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) Your Life In Commercials

4-18-2014

Woke up, got out of bed
Dragged a comb across my head
Found my way downstairs and drank a cup
And looking up, I noticed I was late
Found my coat and grabbed my hat
Made the bus in seconds flat
Found my way upstairs and had a smoke
Somebody spoke and I went into a dream
(Lennon/McCartney)

A day in your life provides almost endless opportunities for commercial ideas.

Describe all the activities in an ordinary day and you?ll find stories that can be adapted to advertisements for many advertisers. Here are some of the activities in a typical day of a mythological person in Anytown, USA.

Alarm goes off. You get up and talk to yourself, or listen to the thoughts in your head: ?List of things to do today ? visit advertiser??

Do you sing in the shower? ?Sing (briefly) about anticipating today?s adventure, augmented by the benefits of the advertiser?s services.?

Prepare breakfast. We overhear kitchen conversations: ?Family discussion, kid?s demands, spouse?s remarks about a problem that can be solved by the advertiser.?

Get kids ready for school: ?Kid?s complaints, excitement, teasing siblings ? poking fun at problems or even the advertiser.?

Check voicemail: ?Messages from friends, coworkers, teachers, boss, clients, relatives who talk about problems or advertiser solutions.?

Check emails: ?Talk to yourself as you read through them, listen to part of a podcast talking about the advertiser.?

Listen to radio: ?We overhear a news story, traffic or weather report, commercial, talk or sports show that ties in with the advertiser.?

Watch TV: ?We overhear snippets of various programs while clicking through channels.?
On the school bus: ?Driver as spokesperson, reacting with kids as conversation participants or background sounds.?

Car pool: ?Driver and passenger discussion about news, day?s events, traffic, family ? all opportunities for promoting advertiser benefits.?

Drive to work alone: ?Talk to yourself on the way? Interactive conversation with the radio.?

Interact with other drivers: ?Cut me off if you want, but I?m goin? to happy hour at the Dew Drop Inn when I get off work!?

Greet fellow employees: ?A variety of moods are possible here.?

Hear a telephone recording: ?We are experiencing a temporary work stoppage since all our customer representatives are at the annual clearance sale at_________. Please call back during non-sale hours.?

Lunch break: ?Discussion about where to go, who wants what, food costs, time, preferences, convenience, diets, etc.?

Phone calls: ?To and from clients, to and from family. Planning activities ? advertiser involvement.?

Water cooler conversations: ?Talk about work, after-work activities, family ? more opportunities for advertiser discussions.?

End of day ? riding elevator with co-workers: ?Jokes, work-related stories, complaints, successes ? still more opportunities for advertiser discussions.?

Dinner: ?Preparing a home-cooked meal, heating up leftovers, microwaving frozen entrees, ordering out, jumping in the car to head to a restaurant ? each are opportunities to talk about an advertiser.?

Social night out: ?Club, movie, coffee with friends, bar, seminar, reunion, surprise party ? endless possibilities for stories to promote advertisers.?

Helping kid with homework: ?Discussions about future applications of knowledge, your own education, school, careers, persistence, values ? applications for many types of advertisers.?

Drifting off to sleep: ?Reviewing the day?s events, planning for the next day, intimate spousal conversations about finances, love, health, kids, retirement, etc.?

Try this exercise with an atypical day ? a watershed event, a vacation, first day at school or a new job, or an adventure of any kind, and you?ll add even more scenarios.

Any single slice of the day could be the basis for a spot?or combine ?em. Now you have more opportunities to laugh in the face of writer?s block.

To get your very own free copy of ?Hedquist?s List of 328 Commercial Clich?s,? email me jeffrey@hedquist.com and I?ll send them. Guaranteed to reduce commercial effectiveness.

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(SALES) Toothless Commercials Don't Work

6-26-2013 

Many times, local direct decision-makers turn down perfectly good creative ideas, opting instead for bland, clich?-infested spots that are all about the advertiser and not about the consumer. The easiest thing to do, of course, is capitulate to the client and just run the client?s spots the way they want. Many broadcast salespeople take this approach, wrongly believing that the client is always right. Not in this case. By just blindly accepting what the client wants you to run, you may be committing the broadcast version of medical malpractice. And, by allowing the client to run ineffective ads, you?re simply delaying the inevitable ?It?s not working? or ?It?s not working as well as it used to.? And when the client cancels, he usually blames the station or the medium, not the message itself.
Here are some examples of client objections to good commercials:
?      ?We don?t want to appear controversial. We just want to run regular commercials the way we?ve always done it.?
?      ?We don?t want to slam our competitors.?
?      ?I?m just not comfortable without my scripts.?
?      ?Nobody will come in unless we advertise the sale.?
?      ?People always comment that they LOVE seeing/hearing my 6-year-old in my commercials.?
The onus to coach the client on the benefits of running commercials with ?teeth? in them is the responsibility of the local direct salesperson. Here is how I have dealt with namby-pamby clients on creative.
?Really, the last thing you want to do is run a commercial that looks/sounds like the other commercials on the station, because instead of standing out, your spots just blend in until they become wallpaper. And, listeners/viewers have been trained to ignore wallpaper ads.
Instead, focus on the elephant in the room?that very touchy issue that is on the minds of many of your potential customers but NOBODY is talking about. Bring that issue up right away and show consumers how your business best deals with that.

