Melbourne is the latest Australian Radio Network (ARN) station to receive a Kiis facelift, but the network has ruled out rebranding its Brisbane and Adelaide stations under the banner, despite calling Mix “tired and old.”
ARN announced yesterday that its Melbourne station would be getting a rebrand and taking up the Kiis name, which has seen a successful 12 month run in Sydney.
In addition, ARN will be bringing former Nova presenters Dave Hughes and Kate Langbroek, better known as Hughesy and Kate, on board to host a national drive show across the Kiis and Mix Networks.
ARN national content director Duncan Campbell told AdNews that it was “too early” for the network to have a specific marketing strategy in place and that it expects the Kiis re-brand to better resonate with advertisers.
“The Mix brand, despite it being around for a long time, doesn't have a huge amount of collateral attached to it. It's tired and it's old and it doesn’t have a great perception among advertisers. This new fresh brand will allow us to start with a clean slate,” Campbell said.
However he ruled out rebranding its Brisbane or Adelaide stations, currently under the Mix banner, to create a national Kiis network.
“Those stations are very strong and those brands are very popular within those markets, so there won't be a Kiis format in Brisbane or Adelaide. Certainly not an ARN Kiis format,” Campbell added.
Campbell said the re-brand is expected to better target audiences in Melbourne too, specifically the 25-44 age bracket. While he wouldn’t be drawn on the format or the strategic target of the Melbourne network, he said it would be designed specifically for the city and wouldn't be a carbon copy of its sister station in Sydney.
He added that the addition of Hughesy and Kate would help propel the new station in Melbourne, similarly to how Kyle and Jackie O help spurn the popularity of Kiis in Sydney.
ARN will also be announcing the hosts of Kiis Melbourne's breakfast show later this week.
“We did some extensive talent research in the Melbourne market and I think the reality is in today's world where people are so busy, you need high calibre names to get people's attention,” Campbell said.
“Just as Kyle and Jackie O got people's attention in Sydney this year Hughesy and Kate and the breakfast talent that will be announced this week will be designed specifically to do just that: to attract listeners very quickly to the new radio station.”
On the decision to end Tim “Rosso” Ross's drive show, which aired across ARN's Sydney and Melbourne stations, Campbell said that “there are only certain people that attract significant audiences and we target those who do.”
The news follows the announcement of Southern Cross Austereo (SCA)'s new drive shows for its Today and Triple M networks featuring Hamish and Andy and Merrick Watts, respectively.
Campbell said ARN's strategy of “bookending” the day with investment in talent for it's breakfast and drive slots will give it “the edge next year in Melbourne” despite stiff competition.
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