Last week a new radio program director asked for advice on how to excel at his new position.
My first suggestion was, “Learn all you can.”
Here are two suggestions to keep you on a lifetime learning curve.
Don’t Think You Know Everything There Is To Know.
God save us from people — whether PDs, managers, air talents, or engineers — who think they already know everything about anything.
Really successful people always are looking to improve. They’re always looking for that extra edge.
They know that nobody knows everything there is to know. Not even them.
Don’t Think You Know Everything That’s Worth Knowing.
Even if you’re not one of those jerks who think they know everything there is to know, it’s also important to avoid the trap of thinking you know everything that’s worth knowing.
I remember the day I learned the importance of this principle.
I used to attend a yearly Gift Show here in Los Angeles, looking for cool goodies to get for my PD Grad School attendees.
One year I had planned to go.
But I just didn’t feel like it.
I imagined myself wandering the breadth of the Los Angeles Convention Center, surrounded by endless displays of ceramics and corny novelty items.
I had scheduled the day on my calendar, but I absolutely did not want to go.
Why not?
I couldn’t imagine what they might have that year that I hadn’t already seen. It would be a waste of time.
After much internal debate, finally I forced myself to attend. Even though it couldn’t possibly be worth my time.
I found the coolest seminar gifts there. Some absolutely terrific new goodies for PD Grad School.
What almost prevented me from going, however, was the fact that I couldn’t imagine what I didn’t know.
Remember….
You Don’t Know What You Don’t Know
and
You Can’t Even Imagine What You Don’t Know.
A Southern California auto dealer association spot that isn’t embarrassingly bad? That, actually, is pretty good?
First, the radio commercial….
Let’s get a few criticisms out of the way, so we can move to the part where we enjoy the good stuff in this spot.
Room For Improvement
“Now’s the perfect time to tell you about cars, because you’re in one.” That line is completely unnecessary. Listeners who are, at that moment, in their cars…know they’re in their cars.
“It has all the available luxury amenities.” In real life, no one — no one — ever says “amenities.”
“Hey, Bob! I hear you got a new car. How are the amenities?” — Sorry, that just doesn’t happen.
Praiseworthy
• The voice guy’s delivery. Especially at around :20, where he interrupts his own sentence. (Kudos to the copywriter if that was in the script.)
• The opening line: “Just take a look around you, at the car you’re driving now.” Bam! He’s identified and capture the attention of the target audience.
“But,” someone thinks, “what about the people who aren’t driving a car at that moment?” It doesn’t matter. He’s really talking to people who drive cars they’re no longer especially proud of, who are vulnerable to a “trade that in for something better” appeal…and even if they’re not driving at that moment, they instantly picture themselves driving their unimpressive vehicles.
• “You like the one that you’re cruisin’?” Now that he has the targeted listeners’ attention, he hits them squarely with a challenge. And the people who do like their current cars and have no complaints? He’s not talking to them.
• Hugely popular movies usually have “signature moments.” For THE GODFATHER, it’s the horse’s head under the blankets. For JERRY MacGUIRE, it’s “Show me the money!” This commercial has a signature moment that both resonates with and will be memorable to the targeted listener:
“Does it still do that thing where you can’t tell how much gas is in it…?”
Successful Advertising Intersects Common Human Experience. Next time you hear me say that, that line is what I’m talking about:
The Chevy Cruise (hey, notice the subtle way I’ve given “Cruise” two different meanings here?) isn’t “affordable.” It’s a car that “isn’t gonna break the bank.”
“So if you’re driving around in a Civic (pause…) or a Corolla….wondering why you don’t have those things” — The copywriter identifies the targeted listener even more specifically. Civics and Corollas aren’t belittled; those just don’t have…“those things.”
The VO guy’s emphasis on “things” is excellent; most performers would have stressed “those,” which isn’t what’s being sold. And his pause after “Civic” makes it sound as though he’s making up the dialogue as he goes along.
And the long pause after “wondering why you don’t have all those things”: He’s setting up a mystery…and then solving it for you. The pause draws attention to that one line.
Still, a good radio commercial from a Southern California auto dealers association? No irrelevant, distracting, bad rock music bed underneath it?
Perhaps April Fool’s came early this year….
June, 1997 (continued):
After spending the next day with the folks at Radio Ö3 in Vienna, I raced to the airport for my flight to England.
Not having had time for lunch, I bought a hamburger at the airport.
It was served cold, with no condiments. Not the tastiest burger I’ve ever ingested.
As my plane approached London, I glanced out the window and was transfixed by an endless vista of huge, puffy, white clouds. Absolutely breathtaking.
Bob Hoad had arranged for Southern Radio’s Stuart Woodford to pick me up at Heathrow Airport and drive me to Ockenden Manor in Sussex, where I would be staying (and where the next day’s seminar would be held).
Ockenden Manor
After the advertising seminar, I met individually with a number of Southern Radio’s clients to talk about their ad strategies and brainstorm new campaign ideas.
Next: Searching for good Mexican food in Arkansas.
