The current issue of my Radio Advertising Letter discusses:
• The perils of reviewing movies that don’t exist
• How to make a phone number in a radio commercial memorable
• How to communicate a strong sales message within the constraints of a 30-second radio commercial.
This post is for my subscribers to use to add their own comments, thoughts, rejoinders, etc.
Comments on this entry are closed.
Having a phone number in a commercial has always bothered me – From 12 years in TV, back to radio – it was the one thing that truly bugged my about commercials – and what dan says is soooo right, a reason for remembering the phone number seems to be THE ONLY way to make people remember it – write it down, or even (shock horror) CALL IT!. Websites are becoming the new pain for all of us too, who wants to hear “check out our site at www dot mybusiness name is long and boring dot com slash radio ?
The trouble is trying to convince, A the copywriter B the client and C the ad exec of these things. I have printed out your response to this reader enquiry and posted it on my door on a HUGE piece of paper – think they’ll get the message?
r.e. 30 second ‘constraint’
“Restricting” your radio ad copy to 30 seconds forces you to cut through the clutter & communicate more quickly and more clearly to create an effective ad. In most cases, the only people who prefer :60’s are the clients and the writers who write them.
It’s much more difficult (by a factor of 2, to be precise) to captivate the listener for 60-seconds, as opposed to 30. Ideally, ad length should be determined by length of time required to say something persuasive about the product or service. Sadly, in many cases, even 30-seconds is too long. Way too long.
Radio copy is often written as an audible interpretation of a brochure. Informative, product-focused, rarely persuasive and compelling enough to leave a lasting impression on the consumer. But radio’s vivid-imagery-inspiring strength is in creating mental connections with whatever the listener is hearing.
“I do.”
Short. Sweet. Crystal clear.
Like a sermon, the shorter your radio copy, the better. Provide enough information to motivate the listener. Only enough. No more, no less. Be like George Castanza and ‘leave on a high note’.
Just a funny memory…and warning to the more gentle reader, there’s a naughty movie title coming.
I was 16. My first station was WLXX in Sault Ste Marie, MI. Salestaff of 1. No wire (too expensive) so we didn’t do news until the Detroit News or Free Press arrived. I was awesome. I was given a spot to produce for the local video rental place. During the day they advertised family movies, with three family movie titles in the copy. At night it was the naughty stuff and also included three movie titles in the copy.
At 16, I didn’t know much about the world, but I was pretty sure I shouldn’t be reading, “House of Clit” on the air.
re: fake porn titles
If the porn industry can get by with their clever alteration of major release titles, why not an advertiser merely doing a parody? And as for the “disappointed customer” who came into the store only to find that “Thighs Wide Shut” didn’t actually exist, face it; they came in to rent an adult film and there is certainly no shortage of those to choose from – why should they be hugely disappointed to find a particular title was ficticious? There is an ample selection to steer them towards, and bottom line is that the customer came into the business – mission accomplished!
Oddly…this whole thing came about after I sent two assistants to gather movie titles at the store. I’ve never been in there. The list Roxanne and Tim brought back was…uh…shocking. No way could I use those titles. Most were just vulgar and not even clever. So we joked that since the reviews would be bogus (the sound track is grammy for sure…it was a rollercoaster ride of emotions…etc) why couldn’t the titles be bogus to. So…we popped open the newspaper and thus began the clever titles.