Currently, the media seems to love publishing news about advertising complaints. In the last few days, 3 complaints have caught my eye.
First up, Waitrose: The squeaky clean supermarket chain suffered it’s first ban over an ad talking about ‘outdoor bred’ pigs. According to Brand Republic, people complained about the TV ads, both of which featured celebrity chef Heston Blumenthal talking to farmers about livestock. Blumenthal appears outdoors with the pigs from the farm and says "In my opinion, some of the best-tasting pork comes from British pigs that have been outdoor bred, just like these porkers from Norfolk".
Complainants argued that the ads misleadingly implied that Waitrose pork came from pigs that spent the duration of their lives outdoors, whereas in reality they were reared indoors.
Waitrose countered that the ads stipulated that the pigs were "outdoor bred", arguing that it was a standard term that had become widely used and that consumers would be able to differentiate its meaning from "outdoor reared".
Then there is a Kodak ad that rival brand HP complained about. Brand Republic said the ads aimed to attract customers by promoting savings on Kodak printer ink.
The press ad proclaimed: "Switch to a Kodak all-in-one printer and you’ll save an average of £75 a year on ink."
But HP argued that the ads were misleading and questioned whether they could be substantiated.
Kodak responded by saying that its claim was based on a number of leading industry studies on home printing and small office printing – its claim was backed up by Clearcast, which vets TV ads before they are aired. But the advertising watchdog ruled in favour of HP on most counts, supporting its argument by concluding that the "1,500 pages" did not represent "a reasonable yearly print volume for most UK inkjet printer users". There were radio adverts too. They were allowed to be broadcast providing the claim was clarified more.
The Independent recently published a story about a radio ad for Ann Summers having "fairly overt sexual references in terms of sound effects". In this case, the Independent says the RACC ‘Blocked’ the ad, so I am wondering if the ad was actually made in the first case. If it was or wasn’t, Anne Summers will be no doubt be enjoying the publicity.
I am often surprised how few people it takes to get something withdrawn from transmission. The Waitrose ad would have been seen by millions of people, yet it took just four complaints to get the ad pulled. Yet this isn’t unusual. Sometimes I look at adjudications on complained-about ads and it’s not very often you see hundreds of people complaining about a single commercial.
So is it a case of do-gooders with too much time on their hands or are they right ? In my view, if something is blatantly wrong or misleading then it should not be broadcast. Having said that, the public are incredibly media savvy. In the ‘Watchdog Age’ we are living in, we have to accept some advertisers will always try and pull the wool over our eyes with puffery. That’s what advertising is and what it always be.
That’s why I’ll always prefer radio to TV. With radio, exaggerated claims are always very detectable. On TV, the real story is hidden with hard-to-see small print such as: ‘Enhanced in post production’, ‘Styled with natural extensions’, ‘141 women agree’. The list goes on.
In the past, I have complained about radio ads that I feel don’t stick to the rules. As a Commercial Producer, I consider that everyone should play on a level field and if someone is trying to get the upper hand by not sticking to the rules, their ad should be examined. But here are a couple of thoughts: The complaints procedure can sometimes take a while to reach it’s decision. That means the ad in question has the ability to run the length of it’s full campaign before being withdrawn from broadcast.
The other thing to consider is the publicity a banned ad can receive. Sometimes banning an ad will actually give it MORE exposure. So what’s the point of withdrawing it in the first place ?
With many brands wanting to get the upper hand during these tough times, they will want to stretch the rules as far as possible. I sincerely believe you don’t need underhand tactics to sell products and services. If the product or service is good in the first place, then it will sell itself.
Friday, 29 October 2010
Wednesday, 20 October 2010
Friday, 1 October 2010
Airforce makes sure world-famous town is full of Christmas Spirit!
Christmas can never come too early for some companies and Calne-based radio commercial and jingle production company, Airforce, is delighted to announce today that they are the official 2010 sponsors of the Wotton Bassett Christmas Trees.