Use your commercial to show consumers how you can best solve their problems. Make the commercial about them, not about you. Talk about the benefits you can bring to consumers that the national box store competitors just can?t deliver. Show consumers how it?s in their best interest to shop locally. For example, "We are aware that we have a high unemployment rate in (your state). That?s why we try to only buy from suppliers who make their goods right here in (your state). We think people who live here deserve the jobs."
You want locals to know that because you are local, you can do things that your national competitor can?t do. And don?t tell me that you don?t want to say anything that might offend them, because they really don?t care about you at all. In fact, they are in business to put you out of business.
Stop beating your head against the wall trying to beat them at their best game, price. Instead, sell value. How, specifically, do customers benefit when they opt to do business with you, instead of the national chain? Talk about that. Value always trumps price, except for the lowest three percent of bottom-feeders that would only shop you because you have the lowest price. Stop focusing all of your attention on the disloyal bottom-feeders and focus on building your brand with people that will stay loyal to you, even when they know they could get it cheaper elsewhere.?
Why not have this conversation with your clients? It really is our ?elephant in the room.? If you don?t educate them, who will? Your competitor? An advertising agency?
Local clients are seldom creative experts. That's our job. Especially in a rough economy, good creative could be the difference between success and a final ?Going Out of Business Sales Event.?
Paul Weyland helps radio and television stations sell more long-term local direct business at rate-card. Contact Paul at www.paulweyland.com . His new book ?Think like an Adman, Sell like a Madman? is available now at amazon.com.

(6/26/2013 9:13:14 AM)
I've always thought that any copy writer who uses the phrase "For all your ___ needs" in a spot ought to be fired; any advertiser who wants that phrase in a spot needs to be educated about the difference between radio and the yellow pages.

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Lee Says Only One Of Five Radio Commercials Engages The Listener.

June 21, 2011

According to WBEB owner and 2011 Radio Ink Lifetime Leadership award winner Jerry Lee, only one out of every five radio commercials actually engages the consumer. Lee is introducing a new product to the industry called writetoengage.com. He says engaging commercials is the key to bigger gains in revenue for the radio industry. "We have numerous successes that show dramatic increases in sales when switching from a non engaging commercial to an engaging commercial. We are batting 100%. Now that we have the formula down pat we expect over the next 5 years' to have significant increases in billing as a result, from our ability to produce outstanding engaging radio commercials." Lee says when a person hears a radio commercial they are recalling emotional triggers from their past and when a person views a TV commercial they are seeing what the producer of the TV spot wants you to see.

Engaging radio commercials are the last major profit frontier for radio, according to LEE. "Only one in five Radio Commercials are Engaging as compared with TV where two out of five commercials are Engaging. According to the NY Ad Agency OMD in a 2007 study, engaging commercials are 8 times as effective as non engaging commercials. John Philip Jones, one of the top 5 researchers in the world has come to the conclusion, using scanner data, that for Fast Moving Consumer Goods that Radio produces $1.14 in sales per dollar spent and that TV produces $.47 per dollar spent."

So the question we need to ask, according to Lee is, why TV gets 85% of the broadcast revenue and Radio only gets 15% in the FMCG sector. "Part of the answer is that almost all of TV spots are tested and virtually none of Radio Spots are tested. WBEB has developed a network of copywriters from all over North America. Each is trained and certified by Dan Hill, founder of Sensory Logic, using the science of Facial Coding where the 43 muscles of the face are analyzed in response to listening to a radio commercial. A set of principles have been developed. As a result the Copywriters that WBEB has certified can produce an Engaging Commercial every time for an advertiser."

We are willing to share what we have learned with the entire Radio Industry. A rising tide lifts all boats. We have developed a webinar called "WriteToEngage.com" that teaches you how to write an an Engaging Commercial. The future of Radio is extremely bright. We have a platform that will out perform TV and do it at less than one half the cost of TV.

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