DAN O’DAY TALKS ABOUT RADIO

Radio commercials should not focus on “features.”

Nor (contrary to what you’ve learned elsewhere) should they focus on “benefits.”

They should sell the results of the product or service being advertised.

People don’t want the product. They don’t care about the product. They care only about what the product can do for them.

I don’t care if Ed’s Toothpaste has been judged the World’s Greatest Toothpaste. I want to know if it can keep my teeth cavity-free, my smile gleaming white, and my breath fresh and inviting.

Real-Life Example

Right around the turn of this century (boy, does that make you feel old, huh?), my office manager, Robyn, began nagging me to get TiVo.

This was before most cable television providers offered their own DVR (Digital Video Recorder) options. TiVo pioneered the product category.

It also was in the days when people used video cassette recorders (VCRs).

She nagged me for a year and a half.

She had TiVo, and now she was trying to convert me.

“You really should have TiVo, Dan.”

“Why?”

“Well, it lets you record any program.”

“Robyn, did you ever hear of a VCR?”

“Well, yeah, but you see, you can record a program and you can watch it whenever you want.”

I said, “Yeah, see, Robyn, I can actually take any videocassette I want and play it whenever I want.”

“Dan, you don’t understand. It changes your entire television viewing experience.”

That was the problem. Nobody wants to have their television viewing experience changed.

Did you wake up this morning thinking, “Gosh, if only I could find a product or service that would change my television viewing experience?”

Eighteen months after Robyn began her Make Dan Get TiVo campaign, I had lunch with a friend of mine. He had just gotten TiVo.

I said, “Really? So what do you think?”

“Dan, it completely changed my television viewing experience.”

I wanted to scream.

“What do you mean?”

He said, “I don’t channel surf anymore.”

I said, “Geez, I thought you were a busy guy. You’re telling me that you frequently spend time at the edge of the sofa with a remote control, looking for something to watch?”

“No,” he said. “That’s not what I mean. What I mean is with Tivo, whenever I turn on my television, there is always something I want to watch.”

That was the day I decided to become a TiVo customer.

So, the product or service for which you’re about to write a radio commercial: What are the results the consumer will enjoy by purchasing that product or service?

During a time when everyone is quick to bash corporate radio, I find myself in the unexpected position of feeling obliged to defend the reputation of Clear Channel CEO Bob Pittman.

Clearly, someone has launched a very sophisticated campaign to make Pittman appear to be an idiot.

This first came to my attention more than a year ago, when online trade publications claimed Pittman had assured an industry convention that radio doesn’t have anything to fear from iPods “because people don’t want to have to program their own music.”

Oh. Right. That explains why Apple has sold only 300+ million iPods.

Why would people want to make the effort to load an iPod with their favorite music, when instead they can listen to a radio station that plays music that might occasionally include a couple of their favorite songs?

Obviously, Pittman couldn’t have said anything that stupid.

Those same, scurrilous radio journals reported that at a more recent radio conference, Pittman assured attendees that “traditional” or “terrestrial” radio has nothing to fear from Pandora.com.

Pandora, he explained, is not “radio.” It’s a jukebox.

All we need to do is get people to stop referring to Pandora as a form of “radio,” and everything will be fine.

Here’s how I know Pittman never would have said that:

It’s both stupid…and it’s wrong.

Stupid: If its millions of users think of Pandora as a form of “radio,” then it’s radio.

Conducting campaigns trying to convince Pandora lovers (or advertisers) that Pandora isn’t radio is both futile and…Well, stupid.

Wrong: If you’ve never used Pandora, here’s how it works:

You begin your own “station” by indicating some of the music artists you enjoy. Then Pandora plays a variety of music not only by those artists by also by others who share some important musical traits.

Gradually, with your continual input (approving new songs you like, rejecting new songs you dislike) Pandora refines a playlist that reflects your tastes and interests.

Discovering artists you weren’t familiar with but whose music fits your personal taste is one of the joys of listening to Pandora. Pandora offers variety, surprise, discovery…all in an attempt to play music you like.

If you’ve never used a jukebox, here’s how it works:

You put money in, you select a song, and the jukebox plays the song you selected.

There is no way Bob Pittman could be stupid enough to think that describes the way Pandora works, too.

Almost as an afterthought, it’s claimed that Pittman also declared Pandora can’t establish the “personal” connection to its listeners that “real” local radio stations can.

You know — that distinctively human, determinedly local and unabashedly personal quality for which Clear Channel stations have become synonymous.

Y’know what?

When I hear a radio station play the same music with the same impersonal voices delivering the same bland liners as hundreds of other cookie cutter stations across the country, as a listener I don’t have a “personal” experience with the radio station.

But when Pandora sees that I like The Bobs and therefore decides to introduce me to Da Vinci’s Notebook, whenever I share “Title of The Song” with a friend, I thank Pandora for that personal introduction.

As a consumer, what do you look for in a car dealer?

Go ahead, jot down whatever comes to mind.

Now, the commercial.

Would everyone whose lists includes, “I want the dealer to perform as good as the cars it sells” please say so in the Comment field below?

The opening line of a radio commercial is the commercial for the commercial.

It’s your one chance to grab the attention of the targeted listener.

And “this is your sign”??

You mean the dealership sign that we can’t see, because the commercial is being aired on the radio?

“I tried radio…and it didn’t work.”

The latest issue of my Radio Programming Letter discusses the importance of a radio personality connecting with listeners on a “human” level.

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