Radio Station KCRW Helps People of Los Angeles 'Get LA'd'
Party Land once again illustrated its expert use of humour in marketing with incredible strategic insights via a new campaign for Los Angeles public radio station KCRW.
The station’s mission? Cultivate a new, younger generation of fans who will actively seek out and engage with KCRW anywhere, any time, in any medium. Research showed that young people know KCRW but don’t think it’s for them.
“We knew we needed a campaign that was a little weird for an industry that’s pretty earnest. We went directly to Party Land,” said Nathalie Hill, KCRW chief audience officer. “Within the first round of concepts, we were immediately impressed by their ability to understand our business problem. They delivered a cheeky creative platform that was easy and fun for us to riff off of and execute. Couldn’t have picked a better partner.”
Client and agency alike zeroed in quickly on the certainty that there’s clearly a gap that needed to be closed between what KCRW offers and how younger audiences perceive it. Call it the curiosity gap. To close it, both knew it was time to start acting unreasonably. What’s more, they needed to send a clear external signal to the community that they are showing up, standing up, and standing out in a very different way.
The result? A heavy dose of weird that led to the 'Get LA’D' integrated effort.
“If KCRW is the true cultural voice of Los Angeles, it needs to fly its weird flag. Because there’s no place weirder, with greater density of creativity and curiosity, than LA,” said Party Land CCO Matt Heath. “What’s compelling about weird? Weird doesn’t respect norms, it shatters them. Weird doesn’t wait for change, it creates it. Weird doesn’t accept what is, it provokes ‘what if?’. Weird is the engine that drives curiosity. It’s what makes life, and people, more interesting. KCRW helps you…Get LA’D.”
The unmissable campaign features print, OOH (eight different executions thus far), digital display and social.
Party Land, with offices in Los Angeles and Colorado, takes enormous pride in their unique comedy reputation and also for being renowned for their ability to drive business results through the strategic use of humour. They’ve made their comedic mark as few other agencies have the chops to do, namely on work for Liquid Death, Dave’s Hot Chicken and eHarmony. Named an AdAge Small Agency of the Year in both 2021 and 2023, Party Land has quickly emerged as a top independent agency in the US, garnering recognition for consistently creating unignorable, effective campaigns for marketers who believe in the power of comedy to turn audiences into fans.
