Canadian Marketing Blog

Why isn't radio advertising better?

I had an iPod adapter installed in my new car when I got it last April. Not too hard to believe, I suppose. But the reason I did it is because radio advertising does a better job of annoying me than it does of inspiring me.

Exhibit A: Sean from Spence Diamonds. I suppose there is something to be said for the fact that I even know the guy's name and I know he's the spokesperson for Spence Diamonds. But I would never go into a Spence Diamonds store because I find their commercials so off-putting. Nails on a chalkboard is the only way to describe it.

Exhibit B: Christine McGee from Sleep Country. Both of my kids sing the jingle when it comes on the radio. And admittedly, Sleep Country is a proven marketing success story. But I literally turn the channel every time one of her spots comes on.

Exhibit C: Just about everything else you can hear between the music and the inane DJ banter. Everything just seems to lack any creativity or originality.

In our all-staff status meeting last Monday morning, one of our creative folks presented just a few radio spots from the recent Crystal Awards -- the best in radio advertising. Every spot was better and more creative than the next. Funny, engaging, creative in their use of music, creative in their use of sound effects, creative conceptually.

Terry O'Reilly from Pirate Radio is a guru of Canadian Radio advertising. He speaks brilliantly on the topic and is perceived to be one of the best in the business. Where are his disciples? I'm sure they're out there. Perhaps I don't listen to the radio enough. But there is no denying if they are out there working, they are the exception, not the rule.

The Crystal Awards prove that creative work can be done for radio. O'Reilly himself has said it is the medium that offers the most untapped potential in that it is inexpensive to produce, it can be turned around quickly, and it allows you to be creative if you have it in you to be.

I am seriously challenged to think of one recent radio spot that had me thinking, wow, now THAT'S using the full potential of the channel.

Can you think of one? Here's the criteria: Entertaining. Memorable (spot and product). Smart.

I have to tell you that while perhaps the ads are a bit annoying, I think that some of the ones Bryan has mentioned have been darn effective.

Sean from Spence for example. I think he is kinda cute! He doesn't even need to mention his product or his company (talk about branding!) and you know what he is advertising. And I like how he has branched out to talk about love, and things RELATED to engagement rings, not just about the product... I have to tell you, I was just proposed to, and when I heard Sean on the radio, I would subtly turn the radio up for my then boyfriend! And the only place my fiance took me to shop for a ring was Spence.

And Sleep Country? Come on! You may not like the ads, but I bet if you ask any of your friends where to buy a mattress they would ask you "why by a matress anywhere else?" Damn effective. Christine is the brand. (look I am on a first name basis!)

You know who else falls into the effective-yet-annoying category? Bay Bloor Radio. Same technique - you know who it is before they mention the product or store, and you think of them first for high end sterio equipment. I heard their add for Bose just this morning.

Having said this though, the radio station I listen to most frequently is CBC - no commercials (sorry CMA members) AND Terry O'Reilly! Maybe Bryan should switch!

E. Bradley, I love your response. This is what blogging is all about. Democrative exchange of opinions. Agreeing to agree or disagree. As I said in my original post, I remember Sean's name and I know he's from Spence. That's a good thing. And here we are talking about Spence like people do around the watercooler. But the larger question is, do radio ads that some people find annoying (Even Sean once acknowledged in one of their spots that he knew people found his voice annoying, as has the Swedish guy from IKEA) help or hurt the brand? And the point of my post, and I think Terry O'Reilly's point was, is it the most creative use of the medium? Remember, I'm speaking as a Creative person. As for Sleep Country, you're right. I don't even know of another mattress store off the top of my head. Again, I said it was a proven success story. But is it great, inspiring creative? Finally, I too have started listening to the CBC more. Love that Sheila Rogers. Beautiful voice. Maybe she's available for radio commercials.

