The Bad, The Good and The Better News
by Ron Robinson
In our last exciting episode, some explanations were offered about basic neurological processing experienced by listeners to the radio. This included distinctions for casual listeners and those who are engaged in the Radio business. Also verified and reinforced was the assumption that Radio is a ?hot/emotional? medium. So, one might wonder, howcum there always seems to be a ?downside?? And I wonder: Howcum it?s me who has to deliver it? I?ll never get elected.
What follows can filed under: ?That Which Shall Not Be Discussed Openly?. With that in mind, it might be worthwhile to shoo the kiddies out of the room and anybody else who has difficulty in dealing with the harsher facts. It may also be worthwhile to have any sales reps grab a seat or find something to which they can hang on - should the building start shaking.
For years, I have been asking the same question to any number of people in any number of circumstances. The question: ?What are the last three radio commercials you heard where you knowingly went out and bought the product or service?? On a rare occasion, I?ll get someone who can report a single spot, but no more. The vast majority of people come up? completely empty. The quick, moaned conclusion on considering the implications of that might be: ?We are so well and truly screwed!?
While it is the traditional case that sales reps sell (partially) on the concept that audiences will find the spots for ?Jake?s Storm Door and Drainage Discount Warehouse? to be memorable, what they are actually doing is ? applying the harsher, more technical term here ? ?lying?.
Fact: Unless Jake?s spots are so incredibly, emotionally or imaginatively stimulating to an audience, or that Jake is offering an absolutely fantastic deal like a free toilet with every door, not only will the commercials not be remembered - they won?t be remembered almost immediately! The content? Gone! The address? Gone. The telephone number? Gone. URL? See ya. Plus, even if Jake?s spots are award-winning examples of the art of Radio Creative, the ?content? is still likely to go: phhhhttt.
Now, those with knee-jerk reactions and hair trigger fingers might be forgiven for shooting up the place right now. But that would be just a tad premature.
Still, uhhh? what are we to take from this ? that Radio doesn?t work!? Certainly not!
FLASH! This just in from the Neurology Department.) Astute readers who were paying attention during our last get-together will recall that audiences listening to Radio are processing through their sub-dominant or ?right? brains. This is not a choice, but a naturally occurring experience. This hemisphere retains memories that are emotional and/or imaginative in their structure. It does NOT retain content memories ? the facts, the figures, the offers, the addresses or any of that. I mean, hell?s-bells, people can experience amnesia just by walking into another room. Considering the power of an electronic medium that is delivering just ?content??. well, that is just? umm? fascinating, weird and very hard sledding? and something else which I just forgot.
(As an aside: This information doesn?t bode well for the education of our young ?uns or ourselves, either. Information gleaned from an electronic screen is far less likely to be retained or as well understood? compared to that learned from hard copy - a printed page. And that, I?m sorry to report, is an irony that includes this online article.)
Meanwhile, the counter-example is available in the Print medium. Reading hard copy is a Dominant Hemisphere or ?left? brain process. Here is where logic and reason is cranked through and where memories of facts and figures are also processed. It is also the reason why ?print? advertising is so chock full of information. That, and the availability of extra space to include it is another factor. Plus, ?print? advertising just seems ? to the consumer ? to be so much more rational. Further, the information in print-ads is retained for so much longer. The Art Departments of print media do what they can to attract attention to their ads. Only the very best can generate advertising that will also trigger emotional responses ? and at significant cost to the advertiser, too. (?Cleavage? is a cheap & easy default option. And, I?m grateful.)
Maybe it?s about time for some Good News. Even, I submit, when the good news is hard to accept ? it is still Good News, after all. So, here it is: ?Behavior is not dependent on Conscious Recall.? In other words: A listener doesn?t have to remember an ad in order to respond to it. Customers show up at the strangest places with absolutely no idea they were exposed to a Radio campaign. It?s true. It?s in all the papers.
Yes, there are exceptions and our good, Radio-friend, the learned and semi-handsome Roy H. Williams points one out. If a radio rep wants to demonstrate the efficacy of the medium, all she need do is seek out a retailer, pick an absolutely fabulous, knockdown deal and throw it on the radio. The deal itself will generate the emotional response and customers will start rolling in. Radio ?remotes? can be similarly fetching, but there had better be some Deals that kick in some emotions!
The mundane, everyday, working reality though, is one in which this or that advertiser really doesn?t have much to say about their, say, car business or anything to sell that is, of itself, particularly blow-minding. Might just as well buy some cheap, late-night TV and cut some spots with the Dealer Principal in the cab of the pickup with his droopy hound, Bruno. The dealer twitches nervously and hollers (or croaks) an invitation to: ?Come on down and make your best deal! Right, Bruno?? Bruno violently shakes his head and schmears the Dealer Principal with a quart of droobles. The Director calls, ?Cut and Wrap! Good job, Bruno!? Huge dealership traffic follows. (In the ad, the dog generates an emotional ?aw shucks? moment. The drool-drenching generates an emotional ?ha-ha? moment and the content ? what there was of it ? is gone. Later, at the awards ceremony, the presenters call the spot a ?classic?.)
Of course, there is no way of avoiding ?content?. Nor should we, as information is essential. I am asserting, however our priority as Radio-people is to engage the emotions and imaginations of our listeners, first.
This looks like a job for Talent and the Creative Departments ? those that remain.
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