All in good humour?

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Not really. Cut-throat competition between radio channels forces them to tilt the scales of laughter.

Getting new listeners to tune into FM radio is serious business, but radio channels have a funny way of going about it. Just take a look at the new campaigns of Radio Mirchi and Radio City, two rival, multi-city FM radio channels.

While Radio Mirchi is no stranger to television "" its "Mirchi sunnewale always khush" tagline is playing for the third year "" Radio City's "Whatte Fun "" Tune in to fun ki nayi bhasha" is a newcomer to the visual medium. Still, it seems to have quickly caught on to what works in advertising FM "" humour. Mirchi's latest 40-second TVC shows a bound and beaten-up man humming an oldie, visibly at ease, squeezed into a car boot.

In the past, too, Mirchi ads have shown situations that could make a saint lose his temper "" a terrible car accident, a child breaking a jar of cookies, or a man walking in a gutter. Instead, these people end up shaking a leg, and taking the situation in their stride.

On the other hand, Radio City's two films are take-offs on Hindi idioms: one TVC plays on how a dog's tail is never straight (a metaphor for how some people never learn) and shows a king replacing his droopy moustache with upturned dogs' tails; another shows a bald escaped convict cheating a police officer by sticking two locks "" picked up at a barber's shop "" on his pate ("baal baal bache": a narrow escape). Neither radio channel has yet studied the impact of the new campaigns, but both claim the response has been "exciting" and "quite fabulous".

While humour may be common to both campaigns, it serves different strategies for both channels. For Mirchi, this is the fifth "always khush" ad and reflects a four-year-old change in positioning from a product-related to an attitude-based station.

McCann Erickson has been Radio Mirchi's agency since the start, so maintaining consistency in creatives and communication is not an issue. "We don't even brief McCann about the campaign anymore," reveals Prashant Panday, deputy CEO, Radio Mirchi, adding, "But the new campaign is in keeping with our marketing initiatives."

The Mirchi film is on air on cable channels such as Zee Cinema, NDTV and Star Plus, and the campaign carries over to hoardings and billboards apart from, of course, radio spots.

If it is more of the same for Mirchi, City's campaign is so new, it squeaks. Not only is this the company's first nationwide campaign, it is part of a 360-degree initiative that includes a music video featuring Vinay Pathak, currently Bollywood's favourite funny man; an Internet microsite; billboards and hoardings, radio slots; and an eight-city, get-creative-with-idioms competition.

"There are different brands of humour. Our campaign includes an element of intelligence," says Ransil D'Silva, executive creative director, Meridien, the agency that won the pitch for the TVC.

The campaign also marks a shift in positioning "City mein kho jao", based on research by Synovate to gauge the attitudes of City's listeners "" people between 25 and 35 years, belonging to SECs A and B.

"We wanted to know all about them "" their habits, their hangout zones, the movies they watch and so on, so that we could design ourselves to become their de-stress buttons," says Rana Barua, head, marketing, Radio City. With the focus on "de-stressing", there are new programme rules as well "" no sad songs or conversations allowed.

The accent on humour in radio "" right from badinage between radio jockeys to the ads and jingles "" has never been more pronounced. But with every channel out to make listeners smile, if not guffaw, isn't there a risk of brand confusion? Panday accepts this is a not-so-remote possibility, but points out that Mirchi's positioning isn't new "" it has, in fact, remained unchanged for several years now.

Adds McCann Creative Director Ambar Chakravarty, "Fun is a much-abused word. But for Mirchi, we are looking at the fact that if you have the blues, music can do wonders to alleviate your mood."

The Mirchi ads stretch that argument a little and depict situations where most ordinary people would indulge in a little hysteria "" only, they start singing something that goes with the mood. "We don't claim that life becomes better," defends Chakravarty. "All we say is that the current situation becomes more bearable."

Radio listeners are notoriously fickle, so a clear positioning of attitude is paramount if you don't want people to jog that dial in search of a better song. Which explains the frenetic activity from both FM players. Consider the spends: Radio Mirchi has an annual budget of Rs 50 crore, to be spent on film, radio and outdoor.

Radio City executives don't divulge the channel's advertising and marketing budget, but it can't be small "" 160 spots a day have been booked across cable TV channels for the next three months, not counting the cost of the other initiatives. That level of exposure doesn't come cheap.

Are such high-decibel warranted when most FM channels are reportedly haemorrhaging? "We are not bleeding," defends Radio City's Barua. "The entire exercise is in keeping with our aim of garnering 30 per cent of revenues, up from the current 28 per cent."

Panday is more philosophical about the market equation and says the situation is the same as any other industry: "The market leader makes profits, the second guy manages some and the third company just about manages to break even." The other players bleed. Industry figures show Radio Mirchi taking the lead in new Delhi and Mumbai.

But Panday believes there is big product change in the offing "" all-English channels in cities such as Hyderabad and Mumbai, for instance.

He warns, "Also, WorldSpace may not be a threat to Radio FM at present, but you never know how big it may become." Radio City's funny liners are, perhaps, justified in trying to get even with Mirchi in the Rs 360-crore FM radio industry.