Write Great Commercials. Here's How

5-20-14

We've been hearing it a lot lately. Radio runs too many awful commercials and it could be costing us money. And, as Marketing Evolution CEO Rex Briggs pointed out LAST WEEK, great creative moves product, which means great creative should bring you more revenue. If there's even the slightest chance, writing and producing better sounding spots gives an advertiser a better chance to succeed and gives radio a better chance to increase revenue, why isn't this changing? Yaman Coskun is the Founder and CEO of Yamanair Creative. The former Clear Channel emplyoyee went out on his own in 2007 with a goal of focusing on writing and producing creative ads for radio. He now has 14 employees and contractors doing just that. In this interview, we picked his brain about what goes into a great ad, what to avoid so you minimize bad ads and how you can increase your chances the ads you write will drive traffic to the client. We also have audio of Coskun's top three commercials from the past ten years. Here's our interview

Here are Yaman's three favorite ads from the past ten years: 
typing-tutorial-talk-like-you-type
Subway
Dinnerdate

Reach out to Yaman at yaman@yamanair.com
Follow on Twitter @yamanairdc

(5/20/2014 1:08:25 PM)
{Typing tutorial" shoulda been a :30. (Meee-yow!)
Still.... very nice work.
There might be a chance for spots yet.
(5/20/2014 12:12:48 PM)
Only "Lately?"
Surely you jest.

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(COPYWRITING) Inspiration to Write!

6-12-2013

Need ideas? Techniques? Inspiration? Entertainment? 

Go to your audio library. You know, that reference library of sounds, commercials, talent tapes, radio shows, humor, and audio theatre that you (or someone you know) has been collecting over the years? 

It may be a completely organized, categorized, and cross-indexed digital audio folder or just a big box of outdated media stacked on a shelf, but it?s (or could be) one of your main sources of writer?s block breakers.

Let?s see, here are episodes from the BBC?s Goon Show, some stuff by Flanders and Swan, of course Monty Python. Oh look, some cuts from the Adventures of Chickenman, The Tooth Fairy, and tons of recordings of the old radio dramas, mysteries, comedy, adventure shows, variety shows, serials, and soap operas.

Aha! Here?s that old Lord Buckley record, right next to some of Doctor Who, Hitchhiker?s Guide to the Galaxy, and comics like Shelly Berman, Bob Newhart, Bill Cosby, Mort Sahl, Lenny Bruce, Woody Allen, Steve Martin, Robin Williams, Jerry Seinfeld, Steven Wright, Jeff Foxworthy?boy, aren?t you glad you kept these things?

Of course you are! You?re a radio writer. You go here to refresh your ears. Now you make notes as you listen. You find applications for each style of delivery. It?s a good place to learn timing, techniques, and fresh approaches to audio storytelling.

Oh, sometimes you wish you had all the Firesign Theatre, the best of Stan Freberg, the National Lampoon Radio Hour, Bob & Ray, Jean Shepherd?s radio shows, Stiller & Meara, and Nichols & May. No problem. Most of this is now available digitally and much of it is even waiting for you at your local public library.

By now you probably read Audiofile regularly and get the catalogs from the ZBS Foundation, Lodestone, Audio Partners, and Radio Works from Sue Media. You?ve collected gems from regional audio theatre companies like Great Northern Audio and the Atlanta Radio Theatre Company.

You keep all this next to your samples from advertising award shows like the Radio Mercury, CLIO?s, IBA, and maybe even some regional award shows, as well as recordings you?ve gotten from the RAB.

And you know that if you ever want to replenish your stash of ear candy, you could just go to the Web, click on your favorite search engine, and check out general categories like storytellers, old-time radio, audio theatre, radio commercials, or any of the names you might find in an article (ahem) on building an audio reference library.

You know that even listening to a sample from any of these genres for a few minutes can be enough to put you in a different space where you can find interpolations that will spark the imaginations of the audience who hears the commercials you?ve created. You are pretty darn clever.

When Jeffrey Hedquist isn?t creating, he?s listening at Hedquist Productions, Inc. Phone 641-472-6708. Email jeffrey@hedquist.com. Visit http://www.Hedquist.com for even more inspiration from our free newsletter.

(6/12/2013 9:18:02 AM)
Jeffrey is so right! We need that creative input. We need to know what worked and can work for you in the audio vein. We also need to know other things too. The way I stimulate my brain is to go to Wikipedia and hit the Random Article button....You'd be surprised at what comes up. Somethings, completely useless but sometimes you'll set off that little spark you are looking for.

