Are your radio commercials getting a fair play ?

Many thanks for the great interest in my short guide ‘The 11 Most Common Mistakes Made in Radio Adverts’. As recently posted in the Airforce blog

The fact is that just because there’s a recession on, it doesn’t mean the core principals of radio advertising should be ignored. In fact, more than ever, radio advertising campaigns should be planned with meticulous detail. Even down to the scheduling.

Scheduling. Now there’s something that I haven’t spoken about for a while. In this context, I am not referring to day-parts and the like. I am referring to the tone and texture of a commercial break. I have always had the feeling that many ad breaks inadvertently let a station and it’s advertisers down.

A Programme Controller will be very much aware of how much better a station sounds when songs are scheduled in a certain way. For example, in ‘normal’ programming it may not be a good idea to put a number of dance songs together. For other stations, that’s a great idea. But whatever the format, a PC will always ensure that the sequence of songs flows smoothly and logically.

I am wondering how much attention is made to the actual commercial breaks themselves ? On regular occasions, I hear radio advert breaks that can be simply described as ‘lumpy’. A bit like driving a car with an iffy gear box: Irregular momentum and no smooth transition from one gear to another.

In addition I often hear ad breaks that just feature solo-speaking voices. Because many stations broadcast commercials so tightly together, it’s sometimes hard to distinguish when one solo-speaking ad has finished and when the next one has started. The final effect therefore is one long confusing message that the human brain just can’t cope with.

Then there are product, offer and brand clashes. Breaks that feature more than one furniture store or home improvement company. Breaks that feature more than one 0% interest free credit offer. Breaks that feature more than one public service message. The list goes on. Of course there are times when clashes are unavoidable, but at all times, attention should be given to exclusivity. Exclusivity in a break instantly gives the advertiser a brighter light to stand under, so giving them a better chance to lead the listener’s mind in the direction we want it to go. 2 similar products, services, propositions or brands in a break simply dilutes the impact of all the ads and confuses the listener.

Yonks ago, I worked with a brilliant Traffic Manager called Brian Lee. Although his scheduling system was completely computerised, he still took the time to ‘listen’ to ed breaks just to check the commercials sounded good together. If there was too much or too little contrast, Brian would shift things around. In certain commercial breaks before the top-of-the-hour news ident, Brian would end the break with an ad that wouldn’t have any topicality clash with the news or ensure that no ad would undermine the importance of the news. At times when a break featured a mix of good and bad ads, Brian would schedule them in a way that didn’t undermine the prestige of radio advertising. The list went on.

No matter how sophisticated commercial break scheduling software can be, nothing, but nothing beats a Human Being lending an ear to the break before it is transmitted. Successful radio advertising isn’t just about how good the ad is and where it is scheduled it’s also about how it’s broadcast.

John Calvert is Managing Director of Airforce. One of the UK's most prominent creators of radio commercials and radio adverts. For free stuff, visit the website at www.airforce.co.uk

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