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December 29, 2006

Radio Advertising Like You've Never Seen Before

We recently came across one of the most innovative uses of radio advertising we've ever seen.

At Strategic Media, we're all about showing businesses how to use radio advertising to drive demand for their product or service. The goal of this effort is for the business (our clients) to acquire new customers and thereby grow profitably. Radio advertising, and direct response radio advertising in particular, is extremely effective at accomplishing profitable business growth.

Let's take a look at what's really happening during the direct response radio advertising process. Essentially we are effecting a behavioral change through a complex combination of efforts (strategy, messaging, media buying, database-enabled analysis and profitability optimization). That behavioral change (or behavioral outcome) is desire, which leads to consumption - of the product or service being advertised.

It turns out that radio advertising can be effective for other end purposes than that of consumption. An incredibly innovative company called PCI shows us one of these alternatives. PCI has created numerous radio programs that focus on effecting behavioral change of a different kind than we're used to thinking about. Instead of desire->consumption, they focus on behavioral changes that ultimately address the current major global social problems surrounding health, environmental and human rights issues.

"PCI's innovative social change communications programming tackles widely recognized health and educational disparities, connecting the enjoyment of storytelling with information that can and does change and save lives."

We suppose this can be called social marketing (verses direct marketing). Or, even "social direct marketing". We would go so far as to give these efforts the "direct" label because PCI actually measures the outcomes of their marketing efforts much like profit-driven direct response radio advertisers do. In fact, they do one better - they have independent third party researchers evaluate their programs. This from PCI's web site:

"Monitoring research provides ongoing feedback about audience perceptions of a program once it begins airing, enabling creative teams to adjust plot lines and characters as necessary. Evaluation research measures the overall effects of a program on people's knowledge, attitudes, and behavior.

That sounds a lot like our version of "profitability optimization".

PCI programs have been studied by independent, university-based researchers measuring the effects of social content radio and television serial dramas on listeners and viewers. These impact evaluations, which have been published in books and scientific journals, have validated the unique ability of these dramas to pierce the societal and traditional roadblocks that have prevented people from leading more fulfilling lives."

Third party, independent, published research that shows radio is effective in bringing about the toughest kinds of behavioral change. That's pretty convincing evidence of radio's attractiveness as an advertising medium, and it explains why radio advertising is so effective for businesses who want to grow profitably.

To check out some of PCI's radio "advertising" programs, go here.

Here's an article about PCI in the June 6, 2006 New Yorkerthat's worth the read.

Posted by Jeff Small & Brett Astor at 11:20 AM | Permalink