January 06, 2012
Netflix Radio Advertisement Critique
As our first blog post of 2012, we've picked up our monthly series of radio advertisement reviews. This month, we've selected a recently aired radio advertisement from Netflix for review. Take a listen to the spot below and read on for our reactions and recommendations for improvement.
SCRIPT
SFX: SUSPENSFUL MUSIC
CUT MUSIC
MALE ANNOUCER: And now for the final round. If absence makes the heart grow fonder, what does presence make?
FEMALE VO: I want to say....crab dip?
SFX: DING!
MALE ANNOUNCER: Correct. Finish this sequence, tree, sky...
FEMALE VO: Transubstantiationalism
MALE ANNOUNCER: Correct.
SFX: DING!
FEMALE VO (UNDER): Oooh, hooo.
MALE ANNOUNCER: What can you watch instantly with Netflix?
FEMALE VO (UNDER): Unlimited TV episodes and movies!
MALE ANNOUNCER: CORRECT!
SFX: CROWD CHEERING
MALE ANNOUNCER 2: Watch unlimited TV episodes and movies, for only eight bucks a month, from Netflix!
Disclaimer: See terms of use.
MALE ANNOUNCER: M-Ma'm...are you crying?
FEMALE VO (UNDER): CRYING - I always cry when I'm happy.
MALE ANNOUNCER: CRYING - That makes two of us.
REACTIONS
There are several aspects of this radio ad that we would modify. We would start by changing the entire opening set up. The opening "game show" set up in this radio advertisement feels off the mark, as far as grabbing attention and engaging listeners. The mock game show questions with off the wall or incongruous answers are an attempt to capture attention using offbeat humor. Humor is common in many non-direct response radio ads (which is to say, radio advertisements where response metrics aren't tracked on any granular level). In the extensive testing we've done over the last twelve years, we've found that humor is notoriously poor at delivering good response metrics. Our hypothesis is that there is no universal "funny" and therefore in mass communication media like radio, you are falling flat to a large portion of the listening audience even if you are in fact hitting the funny bone of some of them. In short, in radio advertisements humor is ineffective, even though you see it used all the time. You will notice that you don't see it in ad campaigns where response metrics are tracked.
As a result of the ineffective open, it takes quite some time to get to the key point or main benefit in this radio ad. In a radio advertisement, as well as any other advertising medium, the opening line(s) is an incredibly important part of the ad, because it's what grabs your audience's attention and compels them to continue listening to your advertisement, rather than follow their immediate inclination to change the channel. An open that is confusing or non-engaging can sabotage the entire radio ad, because there is a significant chance that the listener will switch stations or turn off the radio before your message has a chance to even be heard.
In a radio advertisement, the open has to be so interesting/shocking/surprising/engaging/etc, that listeners don't want to change the dial.
The opening line, along with the entire opening set up of this Netflix radio ad could be edited in a manner that uses a similar creative approach, but in a much more effective manner. For instance, we would replace the opening, arbitrary game show questions with questions that would trigger answers that explain benefits of using Netflix. Instead of asking a random question about nothing related to the product being advertised, we might open with the question of how one could watch their favorite TV shows, instantly, for $8.00 per month. The answer, (of course) would be Netflix - which would then lead into another question that would produce an answer that incorporates even more benefit and/or offer language. In a direct response radio ad, this game show set up could certainly still be incorporated, but in order for it to be effective at driving response, it could be executed in a manner that better promotes the benefits of the service, along with a clear and compelling call to action.
Another item that we could modify in this radio ad is the last fifteen seconds or so of the spot. We would reposition the statement of the deal to be read as a direct offer to radio listeners. Again, making sure the listeners are aware of the "what's in it for me" aspect of the offer. A direct response call to action may be re-written to state: "Visit Netflix.com right now to get instant access to unlimited episodes of your favorite TV shows and movies. That's right- You get INSTANT access to your favorite movies and TV shows through your game console or other devices! PLUS visit Netflix.com today and get all of the TV shows and movies you want, for just eight dollars a month! But hurry, because once this offer is gone, it's gone. The ONLY way to get INSTANT access to unlimited episodes of your favorite TV shows and movies for just EIGHT BUCKS is to visit Netflix.com. That's N-E-T-F-L-I-X dot com". Note that our suggested modified call to action in this radio advertisement does not include any language after the web URL. This is intentional, so as to not have any audio play after the final web URL is heard - therefore the final audio listeners are left with is the website we're asking them to visit.
