Here’s the inimitable Nancy Wolfson, explaining the challenges faced by many voice actors as they try to deliver what the producer or casting director wants based on the commercial copy’s “specs.”
Most radio hosts give away whatever comes in over the transom for free. But the best giveaway items for a personality-driven show have three qualities:
- Extremely limited practical value
- Personalized
- Inexplicably fun
Historic Example
During the first years of Late Night With David Letterman (his NBC show), Letterman would give his guests their own, official Late Night With David Letterman Collapsible Drinking Cup.
It was a plastic drinking cup which, when you pressed down on it with the palm of your hand, collapsed into a flat shape.
Every visiting celebrity insisted on leaving with one.
And every viewer would’ve loved to get one.
Radio Example
When Peter Holmes was the Breakfast Host at Breeze AM in Essex, England, his lucky contest winners received…
…personalized bathplugs.
They cost maybe $0.49 each, and every listener wanted one.
While I was making an in-station visit, Peter held a private party only for his “bathpluggers.
150 people showed up at a nightclub on a Tuesday night. (They had to bring their bathplugs with them to gain admittance.)
Peter came up with the terrific idea. I threw in a few suggestions to make it bigger and extend its life.
1. Create limited edition, seasonal imprints (summer, football, Christmas, etc.) to stimulate a collector’s mentality among recipients.
2. For a one-time only promotion, award a plug actually used by Peter in his own bathtub.
3. Send plugs to celebrities, asking them to bathe with them once and then return in a self-addressed, stamped envelope. Have them autograph the plugs first, then auction them off for charity, on-air.
My Test For A Great Morning Show Prize
Something you would never pay for…but which you would stand in line to receive.
Despite most daily newspapers’ struggles to survive, many local advertisers still insist upon using radio only to “support” a local newspaper ad campaign.
The bane of radio salespeople is the fact that many customers do enter a retail outlet clutching the local newspaper ad.
Naturally enough, the merchant assumes it was that ad that caused the customer to come.
As I teach in my radio advertising seminars, however, newspaper advertising is best used as a source of factual information: Prices, hours of operation, phone numbers, addresses — all the junk that usually should not be in a radio commercial.
A well-crafted radio campaign makes the targeted consumer want the product or service being advertised.
A good newspaper ad is a handy reference tool.
A good broadcast campaign motivates the consumer to make the purchase (or otherwise act on the sales message). But a newspaper ad can’t do that.
Ask your “I Know The Newspaper Works Because People Enter My Store Carrying The Ad” prospects what I call “The Mapquest Question.”
(Note to non-U.S. subscribers: Mapquest.com is used ubiquitously in the U.S. I don’t know if it’s used where you live. It’s a free, online service that gives you directions from one address to another.
(I suspect Mapquest has taken a big hit from the iPhone — as well as from Google Maps — but it still attracts 34+ million unique visitors per month.)
Here’s “The Mapquest Question”:
“Have you ever used Mapquest?”
Odds are the prospect will answer affirmatively.
“So you’ve used Mapquest to tell you how to find a particular address or business, right?” (Right.)
“Did you print out a copy and take it with you?” (Yes.)
“One more question: Was it Mapquest that made you want to go there in the first place?”
That’s a rhetorical question. Just let it hang there between the two of you, as the merchant slowly gets the point:
Information is not the same as motivation.
As someone who needs eight hours’ sleep yet rarely gets it while engaged in seminar travels, I’ve longed marveled at the power of the world’s greatest drug:
Adrenaline.
Recently I had an interesting conversation with a famous morning radio jock. He commented, “It’s funny. No matter how tired I am, as soon as I open the mic I’m filled with energy.”
That conversation confirmed what I’ve long believed:
If you’re doing a personality-oriented radio show and the adrenaline doesn’t kick in, as a performer you’re not meant to be there.
Corollary:
If you’re doing a personality-intensive show and you’re not physically exhausted at the end of your shift, you’re doing something wrong.
Why? Because when the show is over, the adrenaline supply suddenly is cut off — and your body suddenly should “crash.”
That, of course, is why subjecting a high-intensity morning show to an immediate post-program meeting is a mistake.
The jocks need time to “come down” and then bounce back up again.
A Loyal Reader Writes:
“I’m GM of a small market radio station that’s got a major market sound. Listener attendance runs hot and cold to live, sponsored remote broadcasts.
“Today we did a remote at a car lot, and the turnout was horrible.
“I always do my best to manage my client’s expectations. The car dealer wants us to be selling their cars on the radio, and it’s frustrating because I believe that is a tune-out.
“GREAT RADIO needs to be at a remote; great radio is what will bring them in. I’m not a car salesman, and trying to be one on the radio isn’t going to bring people down to stop and look, let alone to buy.
“Any ideas on how to educate our radio advertising clients about an effective remote?”
1. If the turnout was horrible, that suggests to me that the radio commercials didn’t give targeted consumers a good enough reason to come.
2. In the case of a remote broadcast, radio’s job is to deliver qualified prospects. It’s to motivate qualified prospects to show up. It’s definitely not to sell cars.
Your job is to deliver qualified leads; it’s the car dealer’s job to convert the leads into sales.
3. “Great radio” and “remote broadcast” rarely occur at the same place & time.
4. Why are you doing a remote there in the first place? I’m guessing because the client asked for one.
If so, why did the client ask for one? Why is “having a remote” important to the client?
An important part of your job is helping the client focus on his true goals — on what he really wants to accomplish.
5. I suggest you help the dealer develop new promotions that don’t necessarily require a live station presence.
