When visiting Italy’s R101 recently, the morning show prevailed upon me to record a promo for them. As I think you’ll see, I pretty much nailed it.
O’Day, Paolo Cavallone, Christiano Militello, Massimo Lopez
Oh, Paolo’s very last word in the video, “Poveretto”?
I’m told it translates roughly to, “That man is a real professional.”
Here’s a coincidence. Last week I wrote at length about the radio legacy of Terry Moss, and I mentioned that at one point he was Editor of a radio prep service I published, Galaxy.
My first editor went on to become a radio legend: Ross Brittain. Best known as one half, along with Scott Shannon, of Z-100/New York’s original Morning Zoo. Now morning host at WOGL/Philadelphia.
At the moment, Ross is in Cancun, Mexico, with a bunch of listeners. I just received an e-mail from him with the message, “My radio career summed up in a quick video clip.” I think you’ll see what he means…
Ross says the video was made by Jason Fifeld — “a professional video guy we bring along to take video and then link to our web site so we have ‘beauty moments’ for listeners to see.”
If you attended today’s Mike McVay teleseminar:
How was it?
What’s the valuable thought/concept/tip you got from it?
Jim McGrath turned me onto this, at radioearth.com, which graciously gave me permission to share it with you here.
The staff and management of DAN O’DAY TALKS ABOUT RADIO neither endorses the actions of this DJ nor the opinions and/or allegations expressed in this audio recording.
This is a feel-good spot for the California Teachers Association. It’s designed to give its members a warm-and-fuzzy feeling. But it does nothing to help those children who deserve a chance to learn.
The kids’ singing is cute. So cute you want to vomit.
The singing is too muddy — a complete waste. The children aren’t to blame; the audio producers are. (Wait, it is possible the producers were at the mercy of a Higher Up With A Brilliant Idea.)
The sound quality is appropriate for a grade school musical performance, where actually understanding the words isn’t crucial to the audience’s enjoyment. But if you don’t understand the lyrics being sung in a commercial, what’s the point?
Musically, it’s terrible. You tell me: Is that melody catchy, or is it tedious? (Is it even a melody?)
David Sanchez, President of the California Teachers Association, probably is a swell guy and a dedicated educator. But he’s not a very good voice performer. So why is he on this spot?
The first announcer tag is fine: A child’s voice clearing stating, “This message was brought to you by the California Teachers Association.”
But whoops, they’ve got to add a slogan: “Because every child deserves a chance to learn.”
Nothing wrong with that slogan. In fact, it’s strong and well crafted.
But the kid who gave the “brought to you by” tag should have continued with the slogan. It’s a single sentence:
“This message was brought to you by the California Teachers Association, because every child deserves a chance to learn.”
Why did they switch to a second kid’s voice?
Well, if this were a school performance, the reason would’ve been to showcase as many of the children as possible — out of fairness and also to limit the number of “Why didn’t my little Johnny get to sing a solo” complaints.
If it were a TV commercial, they would have switched to a second and possibly a third child to visually display diversity. We’d see two genders and, probably, at least two racial or ethnic backgrounds.
But this is a radio commercial. Having two voices in 8 seconds speak in a linear fashion (not engaging in a dialogue) doesn’t make any sense here.
The combined voices at the end, by the way, are used to deliver a second slogan: “Because no child succeeds alone.”
HERE COMES THE CLUE TRAIN: What’s your Core Message — the one thing you want the targeted listener to hear, to understand and to remember? Is it “deserves a chance to learn,” or is it “succeeds alone”?
Answer: Neither. The Core Message is “success at school starts at home.” Jettison the distracting, competing slogans and stick with that core message.
In All The World, I Am Unique.
Seriously, I am.
I’m the only person in the world who, as a result of hearing this commercial, went to the CTA’s website “for tips on how you can help your child in school.” (In case you missed it, that’s what they wanted the listener to do.)
After clicking on far too many links, I found their “7 Tips to Help Your Child Learn.”
I’ll bet I can turn each of these tips into pretty darn good radio com– Oh. Maybe I can’t. Not that there’s anything objectionable about those 7 tips. Well, at least the first five; I fell asleep during “…your children can learn fractions and measurements while you prepare favorite foods together.”
Okay, let’s click on “52 Ways to Help Your Child Learn.” Did they deliberately format those 52 ways in a manner guaranteed to discourage people from reading it, or is that a happy accident?
Oh, but you can download a PDF version. I’ll bet that one is highly readable.
Ah, no. It’s exactly like the HTML version. Go ahead, take a look. Tell the truth: How likely are you to read that thing?
I give up. Nothing on that site — Hey, wait! “99 Ways to Say Very Good.” Maybe….
Oh, yeah. There’s our commercial.
(A DIFFERENT ADULT VOICE FOR EACH ONE OF THESE)
GREAT!
Good!
That’s RIGHT!
GOOD WORK!
I’m very proud of you.
WOW!
I knew you could do it.
TERRIFIC!
Couldn’t have done it better myself.
Nice going.
EXCELLENT!
OUTSTANDING!
That’s it!
FANTASTIC!
Way to go!
Good job, (Child’s Name).
ANNOUNCER: Want to help your children succeed in school? Encourage them, every day. There are so many ways you can say to your child, “Good job!” A message from the California Teachers Association.
Yeah, I changed their Core Message. You got a problem with that?
