With sharper focus on ‘U’, Club FM woos the youth with refreshed brand identity

Launched 13 years ago by Mathrubhumi Group as Kerala’s No. 1 FM station, Club FM recently underwent a brand revamp, with a sharper focus on ‘U’, which denotes the audience. The brand has appointed Malayalam actor Tovino Thomas as the new brand ambassador. Cinema Katha, a new brand initiative, has also been launched by Club FM for the first time, where the listeners will get the opportunity to create the audio cinema along with the top directors.

Speaking about the rebranding exercise, Mayura Shreyams Kumar, Director, Digital Business, Mathrubhumi Group, said, “We were actually brainstorming our ideas on again getting Club FM messages out for the people, so we put forth our thoughts on what we can do differently this time for Club FM, keeping in mind all that we did in these 13 years. We initially regrouped for launching a new campaign, but it ended up changing the whole format of Club FM into a relaunch, which is youthful, but we need to keep our existing listeners in mind and bring in a mixed crowd here. Considering the pandemic, many kids have also engaged in listening to the radio sitting at home, which helped us in rebranding format. Instead of any other contest that any FM player could think of, Club FM brought Cinema Katha for the younger group of audience and to engage with their thoughts. Kochi-based ad agency Maitri did the rebranding for Club FM.”

The revamped Club FM sports a more youthful look. Black & yellow were the colours that were never used in radio, before but the relaunch altogether was a different inspirational change this time.

“We wanted to bring our listeners into this branding, the logo has a big “U” in between that stands for the audience, reminding them that all the RJs at Club FM, and the whole Club FM is for you and we keep “U” in mind. Our audience has a major role to play in our decision making,” Mayura added.

She further informed that they have created new jingles as well as one-liners as their visual representation.

Talking about the relationship engagement, she observed, “It has evolved a lot using different mediums like social media platforms, various RJ pages and their interaction with the audiences, as it has got amplified in these 13 years. I would thank the New Media that has come up in terms of Media Talk.”

“In terms of listenership, few things are still the same,” said Mayura, adding, “During this period, where you can get any song available to you at any point of time, Radio plays an important role. There are people who still call and communicate with their favourite Rjs and listen to their favourite songs. It is a medium that can be running no matter what you are doing. Whether one is driving or cooking or doing any other work, radio is something that is always played in the background and also cheers you up with motivational messages,” she further said.

“On our radio station, we are always happy to bring people who have done something innovative or good for the community at least for an interview or for a video that can be posted on our social media platforms,” Mayura added.

Even though Cinema & Radio have been working hand in hand, Club FM has also looked for other industries on what needs to be done more differently and gives a unique perspective to its audiences.

While stating that every medium has its own way of reaching out to people, Mayura remarked, “You have the Internet now to amplify the level altogether, but I still believe that there are specific advertisers and some people who believe that every medium in the media still has a role to play. Talking about Kerala in specific, Radio has not been outdated yet. People tend to watch advertisements, listen to radio and the same group of people is scrolling through digital media, so both Radio & Digital are quite relevant here at the moment.”

“Even though digital is growing big time, as a younger group of audience, I would personally look into digital more than any other medium, but would never mention that other mediums are outdated as they all have a significant role to play in the industry,” she emphasised.

Talking about the cross channel marketing for brands, Mayura said, “We have integrated events and we also try to engage our audiences through videos on our social media, launching contests for them and by various campaigns. We are leveraging the marketing for brands; especially when it comes to the clients, the message goes out louder. At Club FM, we also do productions by giving the best reach to our clients through our digital platforms.”

With the growth of Digital and Social Media, Mayura cautioned that one needs to be very careful with the rich content that the medium provides. “There are many organisations out there who are aiming at giving incredible content for the audiences, so the audience needs to be alert on what they want to choose,” she concluded.