Nova Boy returns to Turn Up the Feelgood

NOVA Entertainment has launched of a new marketing campaign to ‘Turn Up The Feel Good’, featuring a new look for the iconic Nova Boy brand character. 

The campaign will run across multiple platforms from Sunday. 

The original Nova Boy was the mascot when Nova 96.9 first went to air in April 2001. 
 
This latest TVC reintroduces Nova Boy to audiences alongside the network’s breakfast teams across the country as well as with their winning drive show Kate, Tim & Joel.
 
Set to Joel Corry’s ‘Head & Heart’, the feel good sentiment supports the overall creative of the campaign, highlighting Nova’s ‘Turn Up The Feel Good’ brand positioner. 
 
Paul Jackson is not only Nova Entertainment’s Chief Programming Officer, but also the Chief Marketing Officer, which is kind of a throwback to the past when the Program Manager (now managing “content” rather than programming) was by default the Marketing Manager too.
 
“Yes, that’s very true,” says Jackson. In my previous life in the U.K. with Capital and NextFM and Virgin Radio prior to that, Marketing sat inside Programming. So I had that in my remit in my previous roles to coming here as well.” 
 
Yesterday, with the release of GfK Survey 2, Jackson had his programming hat on but today, it’s all about marketing. 
 
“Effectively, you could say, we’re going back to the future here, but we are living in a world these days where nostalgia seems to be one of the buzz words of the day. And people are looking back at things that are familiar and comfortable to them. So possibly that plays into some of this thinking and boy character. 


Nova Boys then and now

“Nova’s DNA to have fun, lift the spirits and make our listeners’ day brighter. This new campaign is designed to celebrate what our listeners love about the Nova brand, highlighting our point of difference through our popular announcers, a hit soundtrack and the timeless nostalgia of the highly recognisable Nova Boy character. Radio’s role as a companion has never been more evident and in this busy world, we wanted to cut through creatively by doing something different with the popular Nova Boy, to celebrate the feel good role the Nova Network plays in the lives of our audience.”

 Jackson admits to playing a role in benching Nova Boy in what he calls a, “brand refresh” back in 2014.
 
He explains, “At that point in time as the brand was evolving, we were seen slightly too male,  slightly too alternative – a bit too edgy. So, for some of the audience we were targeting, they were thinking, hang on, no, Nova’s not for me. So, we started to present Nova in a slightly different way. And that meant pausing some of that boy activity.” 



So any chance then of the Nova Boy meeting a Nova Girl?

“We’ve had that conversation already,” says Jackson. “Nova Boy could be a boy or a girl, to be honest. You could have friends, boyfriends and girlfriends. There’s lots of opportunities and iterations going forward. So, yes, have many ideas. I would say this is just the beginning.”
 
Mardi Gras, next year?
 
“Exactly!”


 

 


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