Ben Gialouris was promoted to Sales Director of Mix 106.5, WSFM and The Edge in Sydney just a couple of weeks before the big announcement that Kyle and Jackie O would be joining the network in 2014. And while the 34 year old is thrilled about the potential numbers they’ll bring to the new KIIS brand, he insists, “We’ve always been about driving results for clients, not ratings.”
Indeed, it was he and the MIX 106.5 sales team’s ability to attract revenue to a station which had precious little by way of ratings that won them the ACRA for Best Sales Achievement – Metro earlier this year.
Gialouris began his career in selling radio advertising when he heard an ad on the radio calling for sales reps. “The first time I heard the ad my ears perked up but I didn’t get the details. The second time I heard the ad, I thought I’ve got to get my CV ready. And the third time I heard the ad convinced me to get my CV in before applications closed.
“That experience really made me realise, firstly, that frequency works. Secondly, the hook and timing is just so important especially for a call to action ad,” says Gialoris.
Its not like Gialouris would knock back the higher share and cumes that Kyle and Jack are likely to bring. If nothing else, it will help drive rates up – as well as put upward pressure on his team’s sales targets. But it should attract a wider range of clients. According to Gialouris they’re the ones that only have budget to buy the number one and perhaps the number two FM station in the market and would have left MIX out of the… mix.
Nonetheless, a few advertisers were a little apprehensive about the change of breakfast hosts. “Mix has always been known as a very safe station and there were some concerns about how far Kyle and Jackie O might push it,” confides Gialouris. “But you have to remember there’s been no controversy on their show for two and a half years and the ‘nurse’ had nothing to do with Kyle and Jackie O. In fact, the most recent branding of Kyle has been on Australia’s Got Talent where there’s been nothing but movement in the right direction. That’s why we’ve always been quite comfortable from a client perspective and also a staff perspective.”
Both ARN’s CEO Ciaran Davis and Group Content Director, Duncan Campbell have indicated that they expect to have the number one and number two stations in Sydney. And Ben Gialouris expects that both KIIS and WS-FM will benefit from advertisers that will want to be on both.
“The beauty of the 25-54 demo that we target with ARN is that you add another dimension to your spend if you go on one station, say WS and then add KIIS. You know the average listener listens to two radio stations 2.2 radio stations so that really gives you an opportunity to reach that 25- 54 year old market by being on both – especially if they are number one and two,” says Gialouris.