The trees that are erected in the town each year have been hand-picked and felled by Longleat’s Head Forester, Rodney Garton from the 4,500 acres of forest on the stunning Longleat Estate. It is because of this carefully selected procedure that Wotton Bassett receive an abundance of compliments for their Christmas trees and Airforce are privileged to become the sponsor of the two main trees.
Managing Director of Airforce, John Calvert, commented: “Wootton Bassett has the respect of millions of British people and I am thrilled that Airforce has been given the opportunity to sponsor the two mighty Christmas trees that will be positioned in the centre of the town. Our business is only a short distance to Wootton Bassett and I can’t wait to see the trees helping to light up the town during the festive season.”
Sue Doyle, Chair of the Amenities Committee for Wootton Bassett Town Council, commented: “The Christmas trees in the High Street, in place from the beginning of December, are a really important feature of the festive season in Wootton Bassett. We are very pleased to have this new sponsorship of the trees to enable us to continue to decorate the High Street. It all adds to the atmosphere as we all prepare for Christmas.
www.airforce.co.uk
The trees that are erected in the town each year have been hand-picked and felled by Longleat’s Head Forester, Rodney Garton from the 4,500 acres of forest on the stunning Longleat Estate. It is because of this carefully selected procedure that Wotton Bassett receive an abundance of compliments for their Christmas trees and Airforce are privileged to become the sponsor of the two main trees.
Managing Director of Airforce, John Calvert, commented: “Wootton Bassett has the respect of millions of British people and I am thrilled that Airforce has been given the opportunity to sponsor the two mighty Christmas trees that will be positioned in the centre of the town. Our business is only a short distance to Wootton Bassett and I can’t wait to see the trees helping to light up the town during the festive season.”
Sue Doyle, Chair of the Amenities Committee for Wootton Bassett Town Council, commented: “The Christmas trees in the High Street, in place from the beginning of December, are a really important feature of the festive season in Wootton Bassett. We are very pleased to have this new sponsorship of the trees to enable us to continue to decorate the High Street. It all adds to the atmosphere as we all prepare for Christmas.
www.airforce.co.uk
Sunday, 19 September 2010
How much IS an idea worth ?
When you're creating radio adverts, how much is a good idea actually worth ?
If you’re a Commercial Producer, chances are this has happened to you...
Mr Client is a regular advertiser on the radio. For the last year or so, he’s been on the radio with a bog-standard ad which by now really is wearing thin. The station Sales Exec quite rightly says to Mr Client that he really should start investing in more in creative in order to have a stronger brand on air.
Mr Client agrees to a briefing session. It’s highly productive. Mr Client opens up his heart and you discover some Golden Nuggets that you and the Sales Exec never knew.
The meeting ends with everyone feeling positive and incredibly optimistic.
10 days later, you present your Killer Creative Strategy to Mr Client. Mr Client is thrilled. “How Much to get this all made ?” he asks.
You tell him and then...
“£xxxx for THAT ?!” He chokes. “I mean it’s just a few words, a bit of music and a couple of voices, no way. You’ll need to seriously sharpen your pencil.”
Then there’s this scenario....
Ms Client is interested in adopting a completely brand new sound. The briefing session is highly productive and when the idea is presented a week or so later, Ms Client is delighted. You quote the price and she says it needs to be signed off by the MD. The meeting ends and you expect to hear from the client in a day or so.
It all then goes a bit quiet. You call Ms Client and she tells you she still wants to advertise on the radio, but she’s found someone who will do the creative for a lot less.
You put the phone down and the swearing begins.
As Radio Commercial Producers, we’ve all encountered enormously frustrating scenarios when clients love the idea, but don’t appreciate the investment that needs to be made to make everything sound fabulous. So what’s going wrong ?
First, we have to accept there are lots of clients who are just simply timewasters. They love the attention they are getting, but will simply not put their money where their mouths are.
