{"id":11829,"date":"2012-01-04T00:17:53","date_gmt":"2012-01-04T08:17:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/?p=11829"},"modified":"2012-01-04T00:17:53","modified_gmt":"2012-01-04T08:17:53","slug":"radio-comedy-commercials","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/2012\/01\/radio-comedy-commercials\/","title":{"rendered":"THE REAL REASON COMEDY COMMERCIALS SUCCEED ON RADIO (When They Do)"},"content":{"rendered":"

First, let me point out that most comedy commercials do not<\/strong> succeed for the radio advertiser.<\/p>\n

Some succeed on a creative level \u2014 that is, they’re funny.<\/p>\n

But the goal of a humorous commercial should not be to make the listener laugh. It should be to cause the targeted listener to act on the sales message.<\/p>\n

The most commonly cited reason for the value of comedy commercials is, “We get their attention by making them laugh, and then we can try to sell them something.”<\/em><\/p>\n

Wrong.<\/p>\n

A second reason \u2014 and I’m quoting one of the principals in a company that specializes in funny radio commercials (not<\/strong> my friend Dick Orkin) \u2014 is that “if your commercial is funny, then it will stand out from all the other commercials that surround it.”<\/em><\/p>\n

That statement would be true if yours were the only humorous spot on the air.<\/p>\n

But these days most commercials do try to be funny.<\/p>\n

So let’s examine the logic:<\/p>\n

Your commercial likely will be surrounded by other commercials that attempt to be funny. So yours will “stand out” by…attempting to be funny?<\/p>\n

The Real Reason Comedy Commercials Succeed<\/strong><\/p>\n

You already know the average consumer is overloaded with commercial messages. The most commonly quoted figure is 3,000 attempts every day to sell that person something.<\/p>\n

We can’t possibly process all those messages. So we automatically filter them, with most never reaching our consciousness and most of the ones that do reach our consciousness immediately being rejected.<\/p>\n

In other words, we go through life with our defenses up, guarding us against unwanted intrusion.<\/p>\n

Now, picture yourself walking late at night down a dimly lit, deserted city street in a strange, unsavory neighborhood.<\/p>\n

You’d be easy prey for a violent criminal.<\/p>\n

But you try to lessen your vulnerability by walking briskly, minimizing the amount of time you’ll be alone on that street.<\/p>\n

And you adopt a physical attitude that you hope looks so self-assured, even menacing, that it will deter any ne’er-do-well from messing with you.<\/p>\n

Maybe you’re clutching a can of pepper spray for self-protection.<\/p>\n

In other words, you’ve got your defenses up. You’re a hair’s breadth from your body’s “fight or flight” response.<\/p>\n

Now….<\/p>\n

Imagine that as you’re walking along that street, suddenly you remember the funniest moment you’ve ever experienced.<\/p>\n

As you recall it, you begin to laugh.<\/p>\n

You’re overcome with laughter. Sides shaking, bent over, laughing.<\/p>\n

The common is phrase is, “Helpless with laughter.”<\/p>\n

At the moment, where are your defenses?<\/p>\n

Gone.<\/p>\n

You’re completely vulnerable.<\/p>\n

You can’t fight or flee.<\/p>\n

The surest, safest way for a mugger to incapacitate a victim would be to make that person hysterical with laughter.<\/p>\n

Fortunately, relatively few muggers read this blog. Otherwise we’d have to enact strict new “Tell A Joke, Go To Jail” laws.<\/p>\n

Back to radio commercials….<\/p>\n

When an advertisement comes on the radio, the listener’s guard is up. Even though my saying this will offend a few radio sales chauvinists, people do not<\/strong> turn on the radio for the commercials.<\/p>\n

Your favorite song is playing on the radio and you give it your full attention, bonding to it once again, probably joining in either vocally or subvocally.<\/p>\n

But when the commercials begin, the protective filters take over. You do not react, “Oh, a commercial! Perhaps it contains valuable, unbiased information which will improve my quality of life!”<\/em><\/p>\n

If the commercial makes you laugh, however, then while you’re laughing your guard is down. Your filter is in the “pause” mode.<\/p>\n

So….Does this mean I advocate “making people laugh and then trying to sell them something”?<\/p>\n

No. (That’s how most advertisers try to do it. It’s a foolish tactic.)<\/p>\n

Instead, I teach professionals to “sell people something while you’re making them laugh.”<\/p>\n

How do you do that?<\/p>\n

By weaving the comedy and the sales message together.<\/p>\n

By creating your spot so that you can’t separate the comedy from the sales message.<\/p>\n

By making it so if the listeners remember the “funny part,” they also automatically remember the sales message.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, most attempted comedy commercials consist of two separate, distinct parts: the comedy and the sales message.<\/p>\n

(to be continued…)<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

First, let me point out that most comedy commercials do not succeed for the radio advertiser. Some succeed on a creative level \u2014 that is, they’re funny. But the goal of a humorous commercial should not be to make the listener laugh. 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