There was a recent campaign from IKEA. The idea was that the announcer was reading about this amazing upcoming sale at Ikea and was getting more and more excited as she read it. Very funny, memorable and simple! As we move forward with trying harder to get the attention of fewer and fewer people, I think entertainment value and humour will play a key ingredient role in deciding whether a spot has breakthrough potential or not.

Canadian ex-pat chiming in from 'Murrica... (but returning shortly, so help me God)...

Canadian radio commercials are definitely not as annoying as most of the spots down here. The best feature of my car is the mute button on the steering wheel.

In the US, it's often a cacophony of one commercial trying to drown out the other. Or, they're either boring or soooo annoying. As a marcom pro, I've often shaken my head when presenting an O'Reilly-type spot for consideration, only to have the Powers That Be come back with their request for the equivalent of a billboard with audio. Remember WKRP's Herb Tarlek, with his "Snake Sale! SSSave!!!." It's close to that here.

There is one jewellry store chain owner (Shane & Co.) with a nasally voice painfully pentrating eardrums all over the midwest that probably makes people change the station; if I was a station owner, I might just refuse the spot.

I tune in to Terry O'Reilly via the Internet whenever I get a chance. I don't know where the spots he spotlights are being played, but they're definitely not in the US heartland. His show is very enlightening, and points out where most of the American industry is going wrong. However, getting a company in the Excited States to agree to such mastery in advertising would be a tough job, as most radio spots here compete on volume (car ads spring to mind --- the announcer almost yelling with reverb effects: "Free financing, YES FREE FINANCING! ...ING ...Ing ...ing...").

There is also a disquieting trend in radio and TV spots here that tell absolutely nothing about the product (Geico's cavemen, Budweiser's frogs, etc).

Whenever I return to Canada, it's a welcome respite, and I mute or turn the station much less often.

And, Canadian spots, on the whole, are more intelligently written and produced.

I am a career radio seller/manager (23 years). While it pains me to read about the poor creative in our business, I also agree with you.

Advertising agencies, small and large, account for about 80% of the business placed in our medium, and most don't understand how to best use this audio, one-to-one, medium to its fullest potential. One reason is that the meaningful money for an advertising agency is made with television production, not radio production. As a result, most agencies promote television advertising and use radio as merely a supplemental medium. Most of the time they simply use the audio from the television commercial for their radio ad. Ouch. And the agency wonders why radio just didn't work as well for the customer as television. Let's see: We invested 20% of the money used in television and aired a commercial that required the listener to use both sight and sound to process the offer. Do they really expect radio to outperform TV with the scales tipped in favor of their beloved visual friend? I would like to say that it is radio's fault for accepting these commercials, but it beats the alternative (no business at all for radio). We as an industry need to educate agencies (not an easy proposition, considering agency pundits are borderline condescending when it comes to advertising).

Having said all of that, there are some very good agencies who know how to use radio to generate the best ROI for their customers, and I for one appreciate them. It's simply mind-boggling to me that more businesses would not embrace a medium that reaches 94% of the population every week for roughly 19 hours. If I told you there was a new medium out there that could do those two things, most advertisers would be all over it. Call it radio, and the interest wanes to 8% of the customer's total advertising budget. Maybe radio needs to re-brand its self with an entirely new name to get the attention it deserves as one of the premier mediums for customer ROI (profits after the cost of advertising and production fees).

Mark in Vegas

Jonathan, I asked Dan O'Day (danoday.com) why Geico runs the gecko and caveman spots; they work else they wouldn't be on. He said it's simply -- and only -- because they are on with such frequency. Dan says if they ran with the freqency a local advertiser can afford, they wouldn't work.

I've always known that just running something a lot, even if it's really awful, can pull quite well. I lost a client to our local tv station, which produced a commercial for him for $150 US. He called me and said his traffic was up. I'd seen the ad, which was amateurish as most local tv is, and got depressed about it. I thought "why have I spent the better part of thirty years learning this stuff only to be outperformed by writers and producers making maybe 30% over the minimum wage?"