Those people aside, I believe a distinction needs to be made between the value of an idea and the value of executing it. In my belief, the value of the execution will be justified in the value of the idea is clearly justified.
We all have ideas. You don’t need to be a creative person to have ideas. Right now, billions of people are having an idea. And with so many rattling around the place, it could be said they are worth zilch UNLESS the client feels there is some value in it. That means before presenting the idea to the client, there needs to some well crafted preamble. Imagine the moment when top agency man Trevor Beattie presented the fashion Chain French Connection the now notorious ‘FCUK’ idea ? None of us were there, so my assumption of what happened is speculative. But I reckon he didn’t sit there and just hand over a logo and say “Clever eh ? See what we’ve done ? Nudge nudge ?” There would have been a meticulously crafted process in order to 100% justify the concept to French Connection’s chairman Stephen Marks.
In an interview on guardian.co.uk, Beattie is reported to have said "People too often misunderstand branding. This campaign has no logo but it is still branded: branding is in the DNA of what we have done."
I completely get what he means. The whole concept isn’t just about cheekily-constructed 4 letters and that is why it is worth so much.
Who knows what effect the government cuts are going to have on the economy. But no matter how tough it gets, the public will still need to buy beds, cars, TV’s, food, services or whatever. Advertisers will therefore have to understand that in order to touch the hearts of those who do have the money to spend, they’ll have to dig deeper in their pockets. For those of us who are tasked to devise the Big Idea, by golly we’ll need to come up with the perfect justification for the investment.
As I heard one radio sales person say once: “It’s a catchy tune isn’t it ? Yours for £2000”.
Come on, you'll have to try harder than that.
John Calvert. www.airforce.co.uk
If you’re a Commercial Producer, chances are this has happened to you...
Mr Client is a regular advertiser on the radio. For the last year or so, he’s been on the radio with a bog-standard ad which by now really is wearing thin. The station Sales Exec quite rightly says to Mr Client that he really should start investing in more in creative in order to have a stronger brand on air.
Mr Client agrees to a briefing session. It’s highly productive. Mr Client opens up his heart and you discover some Golden Nuggets that you and the Sales Exec never knew.
The meeting ends with everyone feeling positive and incredibly optimistic.
10 days later, you present your Killer Creative Strategy to Mr Client. Mr Client is thrilled. “How Much to get this all made ?” he asks.
You tell him and then...
“£xxxx for THAT ?!” He chokes. “I mean it’s just a few words, a bit of music and a couple of voices, no way. You’ll need to seriously sharpen your pencil.”
Then there’s this scenario....
Ms Client is interested in adopting a completely brand new sound. The briefing session is highly productive and when the idea is presented a week or so later, Ms Client is delighted. You quote the price and she says it needs to be signed off by the MD. The meeting ends and you expect to hear from the client in a day or so.
It all then goes a bit quiet. You call Ms Client and she tells you she still wants to advertise on the radio, but she’s found someone who will do the creative for a lot less.
You put the phone down and the swearing begins.
As Radio Commercial Producers, we’ve all encountered enormously frustrating scenarios when clients love the idea, but don’t appreciate the investment that needs to be made to make everything sound fabulous. So what’s going wrong ?
First, we have to accept there are lots of clients who are just simply timewasters. They love the attention they are getting, but will simply not put their money where their mouths are.
Those people aside, I believe a distinction needs to be made between the value of an idea and the value of executing it. In my belief, the value of the execution will be justified in the value of the idea is clearly justified.
We all have ideas. You don’t need to be a creative person to have ideas. Right now, billions of people are having an idea. And with so many rattling around the place, it could be said they are worth zilch UNLESS the client feels there is some value in it. That means before presenting the idea to the client, there needs to some well crafted preamble. Imagine the moment when top agency man Trevor Beattie presented the fashion Chain French Connection the now notorious ‘FCUK’ idea ? None of us were there, so my assumption of what happened is speculative. But I reckon he didn’t sit there and just hand over a logo and say “Clever eh ? See what we’ve done ? Nudge nudge ?” There would have been a meticulously crafted process in order to 100% justify the concept to French Connection’s chairman Stephen Marks.
