Here’s another in my series of brief yet relevant radio job descriptions.
The job description for a Radio Production Director:
To create and maintain the highest possible quality on-air product that simultaneously sells or promotes and captivates our audience’s attention, interest & imagination.
The worst thing that ever happened to the radio advertising industry occurred sometime in the last century when some well-meaning person foolishly labelled the department in charge of crafting radio commercials as “Creative.”
Today, being “creative” is the goal of most people who produce radio advertising.
They even give awards for the “most creative” commercials.
This is the first thing you must understand:
Radio advertising is not a creative exercise. It’s mass salesmanship.
The goal of a commercial is not to “be creative;” it is to sell.
“Creativity” should never be your goal.
Creativity is a means to an end.
People who make their livings by harnessing their creativity never wake up in the morning thinking, “I really want to be creative today!”
Instead, they wake up with a problem they need to solve:
The novelist wants to make the middle chapters move more quickly.
The playwright is having trouble making the third act work.
The architect is puzzling over how to achieve the client’s goals with the limited amount of available space.
The goal of a radio commercial should be to move the targeted consumer to action….not to prove to the world how creative you are.
Another in my series of brief yet relevant radio job descriptions….
The job description for a Radio Promotion Director:
To win as many new friends as possible for this radio station and to maintain and enhance our relationships with our existing friends…
…usually while also making money for the radio station.
What Most People Think of When They Think "Internet"?
When do you use an analogy?
When you want to communicate a concept that might otherwise be foreign to the other person.
The commercial:
The Incredibly Obvious Point:
No one in the target audience (i.e., Internet users) has any trouble grasping the concept of “unlimited Internet usage.”
Therefore, there is no need for an analogy to communicate the concept.
Successful Radio Advertising Intersects Common Human Behavior And Experience.
With apologies to our many friends in Argentina and in Uruguay (and to Robert Duvall), “Tango dancing” does not intersect the lives of most American radio listeners.
Most Americans never competed in a “Tango dance-off.” In fact, most Americans have pretty much no interest in Tango.
Advertising Doesn’t Get Much More Stupid Than This:
“Tango dancing doesn’t have limits; getting the Internet should be like tango dancing.”
Uh, yeah. Sure. Makes perfect sense.
As much sense as:
“You can’t dance the Tango without music; you shouldn’t be able to get the Internet without music.”
“You can’t dance the Tango without a partner; you shouldn’t be able to get the Internet without a partner.”
“Robert Duvall loves Tango; Robert Duvall should like getting the Internet.”
The Only Slightly More Subtle Point:
In a radio commercial, the picture you paint in the listener’s mind is what the listener will remember.
This inane advertisement for CLEAR paints the picture of…Some guy with a cliched accent, not dancing the Tango.
