DAN O’DAY TALKS ABOUT RADIO

This is a copy of a print ad for Ireland’s iRadio 102-104FM.

"When you play great music back to back someone's going to get hurt."

Some people have found it offensive. Others thought it was confusing. And still others liked it.

For an ad targeting new or existing listeners to a radio station, there are only two questions that matter:

1. Will the campaign attract more listeners?

2. Will the campaign strengthen the bond between the radio station and its existing listener base?

Lack of clarity is the death of any advertising campaign.

When I first saw this ad, the juxtaposition of “Culture Club” and “The Village People” with those bloody images instantly communicated to me that iRadio hates that kind of music and that the bodies represent members of those two musical groups.

Then, upon reflection, I concluded the ad was trying to communicate the opposite — that that’s the kind of music iRadio plays.

Then I looked at the ad a third time, noticed the headdress alongside an apparently headless body, and realized my original reaction probably was correct:

The message of this ad is, “This radio station doesn’t play that kind of music.”

If the goal of the campaign is to strengthen the bond between the radio station and its existing listener base, it might well succeed. If the station has valid research informing them that their core audience — their “P1s” — abhor Culture Club and The Village People, the image that shocks — and no doubt offends — others might indeed appeal to the targeted radio listener.

But if it’s to attract new listeners, here’s a clue to the strategists behind this campaign: You don’t attract listeners to a radio station by telling the world what you don’t play.

iRadio doesn’t play Culture Club or The Village People? Neither does any country music station, classical music station, New Rock station, Christian music station, jazz station, Schlager music station, polka station — Well, the list of stations that do play those two musical groups is far shorter than the list of the ones that don’t.

An ad that tells people what kind of music a radio station doesn’t play is like a restaurant with a huge sign on its roof that declares, “We don’t serve any of these foods. Come on in!” People don’t patronize a restaurant based upon what it doesn’t serve. What attracts diners is the food the restaurant does serve.

This particular ad lacks both clarity and a viable strategy.

While listening to the radio here in Los Angeles, the station played “All Along The Watchtower” by Bob Dylan, and when it was over the host said:

“That’s ‘All Along the Watchtower’ by the great Bob Dylan. That song was made famous by Jimi Hendrix, but I think Bob Dylan wrote that originally.”

And no, that wasn’t a student radio station.

So:

He didn’t know if Bob Dylan wrote it.

And I don’t quite understand “wrote it originally” — suggesting that Bob Dylan wrote it and then later someone else wrote it, too.

When I go into a computer store and the salesperson knows less about computers than I do, it doesn’t encourage me to buy from that store.

When a listener to a music radio station knows more about the music than the host, that listener does not bond more closely to that radio station.

I’m just sayin’….

If you’re a voice actor, voiceover performer, voice artist…

…you just possibly might be interested in a nearly 3-hour audio seminar by Nancy Wolfson on Voice Acting For Advertising.

Here’s a little video sample.

For the new few days, everyone who downloads the audio seminar also will be eligible to contribute follow-up questions for me to ask Nancy in a follow-up interview.

Whether or not your question turns out to be one of the chosen ones, you’ll automatically be sent the mp3 recording of that follow-up interview, too.

Oh, great. Another of those inane, “It’s impossible to show you this on the radio” commercials.

Yes, they do say “a picture’s worth a thousand words.” But nobody told this guy you don’t need a whole lot of talent to use a few words to paint a vivid picture on the radio.

He could have said, “Hey, have you seen that gorgeous, limited edition Italian Vacation calendar? January features a color photo of me, holding up the Leaning Tower of Pisa with my pinky. February’s photo is of me, just as I hit the water after my girlfriend pushed me out of a gondola in Venice…”

But no, it’s so much smarter to-talk-so-fast-that-no-radio-listener-can-or-will-want-to-understand-you-but-if-they-could-they-would-hear-some-jerk-unsuccessfuly-trying-to-be-funny.

Oh, and if the “best” thing you can say about creating your own, one-of-a-kind Kodak calendar is “it’ll be ready before you’re done shopping,” perhaps it isn’t worth advertising in the first place.