Enhancing Your Advert

Lead Time and Durations

Although it is possible for us to write and produce a radio commercial within a working day we don’t recommend it. We prefer to take a brief, come up with the creative concept and then book the airtime. So, rather than being restricted to a 30” spot time, it gives us the opportunity to come up with a creative strategy which fits the station(s) style and demographic. It may be a higher rotation of short ads for a young, past paced station like XFM and Kiss, or longer considered ads for a more mature audience such as Classic FM and Smooth. We may include top and tails to completely own the ad break or it could be an integrated campaign including airtime, sponsorship, podcasts and web activity, who knows? But the only way we can do this is by getting a great brief and having enough time to work out the solution.

Number of Commercials

Back in the days when the radio was called the wireless, it used to be that one ad on a very low OTH would be a sufficient enough radio campaign. In the present day when there are over 300 stations and many other media fighting for consumer attention this is not enough. So we prefer to come up with a strategic campaign to run over time (if successful, why ever stop?) which can be refreshed or updated as it continues – maybe it’s variations of a theme, cut downs of ads or top and tails.

Voice

Getting the right voiceover to read the script is crucial - from powerful brand voices and acting talent, to celebrities that add more impact. We prefer to use actors where possible as they are great for bringing scripts to life and give extra standout on the radio, especially on local and small stations who regularly use the same voices for commercials.

Celebrity voices can be really effective providing they are credible and fit the brand, we don’t shoehorn them in to a campaign for the sake of it.

Response Mechanisms

Depending on the creative execution we recommend using text or easy web address as a response mechanism. This makes the campaign completely quantifiable as the responses can be measured and correlated to when the ads went out.

Published Music (Chart Music) and Bespoke Music

Music has the ability to communicate huge amounts about a brand without saying a word, and published music or bespoke music can help brands “cut through” in different ways. Published music can create an association to a brand so when the music is heard on it’s own listeners automatically associate it with that brand, or the song/artist itself may have values which fit the brand.

Bespoke Music/Sonic Logo

Bespoke music and sonic logos create a brand identity so that the audience knows exactly who the advertiser is without hearing all of the commercial, they also “stick” with the listener, this can be a very powerful branding tool.

Studio Attendance

Many people are surprised at the processes that actually go into producing a radio commercial. Contrary to some beliefs we don’t record people off the street using a Fisherprice “My First Microphone”, we have brand new studios with the latest equipment and we treat radio production in the same manner you would expect from film or TV. Where possible clients are always welcome to attend the recording of their commercial.

Creative Days

We run creative sessions to talk about each element of the creative process in detail, if you would like to arrange one for your team please contact us.