In an interview on guardian.co.uk, Beattie is reported to have said "People too often misunderstand branding. This campaign has no logo but it is still branded: branding is in the DNA of what we have done."
I completely get what he means. The whole concept isn’t just about cheekily-constructed 4 letters and that is why it is worth so much.
Who knows what effect the government cuts are going to have on the economy. But no matter how tough it gets, the public will still need to buy beds, cars, TV’s, food, services or whatever. Advertisers will therefore have to understand that in order to touch the hearts of those who do have the money to spend, they’ll have to dig deeper in their pockets. For those of us who are tasked to devise the Big Idea, by golly we’ll need to come up with the perfect justification for the investment.
As I heard one radio sales person say once: “It’s a catchy tune isn’t it ? Yours for £2000”.
Come on, you'll have to try harder than that.
John Calvert. www.airforce.co.uk
Friday, 20 August 2010
Get noticed ! Rebrand !
The amount of mileage I’m doing at the moment has been pretty high. I can’t complain, mileage means someone is wanting to see me about making them some radio commercials !
On my journeys, there’s one thing I have noticed: An apparent increase in the amount of delivery lorries with the name ‘Wilkinson’ written on them. In recent times, Wilkinson has been going through a significant rebranding process. Gone are the sharp italicised fonts and in are softer more curved ‘homely-shaped’ contemporary letters. The same goes with their lorries: Huge, fun and incredibly colourful photographs now adorn the vehicles.
So is it because there are more lorries on the road or is it because the rebrand has just drawn my attention to something that has always been there ? I have to assume the latter. To be honest, Wilkinsons has never been a favoured shopping destination for me, but the new look isn’t half helping to change my perception of the brand.
This new awareness of an existing brand has co-incidentally occurred at the same time when two rebrand briefs landed on my desk. In both cases, both the clients involved are simply getting bored with their on-air image.
“We’re like wallpaper” one of the clients told me. “Sticking with the same sound for all these years initially gave us consistency, but now we’ve got a lot of catching up to do simply because we failed to evolve. People just don’t ‘see’ us anymore”.
The other client told me “We’ve lost our way. Our press looks good, our poster advertising looks good, but our radio: Ugh. We’re throwing all kinds of ideas at the wall to see what sticks. And so far, nothing is.”
When clients get bored with their image, they’ll get bored with their advertising. The less inspirational their advertising gets, the less they’ll spend on it. Which is bad news for everyone concerned. My thought is that we should do as much as we can to not let our clients get bored with what they have. This week, I’m having a catch-up meeting with a client whom I have had for about 3 years. The client hasn’t asked for it, neither is he expecting it, but I will be bringing some new ideas along to re-energise and put a new perspective to the format we are currently using. My hunch is that the idea will be a tads too brave for the client and much of the material won’t be used. But that doesn’t concern me. What it will do is start the thought process well before the sound gets too tired and the client has to invest significant sums to catch up.
Another thing I saw on my travels this week: On the M3, I spotted a car emblazoned with the sign: “Earn at least £3000 a week by working from home. The proven way to gain great wealth by running your own business”.
I would have had more faith in the sign if it wasn’t emblazoned on an X-reg Peugeot.
Complete proof that a strong advertising message will be completely ruined if the environment it is placed on is completely contradictory.
John Calvert. Airforce. www.airforce.co.uk
On my journeys, there’s one thing I have noticed: An apparent increase in the amount of delivery lorries with the name ‘Wilkinson’ written on them. In recent times, Wilkinson has been going through a significant rebranding process. Gone are the sharp italicised fonts and in are softer more curved ‘homely-shaped’ contemporary letters. The same goes with their lorries: Huge, fun and incredibly colourful photographs now adorn the vehicles.