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(WIZARD) How To Write Effective Copy In 2013

5-31-2013

Elmer Zubiate (Zoo-be-AH-tay) grew up embarrassed that his name was Elmer. After losing everything he owned in 2005, Elmer started a little HVAC company. Last year he decided to make the most of the Elmer thing.  This is the 30-second spot he put on the radio:

There?s Elmer Fudd, Elmer?s Glue, and Elmer me, Elmer Zubiate of Elmer?s One-Hour Air Conditioning and Heating. We?ll be there within one hour of the time we promised you, or whatever you need is free. No charge. There?s no way you?re going to wait for us all day. Great prices. Fabulous service. Elmer?s One-Hour. Dial two one oh, thirty-three Elmer.

[JINGLE]
Two one oh, thirty-three Elmer

Last year One-Hour Elmer did $3.8 million, and he?s trending toward $6 million in 2013. We have every expectation that he?ll bag $12 million in 2015. Elmer tapped in to the four principal indicators of successful ads for 2013.

The most effective ads today tend to share the following characteristics:

1. Intimacy. The ads reveal the advertiser to be vulnerable and imperfect, but openly willing to admit it. This is the signal of a friend to a friend. We don?t hide our imperfections, or our insecurities, from people we trust.

2. Authenticity. The ads are unposed, occasionally even awkward. ?Polished and professional? comes across today as ?phony and pretentious.?

3. Pace. The ads employ a series of rapidly evolving mental images. Big things happen quickly. Big thoughts are compressed into few words.

4. Details. The ads don?t make vague claims or use ambiguous terms. Specifics are always more believable than generalities.

Richard Kessler is known around the world as an extraordinarily successful jeweler. Here are a couple of the 60s he?s currently airing:

Three quarters of a carat is a big diamond. It will take your breath away. And a matching pair will take away yours and hers.

Put three quarters of a carat on each of her pretty earlobes and then look over her shoulder when she looks into the mirror for the first time. You?re going to remember that face forever.

This is Richard Kessler, and sometimes I get lucky. Extremely lucky.

Today I?m going to share that luck with exactly 22 people. But before I continue, let me say, ladies, that you don?t have to have someone else buy these for you. You can buy them yourself.

I know that. And you?re going to want to. Because I?m talking about a matching pair of fabulous three-quarter-carat diamonds ? a carat and a half total ? for just thirty-nine hundred dollars. Badda bing. Badda bang. But I?ve only got nine pairs of those. Fortunately, I?ve got 13 more pairs ? just a tiny bit smaller ? for just thirty-four-sixty. Badda boom. Today is your lucky day.

Kesslers Diamonds. I?m Richard
Kessler.
[No location tag.]

Let me pause here for a moment to say that I?m not giving you this ad copy to use for your clients. I?m simply providing three concrete examples from which you can learn. All three ads are copyrighted 2012 by Roy H. Williams Marketing Inc.

I was head-over-heels in love. And I was poor. I saved up for three months before walking into that jewelry store.

I was nervous and excited ? and a little bit proud of myself. I walked out five minutes later, crushed and humiliated. I remember standing there on the sidewalk, looking at my shoes. The man behind the jewelry counter had looked at my shoes before he looked at my face.

He asked me why I was there.
I told him.
He asked me how much money I had.
I told him.
He rolled his eyes and said, ?Well, maybe there?s something we can do, but I don?t know....?
Some things stay with you forever.

And now you know why Kesslers specializes in engagement rings. [Determined now ? a little bit defiant.] No one at Kesslers ? no one ? will ever look at your shoes. Or your clothes. Or the color of your credit card. The man I met that day was all about diamonds and gold. Me? I?m about people and relationships. Diamonds ? even perfect ones ? are much less valuable than people.

I?m Richard Kessler, and I want to be your jeweler.
[Those are the last words. No location tag. No Web address.
Nothing.]

The story Kessler tells is absolutely true. No one can tell that story but him. Every person has a lifetime of powerful stories inside them. But how many advertisers have the courage to share something so intimate? In 2013, it will be all the successful ones.

Roy H. Williams is president of Wizard of Ads Inc. E-mail: roy@wizardofads.com

(6/1/2013 5:51:51 PM)
Roy, these are really great. You're a great believer in radio and what it brings to the advertiser...BUT why do your media buyers treat radio stations so poorly in the negotiation process? It seems there the two sides to your mouth and we only hear from one in public forums like this Sooner or later your clients will suffer as the local radio stations refer to them as toxic key accounts that they dread the annual negotiation process....and the spots are freely shifted to the edges of day parts

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