People don’t listen to radio ads… they listen to what interests them: Ralph van Dijk #RDE16

Eardrum’s Ralph van Dijk was another of a large contingent of Aussies (and adopted Aussies) sharing knowledge from Down Under at this year’s Radio Days.
 
At the conference, van Dijk suggested that Radio Creatives should try to spot mistakes and weaknesses in actual ad breaks and conceive ways of improving them.
 
Another important factor is the brief that the creative gets from the sales person. “It’s all about the brief,” he said, outlining the important elements that should be in a creative brief:
 

  1. What is the objective of the campaign?
  2. Who are we talking to?
  3. What is their problem/need?
  4. What is the one thing you want to tell them?
  5. Why should they believe you?
  6. How should they feel?
  7. Why should they act now?

 
 
Always assume at the beginning of your creative thinking that nobody cares, then figure out how to make them care. “It’s all about relevant cleverness, your ad just has to be clever enough to stand out from all the other advertising,” he said.
 
“People don’t listen to radio ads… they listen to what interests them.”
 
Other tips include:
 
When you have more than one message, make more than one ad.
 
Encouraging sales teams to take ownership and accountability for how an ad sounds.
 
Everything we do must be part of a big idea, it must have life beyond radio.
 
There is a difference between writing for an advertiser and writing for a listener. Write for listeners to be successful.
 
Radio is cheap to make, but don’t treat it cheaply
 
If radio sales and creatives don’t get it right, the client doesn’t usually blame them, the client blames radio, and that is bad for the whole industry. Van Dijk’s tips may help change that for the benefit of everyone working in radio.
 

 
See our other Radio Days Europe 2016 reports here.

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