Posted In: Hidden by
Dan Howard,
August 4, 2014
With the latest Rajar showing radio and commercial radio is in rude health, we’re offering some thoughts on ‘why radio?’
Radio is your friend
Presenters actively cultivate a relationship with listeners, attempting to create a feeling that you are having a one-on-one conversation with the station. A lot of listening is done when people are on their own, and the radio acts as ‘company’ to the drive, chores or working hours. It’s no coincidence that stations love competitions and promotions that offer a local touch. With the growth of social media, radio stations are ever better at creating that bond and leveraging a local feel.
This is powerful for the advertiser as it enables them to join that friendship. Sponsorship and promotions work so well because the advertiser is seen as a friend of a friend! Whilst the regional stations do pursue this approach it is the more local stations that can really position themselves at the heart of the community, which in turn drives that friendship.
Mum versus Man
Due to the vast array of stations available, radio provides an opportunity to target niche sectors and deliver efficiently too audiences, whether you’re looking for Mums or Men (just in case you’re interested, Heart and TalkSport are the best stations, respectively).
For national brands, the variety of stations and audiences reached makes for efficient planning. Classic FM, Planet Rock, Kiss or TalkSport… Targeting is vast and varied, meaning radio is an efficient platform.
School run or late night call in
Whatever your target audience, their media consumption habits vary through the day and week, meaning each media platform is most pertinent at key times of the day. So whether you want to reach parents on the school run or the 55+ late night listener, radio offers a relevant touch-point through the day.
For advertisers, that means efficient delivery of audiences but also means promotions and sponsorships can be targeted and cost efficient; cars should be advertised in drive time, whilst food is best placed during the day.
That bloody jingle…!
Radio offers frequency like no other channel, and the strength of sonic branding (that’s a ‘jingle’ to most people) means a brand can really get under the skin of the listeners. There’s a reason the local carpet shop, PPI claims company or online comparison site jingles are all stuck in your head… They’re meant to be, and that frequency (love it or hate it) is what puts the brand front of mind.
For advertisers, the power of a jingle can change a business. I’ll bet you can name 2 or 3 radio ads… And you can probably sing them. Depending on your brand, the objective and measurements, frequency is key to the performance of a radio campaign.
You can’t close your ears
The RAB (Radio Advertising Bureau) produced a great report on ad avoidance, showing that other than cinema (obvious one really) radio has the lowest level of ad avoidance. In the home and work a station tends to selected and stuck with through the day, and with the average listener listening to the radio For 21 hours a week, that’s a lot of advertising consumption.
For brands, a creative, responsive and relevant advert is required. Stations and brands love to produce commercials for clients as they know what the customer loves and what sounds right on their station.
Radio is THE Multiplier
Millward Brown and RAB have produced several reports over time that show that radio is the best multiplier of any media platform. Specifically when referring to TV, radio acts as the best media multiplier. The ability to further leverage, the sonic branding (not just the jingle, but the voiceover or promotion, catchphrase or tome) of a TV commercial builds the reach and frequency of a television campaign.
For advertisers, cover and frequency is critical to a campaign’s success. Allocating a portion of a TV budget to radio on efficient stations, in efficient day parts, means response will multiply.
Privacy Policy
