Creative Fundamentals that Generate Results

From all that’s been written about the importance of radio creative lately, it’s clear that many recognize that poor creative continues to suck the ROI out of radio advertising. What’s not as readily apparent is that poor creative negatively impacts radio’s performance in econometric/Media Mix Modeling modeling, which so often plays a critical role in media selection.

Inherently, no medium is any more captivating or engaging than any other, as the effectiveness of any medium is largely determined by the quality of its commercial content. If the creative is weak and ineffective, the medium will be thought of as weak and ineffective. Creative ranks right up there in terms of importance with other planning variables such as reach, frequency, media selection, GRPs, and flight length in contributing to the success of a marketing campaign. Meticulous planning and strategy will not overcome weak creative and, for too long, the effort to plan and “place” the radio commercial has overshadowed the effort to “create” the commercial. Balance needs to be restored here if the medium’s revenue outlook is to improve.

While it will take time and focus to resolve this issue on Madison Avenue, there are certain creative guidelines that can be executed and embraced by the industry that will immediately enhance the impact of radio commercials.

It’s understood that generating great creative is an art form but there’s also some science behind it as well. The following summarizes the key creative insights derived from working with Ipsos over the past five years, spanning dozens of radio commercials and thousands of respondents. It’s surprising the number of commercials that were tested that did not adhere to these simple fundamentals:

1. Strive for consistency of voice, music, or audio logo across campaigns:
— The listener should be able to immediately identify the commercial as the advertiser’s, even if engaged for only a few seconds.
— This also dramatically cuts down on misattribution, which benefits the competition. Why advertise for the competition?

2. Mention the advertiser’s name throughout:
— Attention to commercials ebbs and flows. Listeners are not always riveted to what’s coming out of the speakers or ear buds.

3. Consider multiple voices or dialogue:
— This activates what’s called an “orienting response,” which is the automatic and involuntary allocation of cognitive resources in responses to “novelty” or “surprise.” A new voice or dialogue triggers this response.

4. Avoid unnecessary words:
— Be concise. Don’t provide the listener with a reason to tune out.
— Focus on one or two key selling points. An ad with four different selling points will succeed in making none.
— Work on mastering the art of reduction, making the ad as long as necessary but as short as possible.

5. Speak in a conversational tone:
— There are limits as to what we can process cognitively. Don’t speak so slow that the listener becomes bored and distracted, nor so fast that they can’t follow and become confused. The latter is the bigger issue.

6. “Reveal” ads, which put off mentioning the advertiser’s name until 30-40 seconds into the commercial, do not perform well:
 — This approach wrongfully assumes that the listener is as interested and entertained by the commercial as the copywriter was.
— “Reveal” ads contribute little to “awareness” and result in a lot of wasted money.

7. Vary pace and tone:
— Avoid turning the commercial into “white” noise. Alter the “rhythm.”
 
8. Write the way people talk:
— Effective ads often feature broken sentences, half sentences, and non-sequiturs.
— Awkward wording and weird phrases capture attention.

9. Emotion, not facts, engage:
— A story is an effective way to generate emotion.

10. Avoid voices made for radio:
— They are easier to ignore, plus they sound like all the other ads.

11.  Strive for a certain degree of edginess:
— A safe, bland approach leads to invisibility.
 
12. Humor:
—  Is not easy and fraught with challenges, but extremely effective.
— Use with care.

13. Start strong:
— You have 3-4 seconds at the beginning of the commercial to grab the listener’s attention.
— End it strong. Powerful finishes reinforce the messaging.

14. Consider rotating more than one commercial but not more than several:
— Avoid putting all of your eggs in one basket in case one commercial doesn’t resonate.

It’s been said that the fundamentals don’t change, the only thing that does change is our attention to them. To some, these 14 points could come across as rather mundane and painfully obvious. They would not be wrong. Fundamentals usually are mundane and often boring which is exactly why so few are consistently executed. It is also why so many radio commercials under-perform.

One parting thought, the radio industry should consider designating a week in 2014 as “Adopt a Creative Director Week” where every radio sales staff in the United States meets with an agency Creative Director and engages them in a discussion regarding these fundamentals and their challenges with radio creative. This, along with the faithful execution of the fundamentals referenced above, would lead to better radio creative and additional revenue.

Bob McCurdy is the former president of Katz Marketing Solutions. He can be reached at bo***********@gm***.com.

Courtesy of Radio ink