Even better than the above would be for Netflix to offer a special act now/try now incentive for radio listeners - for example, "try it free for the first month."
Overall, the set up of this Netflix radio advertisement has potential to be compelling in that a "game show" environment could be engaging to radio listeners. However, in a direct response radio ad, it's important to remember that one must not only grab attention, but retain audience attention throughout the radio ad and most importantly, convince radio listeners to take immediate action as a result of your radio advertisement.
October 13, 2011
Will Direct Response Radio Work for Your Business?
As direct response radio professionals, the most candid and helpful answer we can give you to this question is that you will not know until you test using a proven testing process that captures the insights and data and shows you the potential for your campaign. Other than testing, there is no crystal ball that you can look into to know, for certain, whether direct response radio advertising will deliver new customers to your business at a cost that is profitable for your particular business. Anyone who claims to "know" is really saying something else - perhaps that he or she is confident. Now, that's another story. Just like 'hope is not a strategy', confidence is not certainty. Yet it may be the most helpful guide in making your decision about trying direct response radio.
Against that backdrop, there are a few key characteristics of campaigns that have seen success in direct response radio".
The most linear and obvious way to assess the viability of a direct response radio campaign for your business is whether there have been other similar offerings that have seen success through radio advertising. You could think of this as whether the "category" has seen success in direct response radio - i.e. financial services, weight loss, skin care, smoke cessation, intellectual property/learning products, etc. This is an easy enough assessment to make. However, again if you're looking for certainty you won't find it here. You must test. Why? Because while, for example, there have been many wildly successful direct response radio campaigns in the weight loss category, there have also been many failures in that category.
Beyond the category, you can look more specifically at your own offering. The majority of businesses that succeed in direct response radio are those that offer products or services that can claim to provide an immediate benefit or solution to an immediate problem the consumer thinks he or she has. In terms of your business - does the product or service you offer provide a fairly instant solution to a pressing problem? Is the benefit of using your product compelling enough to incite your target audience to act NOW?
Another item for consideration around the benefits of your product is whether your main promise can be expressed in words instead of relying heavily on the visual sense. We will always ask ourselves - can we craft copy that will bring to life the core, relevant benefits - enough to get the listener to engage in a phone call or web visit? After twelve years of doing this we can usually tell with a decent degree of confidence whether that will be possible. An example of what may not work well in direct response radio is the Wuggle Pets product now popular on TV. It may take too long to give words that conceptualize this offering for the listeners. But note the liberal use of "may" here. That's again because you won't know until you test - the way we sell in radio advertising is much different than in tv. Just like the blind man whose other senses are heightened to compensate, the way we would convey in copy and audio the benefits of a product would likely be much different than the way it is done on TV when there is a dominant video assist. Therefore, the approach we would take in creating radio ads for Wuggle Pets, (or any of the other current top TV products like Flexseal, No!No!, MyZone Headphones, etc.) has never been tested for that product before. Writing for radio takes a very sharp pen.
Another item for consideration when pondering whether a direct response radio campaign is right for your business is the type of offers you're able to make to consumers. The offer in your direct response radio ad must be so compelling that listeners feel there is no other option BUT to call. Businesses that work well in direct response radio often are able to offer a 30 or 60 day risk free trial, or an absolutely free trial to listeners. Direct Response Radio works best for businesses that can serve up strong offers that provide minimal risk to listeners. Risk Free and Free trials work well because the give listeners the chance to try a product they very likely haven't even seen yet, without feeling as though they've locked themselves into anything. Other compelling offers for direct response radio include a free report of some sort or free samples of your product. With direct response radio, the offer is incredibly important, as it's often the decision making aspect that turns a listener into a caller (and hopefully a customer).
