European Radio consultant Palle Bo says radio advertising can be “so much better with so little effort.” Palle, of consultancy company Radio Guru, outlines his approach in this exclusive article for radioinfo based on his conference presentation.
Imagine you’re sitting in your car one morning on the way to work. When
you stop at a red light someone taps on your window, asking for a ride. He
looks fairly decent so you let him in and he takes the seat next to you.
You’re really not that interested in talking to him. Mostly you’re thinking
about the meeting you’re having with a client in an hour, and the
argument you just had with your wife.
Then the guy next to you takes a
deep breath and says with an inhuman commercial voice:
“Live music, cool beers and happy, happy people. It’s party time every
Friday and Saturday night at the Alphabet Bar, Lupin Street 47.”
How would you react? Would you ask him to shut up, or would you be
interested in hearing what he has to say next? Personally I would kindly ask
him to keep it quiet, and if he keeps going, ask him to get out of my car.
What would you accept him saying? I would accept that he would entertain
me, tell me a story or give me an advice based on my needs.
How would I like him to talk? Well, first of all, I would expect him to talk like
a real human being, and not with the kind of language you only hear in radio
advertising. In fact, I would be quite surprised if he talked to me with that
strange voice. I would consider it rude, and probably ask him why he is
talking to me in that idiotic way.
Radio advertising should be the same, because radio is also a one-to-one
conversation. In order for me to listen to a radio commercial, it should
entertain me, engage me or tell me something I don’t know, something of
use to me, based on my needs and wants. Because frankly, I don’t care
about the advertiser. And the voice in the commercial should be credible
and friendly.
This is all so simple and basic, but why do we still hear spots in which an
annoying commercial voice is talking on and on about the product or the
service they want to sell?
Could it be that we’re too busy to come up with creative ideas? Could it be
(on the local level) that we make the excuse that our clients can’t afford the
good actors, so why bother? Could it be that we let the clients bully us to
make the commercial their way at the risk of loosing the order? Or could it
be that we’ve been lead to believe that this is the way a radio commercial
should be. ‘The clients are happy so why do it any other way?’
The sad thing is that we’re robbing radio of its potential and magic, and
we’re creating advertisers who say ‘I tried radio and it didn’t work.’
But the good news is that the ability to create good radio advertising is not
something you’re born with. It can be taught. We can do so
much better with so little effort!
Palle Bo is the founder and owner of RADIOGURU, a consulting company for
radio stations wanting to improve their commercials, imaging and
programming. He does lectures and workshops for advertisers and agencies
and radio advertising production. He has worked 25+ years in the industry. He
started out as morning host and went on to work as sales manager,
copywriter, producer, director, and finally group PD and managing director,
before founding RADIOGURU. He is a co-owner of eight local radio stations and
a weekly newspaper in Europe.