% increase in what Toro spent with them the previous year. Seeing how effective this recurring revenue model was, WGN Radio is now replicating this across their other markets.