Something else to think about when considering launching a direct response radio campaign is simply, the nature of your product or service. Are you offering something completely new and unique? Or do you offer a new solution to an existing problem? What promises or claims are new and different about your product that would make it stand out among competitors in the same category? Businesses that find success with direct response radio offer products and/or services that are either completely new or unique or that offer groundbreaking solutions other products in the same category do not. Direct response radio ads must be attention grabbing to get optimal results - not only does the open need to command attention, but the actual claims themselves need to be so impactful (while relevant) that the listening audience has no doubt in their minds about wanting to call.
Direct Response Radio can work across many different industries and businesses. The success of each direct response radio campaign is built upon a unique combination of creative messaging and media strategy. The question of whether or not direct response radio will work for your business is one that can ultimately only be answered by engaging in a well-crafted testing process. However, the above considerations can serve as a starting point for thinking about the degree of confidence you can have in the success for YOUR business with Direct Response Radio Advertising.
October 06, 2011
Best Practices for Working with your Radio Agency
If you're reading this blog post, chances are you're either currently working with a radio advertising agency or you're considering working with a radio advertising agency in the future. We believe that the relationship between a client and a radio agency should be that of a partnership. And in this kind of partnership, both parties are working toward the same goal, which is the client's success. No matter which way you measure it, the success of your campaign is greatly impacted by the quality and nature of the relationship between you and your radio advertising agency. Here are some of what we would say are "best practices" for working with your radio agency that will help you and your radio agency bring to fruition the greatest possible potential of your radio advertising campaign.
Do you NEED an Agency?
Although this seems like a quite obvious question, the answer as to whether or not it serves your best interest to work with a radio advertising agency can be tricky. The question of whether or not the success of your radio advertising efforts would be enhanced by working with an agency should be carefully examined before entering into a relationship with any radio advertising agency. A few questions you should ask yourself: What are the specific goals of my radio advertising campaign? What kind of markets would best help me reach my goals? What kind of advertising budget makes the most sense for my radio campaign, given my target market and goals? If you're running a small, locally based business and you're looking to reach a very local target audience (say within a 10-15 mile radius of your company), working with a national radio advertising agency may not be to your advantage. In the case of small businesses, with a very centralized target base, it's unlikely that working with a national radio advertising agency would be the most efficient way to add radio to your marketing mix. On the other hand, if you own or operate a mid to large sized company, you are willing to commit at least $10K to invest in testing radio advertising, and you can handle the significant volume of new customers that results from the larger scale of radio advertising across national markets, working with a radio advertising agency could be the key to your success in building a profitable radio advertising campaign.
Agency Processes - What to Expect
Once you begin to work with your radio agency, it's likely that you'll notice a certain process is in place to officially launch your campaign. The first step in the process (in just about any advertising agency) will be to complete some form of a Campaign Brief, which is a document that outlines the specific objectives and goals of your radio advertising campaign. It is in this document that you'll express items such as the metrics you'll use to measure the success of your campaign, information about your product and/or service, and insight on your target audience. Both the media team and creative team at your radio agency will use this information to build a successful radio advertising campaign for your business. Many radio advertising agencies have Account Executives on staff, who will act as your main contact throughout your radio advertising campaign. You'll very likely speak with this person immediately after you become partners with your agency, and they will guide you through each step of your campaign. Usually, you'll work first with the creative team to develop radio ads that have potential to drive strong response. In the meantime, you'll be working with the radio media department at your radio agency to develop a strategic media plan for your radio advertising campaign. Once you have made it through the creative and media processes, your radio spot will air. If you're working with a direct response radio advertising agency, your first flight will be viewed as a test - a starting point from which you'll learn which combination of messaging and media placement is the most effective for your product, service or brand. From there (depending on the outcome of your test) you and your radio agency will either decide whether or not to scale your existing campaign (also known as "rolling out"). Alternatively, the decision could be made to continue testing messaging and media variables in order to learn and optimize which combination is best.
