Giving Radio Creativity a Better Airing

Don't Shout, I Can Hear You: 1

They call them listeners because they listen. A lot of people worry about the need to attract attention to their commercial, yet a key piece of radio research tells us that listeners absorb a significant amount of information from radio commercials even though they may appear to be preoccupied with some other activity. One of the biggest factors about this absorption is the relevance to the listener of the message or the product.

Another key piece of research shows that the most memorable style of radio advertising is 'mood/fantasy' - something which engages the listener's imagination rather than merely vibrating their eardrums.

Don't Shout, I Can Hear You: 2

How much psychological distance do you want between yourself and the listener? As with the cinema, where the apparent distance between you and the action depends on the kind of shot, close-up, longshot etc, the intimacy you get with the listener depends on the volume and tone you use. Speak softly and the radio is right next to them. Shout and your message is immediately distanced. Which do you find more seductive: your partner nibbling your earlobe or barking orders from the other side of the room? (Incidentally, if it's the latter, I have a phone number in Bolton which might interest you - but you're still in a minority.)

Telling Isn't Selling: 1

If advertising's role is to dramatise a benefit, radio can do it as well as any medium. But it helps create powerful advertising if we have a clear, focused idea of what that benefit is. If we as creators of advertising don't have a clear idea of our message, how can the people we're seeking to persuade? A lot of regional advertising can be product and price- based, and if people don't know why they should spend less of something, there's no hope for them. But we can still dramatise the message: don't tell people, show them in some dramatic and memorable way.

Telling Isn't Selling: 2

How often does the style of the ad directly contradict the message? The dull commercial for the exciting new concept? The fashion ad with no style? The commercial for the financial institution with whom your money is as safe as houses, except the details go a little too fast for you to catch the small print? Don't tell them, show them.