This is the kind of junk that some stations use either to:
* Build up a package
or
* Sell every second they can squeeze out of their broadcast time
or
* Both.
The overall impact is what radio promotion wiz Paige Nienaber (when talking about most station remotes) likens to “a mugging”: You’re listening for the music or the traffic report or the news when suddenly something hits you over the head… and then it’s over before you even know what happened.
Reading, Not Selling
It’s delivered in a monotone by someone who simply is reading copy. No offense intended to her. She’s just doing what she’s been told is her job: “Read this.”
Too bad no one told her, “Sell this.” Or even “Communicate this.”
And, of course, being forced to cram so many words into such a small time frame almost always handicaps the voiceover performance.
The Goal of A Commercial’s Opening Line
In any commercial, the opening line should attract the attention of the target audience. That’s even more important in such a brief spot. But this one begins with pure confusion.
There are 3 possible targets for this commercial:
1. Members of Alaska Airlines’ frequent flyer program
2. People who fly those routes. Whichever those routes are. You listened to it once? Okay, you tell me: What routes are they talking about?
“But Dan, that’s not fair! You’re ignoring the value of repetition in a radio campaign.”
Sorry, someone not hearing your commercial 100 times is no more valuable than not hearing it just once.
3. People who fly those routes but are not yet members of Alaska Airlines’ frequent flyer program
Which of the those 3 is the actual target audience? Who knows? Who cares? Beginning a commercial with those words won’t attract anyone’s attention.
Too Much
Too much information. Too many words. Too confusing. Too fast.
Too bad.
This is the kind of crap that trains listeners not to to listen to radio commercials and causes advertisers to say, “I tried radio, and it didn’t work.”
