Coles supermarkets and dmg Radio Australia have done a deal to digitally stream Coles Radio to over 750 stores. The supermarket says that means brands can reach over 14 million customers a week making the supermarket chain, in audience terms, one of the biggest players in radio in one fell swoop.
Radio networks and the emerging digital streaming music providers see in-store custom radio as a major growth opportunity. The Coles partnership is an example of taking content creation beyond its own radio brands, said dmg radio boss Cathy O'Connor. She said the two would market the service to advertisers collaboratively. That can be broken down regionally via seven different streams for each State and Territory.
O'Connor was reluctant to state that the number of weekly Coles customers made it the biggest radio audience in Australia. "I supose you could say that," she told AdNews. Either way it was a "significant channel to an appealing market."
Advertising will be sold by both Coles and dmg and O'Connor said the company would sell it a standalone basis or as part of a package across its other properties. In keeping with Coles tradition, prices were lower than dmg charges for its own properties "at this stage... but we will work off demand," said O'Connor.
Launch advertiser brands include Berocca, Mintos, Nestle, Arnott's and Mortein.
O'Connor said while its own radio channels and content would remain its core business, dmg is in negotations with a number of other organisations about providing white label radio services, "not just retailers but outlets looking for branded audio."
She said that meant dmg was becoming "a service provider" as well as a radio network and content producer, "which is what every media company needs to do".
Whether the partnership made Coles a hybrid retailer-cum-media organisation was a moot point. "In-store media is not a new concept. But this is a fresh approach and creates different oportunites for in-store media," O'Connor added.
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