The Fine Line Between Branding and Annoying
By Nick | February 14, 2012
Having recently canceled my XM radio again, I’m back with 103.3 FM. This is the country station for Modesto/Stockton. There’s nothing in the Bay Area so I’m thankful to pick up their signal from the Central Valley.
The only problem is they take their branding way too far.
The call sign is KATM, and the station is Kat Country 103.
Totally fine, but that doesn’t mean everything must be cat-related to adhere to your theme.
- The lunch time show is called the All Request Country Catfe. Personally, I would prefer not to dine in a catfe.
- The phone lines are earnestly called the “fe-lines“.
- They once had a DJ named Kitty Cougar.
- A nightly segment where 2 new tracks are pitted against each other is called the 7:00 Cat Fight.
- The weather report often refers to the Central Valley as Cat Country.
- They have some sort of angry howling cougar sound as part of their filler promos.
- And by far the worst offense: They force the DJs to refer to Northern California as Northern Catifornia. Bah there’s no such place! I cringe every time they say it.
As a marketer I can understand and appreciate the effort, but I think it’s safe to dial it back a bit.