I talked with a friend who writes commercials about it. He said, "don't you know what they (the tv station) did? They ran about three or four times the commercials the client paid for without telling him, and all that exposure, though really badly produced, gave him a lot of TOMA." Dumb me never thought of that. The station does this because they want all a client's money and do not want any of it going for outside production. Radio stations often do this with new clients to up their foot traffic and make them think that what they're spending is generating new business, when the truth, of course, is that they would never agree to pay for the frequency being used to generate that traffic. The stations usually have a good amount of unsold inventory so it costs them nothing to run those extra ads to hook new clients.

Mike in Virginia
PS My site won't be up for another week or so. Not trying to self-promote, just share my stuff--others are free to cop my ideas. I visit many sites for ideas to stimulate the juices!

While I have nowhere near as much understanding of this industry as you people do, thanks to me not being in this industry, I understand the jist of what is being said here. However, there is also the fact that very little advertisements, audio-based or not, have become less engaging and more repetitive.

From what I've heard, we as consumers have been so constantly bombarded by advertisements, we are beginning to become immune to most ads. However, the few ones that are engaging and original strike a chord with consumers so well that it sticks in the mind of a consumer with a far longer durability than those based on repetition.

Sorry to be beating a dead horse here, but I thought I should point this out.

Kyle from Ontario

the more ads we see and hear, the more we ignore. it's a constant struggle for ideas to be original/unique and stand out - for an audience that mostly doesn't care. but, to explain why most ads are just plain annoying - it's because they're promoting something you don't need right now and are interrupting your radio show. BUT, there is a small percentage of the audiance that needs that product right now and its these people direct/annoying ads are targeting. on the more creative side of things though - the stand out/entertaining/original ads ARE more effective for branding a name and image, but they're the hardest to sell to a client. why? the client has never heard that idea before and naturally hesitates - feels more comfortable running what their mind expects to hear. ask yourself - if you were a business owner hoping to boost sales with radio advertising - would you take a chance on originality? it'll take many convincing pitches to clients with open minds - to make radio ads somewhat entertaining for common listeners ever again. wish us luck. jaysen cole - overnight radio

Though my business is more of a visual one (expo displays) I can sympathize with the frustration of marketing folk tasked with selling radio spots. Can you imagine trying to convince a client to spend cash on something almost universally reviled as a rude interruption - no thanks!

I too use my iPod as an escape hatch from aptly named 'commercial radio' though it sometimes pains me to do so. Not that I don't have amazing taste in music (I do) it's just that sometimes it's refreshing to hear a new song, or a forgotten favorite that isn't on your playlist - not to mention news. I'm a news update junkie, but annoying (and seemingly, endlessly repetitive) ad spots always send me scrambling for my MP3s. Was it always this way?

When I was a kid my father commissioned some ads to promote the restaurant at his hotel. We had a copy of the ad on reel to reel tape (I'm dating myself there!) and I listened to it over and over again - happily! Why? It was funny!

What happened to humorous ads? Good ones I mean? Why don't more ads try to put a smile on my face, instead of the grimace I get when it feels like a fast speaking used car salesman has just crawled in my ear with a 24-piece band?

That's my suggestion Bryan - Bring The Funny!

Thanks,
Amanda - Sydney, Australia

Local direct businesses spend money on advertising because it works....

If you are not in the market for a bed then yes...Sleep Country Canada ads are annoying...but when your bed falls apart, you might just listen to the ads for their current offers.

Same goes for all other industries...car dealerships are a great example...

I would say that the most important factor influencing effectiveness is the cost of your infrastructure. Radio is not far behind television. You need a creative team with experience make a lasting impression. Cheaper options include electronic media and display signage.

What about the pizza commercials? Like Pizza Nova? Or Travel commercials Selloffvactions? Itravel200? Or Alarmforce? These commercials are good...or their jingles are catchy...