So is it because there are more lorries on the road or is it because the rebrand has just drawn my attention to something that has always been there ? I have to assume the latter. To be honest, Wilkinsons has never been a favoured shopping destination for me, but the new look isn’t half helping to change my perception of the brand.
This new awareness of an existing brand has co-incidentally occurred at the same time when two rebrand briefs landed on my desk. In both cases, both the clients involved are simply getting bored with their on-air image.
“We’re like wallpaper” one of the clients told me. “Sticking with the same sound for all these years initially gave us consistency, but now we’ve got a lot of catching up to do simply because we failed to evolve. People just don’t ‘see’ us anymore”.
The other client told me “We’ve lost our way. Our press looks good, our poster advertising looks good, but our radio: Ugh. We’re throwing all kinds of ideas at the wall to see what sticks. And so far, nothing is.”
When clients get bored with their image, they’ll get bored with their advertising. The less inspirational their advertising gets, the less they’ll spend on it. Which is bad news for everyone concerned. My thought is that we should do as much as we can to not let our clients get bored with what they have. This week, I’m having a catch-up meeting with a client whom I have had for about 3 years. The client hasn’t asked for it, neither is he expecting it, but I will be bringing some new ideas along to re-energise and put a new perspective to the format we are currently using. My hunch is that the idea will be a tads too brave for the client and much of the material won’t be used. But that doesn’t concern me. What it will do is start the thought process well before the sound gets too tired and the client has to invest significant sums to catch up.
Another thing I saw on my travels this week: On the M3, I spotted a car emblazoned with the sign: “Earn at least £3000 a week by working from home. The proven way to gain great wealth by running your own business”.
I would have had more faith in the sign if it wasn’t emblazoned on an X-reg Peugeot.
Complete proof that a strong advertising message will be completely ruined if the environment it is placed on is completely contradictory.
John Calvert. Airforce. www.airforce.co.uk
Tuesday, 3 August 2010
Trust the experts....PLEASE !
Every Commercial Producer has a client that won’t listen to your recommendations.
You know who yours is: That client who thinks they know more about radio advertising than you do....
That client who thinks the audience WILL remember his 2 phone numbers....
That client who thinks the more annoying the commercial, the better results he’ll get.
That client who believes that filling an ad with wall-to-wall words makes his advertising spend go further.
Last week was a great week for Airforce. We made some great stuff and the clients were all happy. Then came the cloud on the horizon. My ‘Won’t Listen’ client rang me and asked for a last-minute ad to promote a sale. The script was duly drafted, approved and recorded.
Knowing the client likes a bit of passion in his ads, the voice cranked himself up and delivered an enthusiastic read.
10 minutes later, the client rang and said “The ad isn’t selly enough. I need the voice to really shout the offers”.
“Shout ?” I asked.
“Yeah, I want to make sure people really hear this”.
I pointed out to the client that the louder you are, the quieter you’ll be.
“I don’t get it”. Said the client.
I explained that people hate being shouted at. If an ad is perceptively louder because of raised voices or over-processing in the final mix, listeners will actually turn down the radio in order for their ears to distance themselves from the audio.
“Well...Could it be done in a way that makes it loud, but people won’t turn it
down ?” He asked.
Give me strength. Radio advertising isn’t exactly a new medium. You’d think that many advertisers would have got to grips with it’s strengths and weaknesses by now.
And let’s not forget advertisers are listeners too. Aren’t they put off by all the crap stuff ? They probably are, but they probably believe that their loud and/or irritating ads are somehow more interesting and therefore the audience will be happier to listen to them.
So how do we help these people see the light ? I’ve often thought that a few fun station promos would help. I remember many years ago, Capital found itself broadcasting a large number of client-read ads. (For those of us who are old enough, remember the Freddie Barrett Liquor Store ads ?) So they created a promo focussing on how dire advertisers could sound if they didn’t employ professional voices. It was funny to listen to if you weren’t involved in the radio business, but it also made advertisers incredibly aware of how stupid they would sound if they voiced their own ads.
