An Advertiser’s Guide to Better Radio Advertising

There has recently been dramatic growth in the medium of radio. However, advertisers and agencies too often still use radio for its basic tactical abilities, leaving the emotional power of the medium untapped. This book is a practical guide to understanding and exploiting the true power of radio as the ?brand conversation medium?. Combining theory, listener understanding and practical advice, the authors explore the scale and effectiveness of radio advertising, how the medium communicates, it?s role in emerging brand thinking, and best practice for creating better radio advertising. Overviews, summaries, quotations and checklists are featured throughout, as well as case studies from companies in all sectors including Sainsbury?s, British Airways, Carphone Warehouse, BT and the British Government.

There has recently been dramatic growth in the medium of radio.However, advertisers and agencies too often still use radio for itsbasic tactical abilities, leaving the emotional power of the mediumuntapped. This book is a practical guide to understanding andexploiting the true power of radio as the ?brand conversationmedium?. Combining theory, listener understanding and practicaladvice, the authors explore the scale and effectiveness of radioadvertising, how the medium communicates, it?s role in emergingbrand thinking, and best practice for creating better radioadvertising. Overviews, summaries, quotations and checklists arefeatured throughout, as well as case studies from companies in allsectors including Sainsbury?s, British Airways, Carphone WarehouseBT and the British Government.

Foreword by Jo Kenrick ixHow to use this book xiAcknowledgements xiiiAbout the authors xvSECTION 1 The Case for Change 11 The Scale of the Medium 31.1 The development of commercial radio in the UK 51.2 Measurement and growth of the commercial radio audience 81.3 Who listens to commercial radio? 111.4 Radio's status as an advertising medium 141.5 What does the future hold for commercial radio? 181.6 Summary 252 The 'True' Radio Context 272.1 Why and how people listen 292.2 Radio's media attributes 332.3 How radio communicates 422.4 Effectiveness of the medium 482.5 Summary 513 The Need for a Different Approach 533.1 Why the need for a different approach? 553.2 Why does radio advertising have to be creative? 573.3 Why aren't we better at using radio? 603.4 The challenges and opportunities of the medium 623.5 Summary 65SECTION 2 Harnessing the True Power of Radio 674 What is Advanced Level Creativity? 694.1 Effectiveness is a relative term 714.2 Three common structural problems 724.3 The crucial importance of brand linkage 764.4 Realism vs. shooting for the moon 784.5 Thinking at campaign level 804.6 Summary 805 Best Practice Process for Creating Better Radio 835.1 Providing the optimum radio brief 855.2 Judging good radio ideas 915.3 The art of radio production 1025.4 Branding in sound 1115.5 Summary 1206 Measuring Radio's Effect 1216.1 Defining the research objectives 1236.2 The importance of split samples 1256.3 Where to do the research 1266.4 When to do the research 1286.5 Sample sizes 1296.6 Method and questionnaire 1316.7 Measuring the short-term sales effects of radio 1326.8 Measuring the effect of radio sponsorships and promotions 1346.9 Summary 136SECTION 3 Thinking about Radio as 'New Media' 1397 The New Challenges Facing Brand Communications 1417.1 The evolving consumer context 1437.2 How brand marketing is changing 1467.3 Dialogue, the new brand driver 1487.4 Summary 1528 Radio's Role in Emerging Brand Thinking 1538.1 Radio as a brand conversation medium 1558.2 Harnessing the power of radio for brand conversations 1648.3 New conversational roles for radio 1668.4 Summary 170SECTION 4 The Seven-Step Guide to Better Radio Advertising 1719 The Seven-Step Guide to Better Radio Advertising 173Step 1: Define a clear role for radio 175Step 2: Keep the brief simple 176Step 3: Ask for the team with radio skills 178Step 4: Take care over tone 179Step 5: Use the right judging criteria 181Step 6: Use preproduction 182Step 7: Consider using a director 184Summary 185SECTION 5 Appendices 187Appendix 1 The RAB Bus Research Study 189Appendix 2 Radio Script 191Appendix 3 Online Radio Ads Track Listing (better-radio-advertising.co.uk) 193References 205Index 207