First, the radio commercial….
As usual, this restaurant radio commercial tries to say too many things and, as a result, ends up saying nothing.
– You can see the Queen Mary
– It’s at Parker’s Lighthouse in Long Beach
– You can enjoy “supper club dining”
– Great steaks
– Fine wines
– Live music
– And here’s our phone number twice. Because unlike most people, when you hear about a new restaurant you immediately call to make a reservation.
Meanwhile, the rest of the world checks out the restaurant online…if the rest of the world knows where to find the restaurant’s website.
The Queensview Steakhouse does have a website.
No, the website isn’t very good:
Hint to restaurants: Diners want to view your menu online, not to download a PDF version.
Hint: One of the most common reasons people visit a restaurant website is to find the address. Don’t make them search for it; feature it on your home page.
On the other hand, the home page features a video that uses a fuller version of that musical theme. The video does a good job of bringing to life the images so ineffectively alluded to in the radio voice over.
New restaurant with a website with a video that “sells” the experience it offers? This radio commercial should have been used to drive traffic to the website.
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Personally, when I think about a steak dinner the FIRST thing that crosses my mind is “Will I be able to see the Queen Mary while I’m eating?” Then I realize I live in Grand Rapids and I cannot see it and I lose my appetite for steak and sink into unbearable depression… and what was it we were talking about?
I’ll bet their staff is friendly and knowledgeable – but what about the light fixtures? Do they have attractive light fixtures? They also failed to mention if their complimentary toothpicks were the mint kind or not, or if the hanging plants are real. These things rank right up there with looking at a boat.
At first I thought the jingle was about Queens, and I’m thinking what does that have to do with steak, and I’m sorry what was that number again, let me just jot that down as I’m going down the 405, hmmm yeah that’s it dinner by a ship that doesn’t move and impedes my view of the sunset on Long Beach. They spent more on the Jingle than the ad will ever bring in.
This may not be the best commercial…it’s not the worst, either. I do believe it will drive traffic. I enjoy trying something new, and this ad could spark enough curiosity to send me there. I know enough info to easily Google search it on my smart phone, or at home on my PC…which I just did, and in seconds, found a photo and description of the place that looks interesting – not on their website, but on open table dot com. I saw their website and it’s not as helpful, video notwithstanding. The ad raises awareness, and that’s good. We don’t know what the client was insisting on, and sometimes, you do the best you can, and take the money. It may not be the most efficient way to spend a radio ad budget, but it will still see results, IMHO.
I just listened to that spot twice (well, didn’t really listen…played it twice) in a distraction-free environment (my TV muted behind me where I can’t see it, rest of the family asleep, quiet house) and couldn’t make it through the first 10 seconds or so without my mind wandering. The first time I played it, my immediate reaction was that I was hearing a cheesy song I didn’t like and didn’t want to listen to. Lost me right away. The second time, I forced myself to pay attention to the opening singing, but once the announcer started talking, but not saying anything interesting, there goes my mind wandering again. I’ll have to take your word for it, Dan, that all the points you listed are mentioned, because I don’t think I can make it through a third attempt. And like I said, this was really TRYING to listen, in a distraction-free environment. If I’m a regular listener, probably hearing this spot in my car (with no option to rewind and listen again to catch something I missed) with all the distractions of traffic, maybe children talking in the back seat, and any number of everyday thoughts rattling around in my head (look at the odometer, I need to get the oil changed…gotta remember to take the kids to the dentist tomorrow…the wife asked me to pick up milk on the way home…I wonder if it’s gonna rain this weekend ’cause I really need to mow the lawn) this spot becomes absolutely nothing but background noise. Could this spot be effective? Maybe if it was played so often that the listener couldn’t escape it, like twice an hour every hour of every day for at least 13 weeks.
“We don’t know what the client was insisting on, and sometimes, you do the best you can, and take the money. It may not be the most efficient way to spend a radio ad budget, but it will still see results, IMHO.”
Agreed! That is the problem with Dan’s evaluation in most of these smackdown’s. It’s total speculation based on his past experiences, which I can’t argue has validity, but without the missing pieces, it still is speculation.
We all know what clients are like and sales are like with the clients. It’s a challenge to direct what radio execs think will work, and even then, it’s a matter of “think” until it hits the air. The human psyche is very predictable and very unpredictable at the same time. Nothing is guaranteed. Sometimes you’re right, sometimes your wrong. The best scenario is you are right most of the time.
Some comments of mine on this spot, the radio and assumingly the TV spot that was on the website I found:
The jingle package has such an 80s feel, is that type of sound still relevant in a restaurant? Perhaps. The owners know more then I do, but it’s worth questioning, as they could have just been sold a bill of goods by a jingle company targetting restaurants vs something that really works for them and more contemporary.
Sorry Dan, PDF is a standard on most if not all PC’s on the planet. Downloading a PDF menu has the advantage to be identical to what you would have in the restaurant in your hand without excessive website formatting and scripting. Most PDFs without excessive graphics are of a small size (even for dialup) and usually a click on them will prompt adobe acrobat in your PC to open the document to view. If you not aware of adobe acrobat, I strongly recommend you and others to download it from adobe.com as it’s free. Given how many cue sheets are sent these days as PDF’s though, I’m guessing many in radio really are aware of it. It;s comparible to a word document file. This isn’t the first restaurant website i’ve been to with PDF’s, and i’m sure it will not be the last, as it just makes sense for reasons mentioned above.
If the phone # is given twice, can we assume that a lot of call in business is standard here? Possibly. I can safely say with my wife, if she here’s about a new restaurant, there’s a potential for calling for reservations as soon as she hears about it, but more mention of the website (well, there is none now I suppose) perhaps to replace the 2nd mention of the phone # is a far better idea, more so as you can say https://www………..com quickly and effectively and it should stick. It’s more likely I will check out the menu on the website then call right away, but again, this goes back to the owners and their thinking.
As I mentioned off the top, I agree with the quote. It will get results, but could likely get more with a few tweaks. It’s a “launch spot” to me, just to get it going. In that context, it’s not bad at all.
The question is not whether people are familiar with PDF files.
Web usability studies show without a doubt that unless they specifically are looking for a copy to download, visitors prefer to view information at the website and not as a downloaded PDF.
“Prefer” = A significantly higher percentage of Web visitors leaves the site without viewing the information at all when it is forced upon them as a PDF.