We all know that in order to create a belief, all you need to do is tell someone something lots of times. Radio stations can help themselves by broadcasting fun yet informative promos that outline what makes a great radio ad. Over time, not only will they promote the benefits of radio advertising as a whole, but they could make advertisers who insist on misbehaving on air feel very silly indeed.
John Calvert. www.airforce.co.uk
You know who yours is: That client who thinks they know more about radio advertising than you do....
That client who thinks the audience WILL remember his 2 phone numbers....
That client who thinks the more annoying the commercial, the better results he’ll get.
That client who believes that filling an ad with wall-to-wall words makes his advertising spend go further.
Last week was a great week for Airforce. We made some great stuff and the clients were all happy. Then came the cloud on the horizon. My ‘Won’t Listen’ client rang me and asked for a last-minute ad to promote a sale. The script was duly drafted, approved and recorded.
Knowing the client likes a bit of passion in his ads, the voice cranked himself up and delivered an enthusiastic read.
10 minutes later, the client rang and said “The ad isn’t selly enough. I need the voice to really shout the offers”.
“Shout ?” I asked.
“Yeah, I want to make sure people really hear this”.
I pointed out to the client that the louder you are, the quieter you’ll be.
“I don’t get it”. Said the client.
I explained that people hate being shouted at. If an ad is perceptively louder because of raised voices or over-processing in the final mix, listeners will actually turn down the radio in order for their ears to distance themselves from the audio.
“Well...Could it be done in a way that makes it loud, but people won’t turn it
down ?” He asked.
Give me strength. Radio advertising isn’t exactly a new medium. You’d think that many advertisers would have got to grips with it’s strengths and weaknesses by now.
And let’s not forget advertisers are listeners too. Aren’t they put off by all the crap stuff ? They probably are, but they probably believe that their loud and/or irritating ads are somehow more interesting and therefore the audience will be happier to listen to them.
So how do we help these people see the light ? I’ve often thought that a few fun station promos would help. I remember many years ago, Capital found itself broadcasting a large number of client-read ads. (For those of us who are old enough, remember the Freddie Barrett Liquor Store ads ?) So they created a promo focussing on how dire advertisers could sound if they didn’t employ professional voices. It was funny to listen to if you weren’t involved in the radio business, but it also made advertisers incredibly aware of how stupid they would sound if they voiced their own ads.
We all know that in order to create a belief, all you need to do is tell someone something lots of times. Radio stations can help themselves by broadcasting fun yet informative promos that outline what makes a great radio ad. Over time, not only will they promote the benefits of radio advertising as a whole, but they could make advertisers who insist on misbehaving on air feel very silly indeed.
John Calvert. www.airforce.co.uk
Thursday, 8 July 2010
How long will you decide to stay in the industry ?
Firstly, many thanks to Paul Easton’s Facebook update for directing me to a small article on Media UK. It caught my eye because it was about why certain people in the radio industry choose to leave it to work in a completely different industry.
In the Commercial Production arm of radio, the exodus has been massive. Scriptwriters and producers have left in their droves to join radio stations in America, South Africa and Australia. Many have joined advertising agencies, have set up their own production companies, become voice artists or sadly decided to leave the industry altogether to become amongst other things Postmen, Landlords, TV Directors, Aeroplane Managers, Web Site Designers and even Vicars.
I had worked in Commercial Radio for about 13 years when I decided to leave to work for an independent production company. In the latter years of my time in radio, I had the feeling that I couldn’t actually go any further in Commercial Production. This was at the beginning of the period of the big station mergers. With the implementation of a new MD at my station, the attitude towards Com Prod changed. Like many stations, finance managers started wondering whether they actually needed a Commercial Production department. This was when I decided it was time to look elsewhere. Alan Bell (another highly-talented radio sales professional and creative person who left radio to set up Airforce and other companies) invited me to leave radio and work for Airforce.
