Recently a reader was startled when I said, “A good radio commercial isn’t one that entertains. Contrary to popular belief, it isn’t even one that people remember. A good commercial (in any medium) is one that motivates the targeted listener to act.”
The reader responded, “Surely you have to remember something about it in order to act?”
Certainly: You need to remember the communication it delivered.
The only thing you have to remember about a commercial is the actual sales message.
The commercial is simply the delivery system for the sales message.
Example:
Let’s say the commercial’s Call To Action is, “So the next time you need milk, look for Super Dairy Milk in the bright orange container.”
You’re in the supermarket’s Dairy section, shopping list in hand.
Your list includes, “Milk.”
You look up and notice a bright orange container with the name, “Super Dairy Milk.”
Hmmm. That milk is supposed to be good.
You compare prices and see it doesn’t cost more than the other milk brands on the shelf.
You reach for the Super Dairy Milk and check your list for the next item.
But it’s entirely possible that you don’t remember the ads you’ve heard for Super Dairy Milk.
Now, to bring you to that point, the advertisement did need to give you a reason to choose Super Dairy Milk. It needed to do so convincingly.
The spot needed to attract your attention.
It needed to communicate what I call the “core message” clearly.
And utilizing one of radio’s great strengths, Frequency, it communicated that message to you repeatedly.
Although of course as a copywriter I enjoy people telling me they loved my commercial, I’m more interested in learning whether it motivated them to act on the sales message.
As David Ogilvy said, “Don’t tell me you liked my ad. Tell me you bought the product.”
Finally, if you look at my original words you’ll note that I didn’t say it’s bad for people to remember your commercial. Of course not.
But plenty of misguided souls judge the “success” of their radio advertising on how many people remember — or “like” — the commercials.
I can reel off a long list of radio and television commercials many people remember with great fondness — but which failed to make the cash register ring for the advertiser.
Typically, those commercials win awards and new business for the ad agency that created them. Even if the client for whom the commercials were made went bankrupt.
(Sadly, that is not an exaggerated scenario.)
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A jillion years ago as a young lad watching one of the only three TV stations in San Francisco, a live commercial came on whatever show we were watching. The pitchman said, “The next time you put your hands on a shopping cart, think of Peter Pan Peanut Butter.” Guess what I think of almost every time I grab a shopping cart?