This audio piece doesn’t resort to cliches and “listen to how sincere we’re trying to be” sentimentality.
The story held my attention from start to finish. So I asked the producer, Mike Andersen of Triple M/Sydney, Australia if I could share it with you.
Self-Attribution Bias is the tendency of many people to credit themselves with their successes and to blame outside influences for their failures.
This term is most frequently found in relation to investing.
When you buy a stock, its value increases, and you sell it for a profit, that’s because you’re a shrewd investor.
But when you buy a stock that goes straight to zero, it’s due to “market conditions” or “economic shifts.”
Radio is filled with program directors who attribute a good ratings book to their own extraordinary programming prowess, leadership abilities, and uncanny knack for staying three steps ahead of the competition.
For those PDs, their good ratings never are partly the result of a slew of great new songs in their format, weak performances by the competition…or, thanks to consolidation, no real format competition at all.
But when the station’s ratings drop, it’s because Management didn’t give Programming a large enough marketing budget or — one of my favorites — it’s a ratings “wobble.” (Funny how they never interpret their successes as statistical anomalies.)
When your station does well, give all the credit — publicly and enthusiastically — to your staff.
When your ratings drop, shoulder the blame.
In my radio advertising workshops, I stress the importance of “showing, not telling” when telling a story within a commercial.
This entire spot is pretty good.
It focuses on the consumer’s experience and names the brand only to tell interested listeners how they can obtain that experience.
But the “showing, not telling” occurs at approximate :25…
A lesser copywriter would have used words to explain what incident had just been avoided. Instead, we “saw” it — each of us seeing a different yet appropriate image.
My only criticism is one I wouldn’t bother to make of a less talented writer’s work:
The phrase “cutting edge” is flat and ineffectual. The copywriter was trying to convey the essence of “cutting edge,” but simply saying those words doesn’t do it.
Why am I so quick to criticize the use of “cutting edge”? Because as a copywriter, I know I would have been tempted to stick with that phrase and hope no one noticed it was weak.
But…
If that’s the price I have to pay to hear a decent radio commercial in a sea of dreck, it’s a price I’m willing to pay.
The latest issue of my Radio Advertising Letter includes a discussion of whether station announcers should voice commercials in the first person (“I”), as well as an eye-opening declaration from one of the all-time copywriting masters.
This posting is for subscribers to add their own comments….
