Radiohouse CEO Stepan Ryska on branding for Czech regional firms

Radiohouse is again giving away one hundred million crowns worth of advertising space to regional firms — the company's managing director, Štěpán Ryska, explained why local brands should invest in recognition rather than one-off promotions.

According to him, small and medium-sized businesses in the regions have huge potential but often lack the resources and expertise for long-term brand building — and a brand is exactly what can shield a company from competition. This year Radiohouse will again offer advertising opportunities to up to three hundred companies, doubling the volume of advertising and adding new media and services.

Ryska explains why being local matters more today than it did ten years ago: the global world has become less stable, and trust in local business is growing. A customer knows the owner of a small company, has seen its office, sometimes knows the staff personally — an advantage a global brand can never fully replace. The task of a small firm isn't to beat the giant, but to be the customer's first choice at the right moment.

Experience from past years has shown that a brand cannot be built with a single successful ad. It takes systematic, long-term work. Together with the research company STEM/MARK, Radiohouse measured brand and ad recognition — it turned out that around seven in ten listeners of regional radio stations can recognise a partner company's ad even six months later.

Among the typical mistakes small businesses make in advertising, Ryska names weak branding, information overload, insufficient attention-grabbing and an unclear call to action. He also singled out the role of artificial intelligence: the technology speeds up and cheapens content creation, but doesn't replace strategy — AI can generate ten banner variants, but it won't tell you which one actually suits the brand.

This year Radiohouse is also strengthening the visual side of its campaigns, combining FM, DAB+, online, radio station websites, PR communication, HbbTV on TV Nova and visual branding at events. Regional entrepreneurs who have not previously advertised on radio or TV Nova will be able to apply for the RH 300 Cross+ project from September 15 through the end of 2026, with places for three hundred companies.