Things you should NEVER DO
Lastly, there are certain things as a client that you should avoid while working with your radio agency. Certain actions and/or attitudes can greatly hinder the success of your radio advertising campaign. Recall the beginning of this post, where the relationship between a client and their radio agency is described as a partnership. One of the biggest mistakes you can make is to lack trust in your agency. Very simply, if you don't trust the expertise of a radio advertising agency, do not hire them. If you hire them, trust them. Particularly in direct response radio advertising, the agency has a lot of skin in the game early on. If your campaign does not reach "roll out" status, the agency loses a lot of money. No radio advertising agency is profitable from testing. It is only when campaigns achieve some level of success, measured by size and duration that a radio agency begins to be a viable business.
None of this is meant to imply that you should blindly follow each and every recommendation your radio agency makes. If your radio advertising agency is experienced and knowledgeable, and you feel you've done a thorough job of partnering with them to ensure they fully understand your company, offering and customers, then it is generally in your best interest to follow their advice on creative development and media placement. That is, after all, what your radio agency is there for - to provide you with the best advice and recommendations possible based on their deep and broad experience. There is no personal agenda or motivation to "be right"; rather it is solely the best interest of client success that drives the recommendations of excellent radio advertising agencies.
Keep in mind that your radio advertising agency will typically know the kinds of calls to action that work in your business category. They'll likely know the stations and day parts that would be the most effective for your product and/or service. If your radio agency makes a recommendation that they feel strongly about, such as placing at least 3 phone number mentions in your radio advertisement, it is in your best interest to heed their advice. Another thing you should never do is ignore agency deadlines. Production and Media Buying deadlines are in place so that you get the highest quality radio ads and media clearance as possible. Making a habit out of stretching deadlines, while still shooting for the closest air date can result in less than optimal creative and media.
The above information is just a starter list of important items to keep in mind from the moment you decide to work with a radio advertising agency and throughout your partnership. The most important thing to remember is that as with any partnership, both parties should be working toward the same goal. When working with a radio advertising agency, the ultimate goal for both parties involved should be the success of your radio advertising campaign. Following these best practices will help you and your radio agency not only meet, but exceed your radio advertising goals.
September 30, 2011
Three Tips for Improving Home Depot's Radio Ads
Today's radio advertising post is the first in a new monthly series we're starting in which we review radio advertisements from major companies. We'll be reviewing these radio ads through our direct response radio lens, and we'll be posting feedback as well as making suggestions with what we know works in direct response radio.
The first selection in our series is a recent 30 second spot for Home Depot. Click on the link below to listen to the spot, and read through the transcript to note spot specifics.
Script
MUSIC UNDER
MALE VO: Now at the Home Depot Renew and Redo Bath Event, get a Savannah 24 inch Cognac Vanity and matching mirror. A $249 dollar value, now just $99 bucks. A price that will transform your bathroom and leave room in your budget for even more improvements.
Like new faucets, lighting, and paint. It all starts at the Renew, Redo Bath Event. More saving. More doing. That's the power of the Home Depot.
DISCLAIMER: While Supplies last, US only, see stores for details.
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This Home Depot spot may work fine as part of an overall branding campaign; however, if the intention of this spot was to persuade listeners to take immediate action, i.e. attend the Renew and Redo Bath Event, a well written direct response radio ad would have been more convincing.
Here are three tips from our direct response radio experience that would make this Home Depot radio advertisement more effective:
1. Turn down the Music: In effective direct response radio ads, music is used very sparingly - if it's even used at all. And there is a very specific reason for it - music in a radio ad almost always makes it more difficult to easily understand the words being spoken. At worst the music interferes with hearing whether the sound was an s, f or sh. A t, d or b. Best case it just makes a listener work much harder to understand what's being said. Now, Home Depot uses this music bed across its spots - presumably so people will recognize it's a home depot spot without actually having to listen to the words. Assuming they want to keep the music, we would recommend bringing the volume way down after the first 1-2 seconds.
