In response to yesterday’s Radio Commercial Smackdown, Tom Fricke wrote:
How do we get your message to these idiotic ad agencies? I’m almost certain everyone reading your blog is in complete agreement that this spot does everything wrong. Yet, it will air unquestioned on hundreds of radio stations with little consequence.
Us guys working in the trenches of the production room totally get your message and cheer it openly. But we’re not the ones who need this message; it needs to be heard by the ad agencies who continually churn this tripe for radio. Radio is powerless to do anything about it, except watch the ongoing trend of listeners not caring about what they hear on the radio.
Radio stations could do something about it:
They could start giving a damn about producing profitable results for advertisers.
They could provide real training to their employees who write and produce radio commercials.
They could have at least one fulltime copywriter, well educated in radio advertising and well compensated.
They could create and enforce standards.
They could….Well, I’ve been saying all this for too many years now.
But the ad agencies that churn out that kind of crap are not going to get it, because they have no incentive. They don’t get paid for performance. They get a percentage of the buy.
And when the radio campaign doesn’t deliver a positive Return On Investment, the agencies:
1. Blame radio.
2. Tell the clients, “It’s not supposed to produce results. It’s a branding campaign!”