A few years later, I acquired the company and luckily, monotony hasn’t loomed it’s ugly head and I still feel as excited as I was on my first day of joining Airforce.
In commercial radio however, I still hear stories from a few highly-talented individuals that they are not happy bunnies. Many join stations as Commercial Producers, but as time evolves and the stations go from owner to owner they are given tasks that have nothing to do with making great radio ads.
I am not saying we should mollycoddle Commercial Producers or indeed anyone else in the radio industry and give them the freedom to do anything they want. There has to be structure. But I wonder what radio would be like today if all those talented people who left to pursue other careers hadn’t left.
Would the girl who became a vicar be a major source of inspiration to a station’s
advertisers ?
Would the guy who became a TV Director be one of the most in-demand producers in the country ?
Would the man who became the Landlord be a great manager ?
Would the person who became the Aeroplane Manager be able to take his clients to new heights ?
Forgive me for the naff pun on the last one there. But I hope you get the point. The Commercial Production industry is losing too many great people to other professions.
I would love to talk to all those who have left and find out what it was that made them decide to leave. What was it that made them think “I want out” ?
Hunch tells me it would be one word: ‘Frustration.’ Commercial Producers are slightly different. Making radio ads isn’t enough. To keep a Commercial Producer happy, motivated and inspired it means feeding them with great briefs. And let’s face it, with the regular selling of radio advertising packages that provide clients with a bog-standard commercial as part of the deal, that is not going to encourage a Proddie to stick around for the long term.
In the Commercial Production arm of radio, the exodus has been massive. Scriptwriters and producers have left in their droves to join radio stations in America, South Africa and Australia. Many have joined advertising agencies, have set up their own production companies, become voice artists or sadly decided to leave the industry altogether to become amongst other things Postmen, Landlords, TV Directors, Aeroplane Managers, Web Site Designers and even Vicars.
I had worked in Commercial Radio for about 13 years when I decided to leave to work for an independent production company. In the latter years of my time in radio, I had the feeling that I couldn’t actually go any further in Commercial Production. This was at the beginning of the period of the big station mergers. With the implementation of a new MD at my station, the attitude towards Com Prod changed. Like many stations, finance managers started wondering whether they actually needed a Commercial Production department. This was when I decided it was time to look elsewhere. Alan Bell (another highly-talented radio sales professional and creative person who left radio to set up Airforce and other companies) invited me to leave radio and work for Airforce.
A few years later, I acquired the company and luckily, monotony hasn’t loomed it’s ugly head and I still feel as excited as I was on my first day of joining Airforce.
In commercial radio however, I still hear stories from a few highly-talented individuals that they are not happy bunnies. Many join stations as Commercial Producers, but as time evolves and the stations go from owner to owner they are given tasks that have nothing to do with making great radio ads.
I am not saying we should mollycoddle Commercial Producers or indeed anyone else in the radio industry and give them the freedom to do anything they want. There has to be structure. But I wonder what radio would be like today if all those talented people who left to pursue other careers hadn’t left.
Would the girl who became a vicar be a major source of inspiration to a station’s
advertisers ?
Would the guy who became a TV Director be one of the most in-demand producers in the country ?
Would the man who became the Landlord be a great manager ?
Would the person who became the Aeroplane Manager be able to take his clients to new heights ?
Forgive me for the naff pun on the last one there. But I hope you get the point. The Commercial Production industry is losing too many great people to other professions.
I would love to talk to all those who have left and find out what it was that made them decide to leave. What was it that made them think “I want out” ?
Hunch tells me it would be one word: ‘Frustration.’ Commercial Producers are slightly different. Making radio ads isn’t enough. To keep a Commercial Producer happy, motivated and inspired it means feeding them with great briefs. And let’s face it, with the regular selling of radio advertising packages that provide clients with a bog-standard commercial as part of the deal, that is not going to encourage a Proddie to stick around for the long term.
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