2. Compel Consumers to take Action: The Home Depot radio ad announces this wonderful savings event, but then fails to directly entice the consumer to take action. The spot takes up valuable time to tell listeners how they can use all of the money they saved. The line we're referencing specifically is, "A price that will transform your bathroom and leave room in your budget for even more improvements." This line is unnecessary because consumers don't need to be told what they can or could possibly do with the extra money left over from their Home Depot savings. In fact, in many cases it is more persuasive to guide consumers into drawing their own conclusions about what benefits will be derived from the benefits expressed in a radio advertisement. In our direct response edit of this radio spot, we would replace this "benefit of a benefit" line with urgency language ("But hurry, because supplies are limited. And this incredible deal won't last long") in order to compel the audience to act NOW.
3. Remove the Jargon: Perhaps the writers of this radio ad can quickly conjure up a mental picture of a Savannah 24 inch Cognac Vanity and matching mirror, but would an average distracted radio listener understand what this product is? Most homeowners are aware of what a bathroom vanity and matching mirror set is - but is the brand name (Savannah) instantly recognizable as high end? Or exclusive? Is the specialized color, "Cognac" something that a person can instantly envision in their upgraded bathroom? In a direct response radio advertisement, it's important to cast a wide net, using language that has a broad appeal. It is also important in any radio ad that the language is extremely clear and language that helps paint a mental picture in a listener's mind. While internal jargon may make perfect sense to a business owner or agency, it can fall flat or be confusing in the ears of radio listeners. Perhaps the space in this radio ad that went towards jargon-ish language would have been better spent on urgency or benefit language.
These are just three of the changes we would make to the Home Depot radio ads. There is much more they could do sharpen their message and point it more precisely at increasing visits to their stores. What we see over and over again in direct response radio advertising is the importance of making your message clear, relevant, and urgent.
September 21, 2011
Effective Radio Ads
Thousands of radio ads are heard over the airwaves every day. If one were to keep track of direct response radio advertisements in particular, it would likely be noticed that some radio ads will air or test for a couple of weeks and never see the light of day again, while other radio ads will roll out to campaigns that can last for a very long time. So what is it that makes some radio ads high performers and others (for lack of a better word) duds? While there is no magic radio advertising formula that guarantees dazzlingly successful radio ads every test, there are certain characteristics that are present among radio ads that are the most effective at driving response.
One aspect that's present in effective radio ads is a compelling solution to a clearly defined problem. Effective radio ads make it very clear right from the beginning of the spot that the product or service being advertised is THE solution to the given problem the target audience has. Radio ads that don't incorporate a clearly defined problem with a strong promise of how the product/service fixes said problem, are far less likely to be effective than radio ads that address the audience directly about the problem they're experiencing and the superior solution the advertised product or services provides.
Another component present in effective radio ads is a clear method by which listeners can respond. Whether a radio advertisement is driving phone calls, web or even foot traffic - the effective ones make it clear to consumers exactly what action from them, as listeners is desired. This is especially true in direct response radio advertising, where the sole purpose of the radio ad is to drive an immediate response. Not only do effective radio ads make it clear how consumers should respond, but the best radio ads also ensure that the audience remembers the mode of response long after the radio advertisement has aired.
A clear promise in relation to a relevant problem to the given target audience, along with a direct, memorable mode of response are certainly not the only pieces that are found in effective radio advertisements - but they are important components that you'll find in all effective radio ads.
Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces that Shape Our Decisions, Dan Ariely
Outliers: The Story of Success, Malcolm Gladwell
Made to Stick, Heath & Heath
The Power of Persuasion, Robert Levine
Influence: Science & Practice, Cialdini
Words That Work, Frank Lutz
My Life in Advertising and Scientific Advertising, Claude C. Hopkins
Or Your Money Back, Alvin Eicoff
Being Direct, Lester Wunderman
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