BlogCreativity ADVERTISING
Blogby Dick Orkin, Radio-Ranch Creative
Why are so many Radio Spots so Dull?
One reason is they have become a message dump.
Are you looking at a script? Or ticking the boxes on a list of stuff you have to put out there?
We’ve all done it. We’re all guilty.
Cheesey, shoutey, dull, quick, noisy, hard sell, boring.
And in some cases all of the above.
(Although that actually might work.)
But here’s the number one reason your radio ad sucks:
YOU DON’T READ IT OUT LOUD.
When you have a script, take it to someone who doesn’t know or care about the brief, one of your buddies, your partner, the guy in the canteen – whoever. Now. Read it. Out loud.
CAN’T YOU HEAR IT’S AN EMBARRASMENT?
You’ll know straight away if you have a good script.
If it’s a bad script, then that 30 seconds will be an embarrassment for you. And your audience will feel sorry for you or they’ll think you’re just some needy self-obsessed bore interrupting their day.
If you don’t read the script out loud, then you don’t care what get’s heard.
And the listener is going to hear some jargony-phone-numbery-discounty-cutesy-smaltzy-shitzy-gibberish, lovingly delivered by the same Voice Over who was pretending to care about some other mullarkey in the spot just previous to yours.
READ IT OUT LOUD.
You’ll be surprised how this one simple step can help make your radio ad stand out.
Here are a few basic tips to bear in mind when you are briefing or writing a radio spot:
- A thirty second spot should have no more than 80 words.
- If there are terms and conditions – write a 20 second script and leave 10 secs for the legal gubbins. Or, integrate the terms into the ad.
- Avoid phone numbers. People know how to use Google now.
- Nobody uses WWW when referring to a site. There’s 2 seconds saved.
- If you absolutely have to have a foreign accent – get an actual native from that country to read your script.
- If you don’t have my attention in the first 5 seconds – It’s dead.
Here’s something I learned a long time ago:
If you don’t have fun making something – There’s gonna be no joy in the result.
(FROM BRANDO: an award-winning full-service advertising agency. They are the market leaders in digital in several countries., To date, they are also the most awarded and successful digital advertising agency in the country. CopyrightBRANDO2014)
Radio Ranch Creative will fix dull spots. Contact the Radio Ranch and tell us what you can afford to pay. If the figure sounds fair, we’ll make the repair.
How about those clients who feel their ad has to include an auctioneer motor-mumbling 15 seconds worth of terms, conditions and table pounding disclaimers at the end? This popular format is not at all like fine print in hard copy ads – the audience can’t just skip over it. The longer and more unintelligible the motor-mumble is, the more they are instilling audience distrust and killing the effectiveness of the ad. It’s like ending your ad with “Everything we just said is a big, fat lie . . but come see us today anyway”. The client should see your Tip #1, re-think their offering, fire their lawyer(s), or better still, do all of the above.
Thank you so much for your comment!
Perfect. Makes sense and is right on the spot
!
Thank you! Many years of experience, and more importantly, consideration for the human psyche to back this up!
Here here!!! From the man!! Thank you Dick!
It was 1960-something and I was just a kid who spent time locked in the bathroom, doing commercials in the mirror. Never occurred to me I could do it for a living. Back then, women only gestured in front of appliances.
Batman was new on TV and it was awesome. And then, even more awesome, WLS (or maybe it was it’s loathsome competitor WCFL) started airing ‘Chickenman.’ It was beyond awesome- imaginative, howlingly funny and completely different than anything I had ever heard before.
Years later, when fate grabbed me by the scruff of the neck and shoved me headlong into voiceover work and radio copywriting, I knew that I had a secret weapon. I had been schooled by the Winged Warrior and his creator, Dick Orkin. And that fundamental understanding of what made something worth listening to served me well.
Susan Bennett, the voice of Siri, recently lamented how there are no fun radio ads anymore. I had been thinking the same thing myself.
I think it’s time to put those lessons learned back to work. I’m a woman on a mission now. I want to thank you, Chickenman, for your continued inspiration. (And to you as well, Radio Ranch hands)
Your pal,
Cindy
Thank you SO much for your response, Cindy!
We love to hear how we’ve helped mold young comedic minds, and strive to continue doing so!
Here’s to comedic integrity and non-annoying commercials.
Cheers!