First, the commercial, as it aired on a large Los Angeles radio station.
A radio advertisement‘s opening line is the commercial for the commercial. It sets the stage for the story.
So what’s the story of this commercial?
After opening with a name that only the guy’s friends, family and acquaintances can decipher, the guy says:
“Last year our company sold more cars than we’ve ever sold before!”
Never mind that the truth of that claim might be due to the company’s having acquired additional dealerships. Who in the audience really wants to hear a 60-second story about how successful a car dealer claims to be?
Is this actually the story of how the listener can get an incredible price deal on a car?
Or does the story center on 2 years of free oil & filter changes?
Is the real story the availability of 0% financing on every used car?
I love the declaration that they’ve “literally lowered the price” on their used vehicles. The only way I can think of where that would be true is if they placed the price stickers lower on the cars themselves.
And just when we think it can’t get any worse: Cue the 1950s-style radio announcer to remind listeners that the dealership is “conveniently located” miles away from most of the Los Angeles radio audience.
They give two Calls To Action, one of which is to call them. (Because so many people want to call a car dealer after hearing a radio commercial.)
The second Call To Action apparently has the audio equivalent of an asterisk:
“Visit Galpin.com…on approved credit.”
So….After listening to that commercial, what would you say is the story it’s trying to tell?
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Everyone will hear a different story. To me, this is the story of a car dealer who spends most of the budget on other media and the radio spot is just a throwaway. I saw a lot of that when I sold radio. It took these guys forever to decide which stations to buy and then they threw us the newspaper ad and said “here’s the spot”.
Well obviously, it’s trying to tell the DEALER’S story. And we all know that what the dealer thinks is important is a million miles from what his potential customers think. Hey, it even looks like the client has WRITTEN the commercial! It seems like a classic case of everything, (including the kitchen sink) being included because the exec/copywriter wasn’t strong enough to stand up to the client and tell him, “you’re great at selling cars, but please leave radio to the experts. One commercial, one core message, one call to action”. In other words, keep it simple. And if you dared, you may be tempted to add. “And you might even have room for an actual IDEA that will engage listeners rather than cramming the commercial full of INFORMATION.” Right, that’s me off my soapbox. Will people never learn!?
Sure, it’s a terrible commercial, no matter how loudly the tag announcer shouts. But all I can hear is that some audio engineer doesn’t know what a high-pass filter is for. After the first plosive my speaker cones punched me in the face.
Two of my least favorite words when put together: “conveniently located.” Hey, Mr. Advertiser, you know who you’re conveniently located to? Someone within about 5 minutes of you. Just give your location – the listener will decide if it’s convenient to them. If you have a weak message, it might not be convenient to drive across the street for your product. Have a compelling message? It might be worth driving hours.
And just for grins, I decided to Google this dealer. By the time I type in the word “Galpin,” the first choice that pops up is Galpin Ford, and I see that out of 107 Google reviews, Galpin Ford has an average score of 26 out of 30. That’s quite impressive. They must be doing something right (obviously not their radio advertising…but something). What the client should do is contact some of their satisfied customers and let THEM tell the Galpin story.
They are the largest Ford Dealer in the world and have been for over 25 years in a row. They don’t advertise price and they use radio to get the message across to the market. They have a % star experience in the sales process that keeps customers buying from them. This car dealer loves radio wish we had more like them.