What Does It Take to Create Good Radio Advertising?

"Creating great radio ads is hard work
and an acquired skill." - Bob McCurdy

Bob McCurdy is the president of Katz Marketing Solutions, the national marketing unit of the Katz Media Group, a division of Clear Channel Communications.

Right on, Bob!

That statement ought to be printed in 60-point boldface type, framed and posted at the desk of every radio advertising salesperson, sales manager, general manager, operations manager, production director, copywriter, producer, and board op at every radio station in America.

Right next to it should be posted a list of cliches* that from henceforth are banned and must never appear in a radio commercial without severe consequences to the perpetrator or perpetratrix.

Creating good radio commercials is painstaking, time-consuming work.

Anyone undertaking the responsibility of writing advertising for a client must understand the fundamentals of advertising. What works, what doesn't, and why. This information is readily available in books, on CD's, videos, online, in the library.

Writing good advertising involves an investment of time for research, to understand the advertiser's customers, as well as his product/service, market, competition.

It involves think-time, before and during the process of writing, editing, tweaking, refining and polishing, spinning words into gold.

It involves choosing an appropriate spokesman. Extensive casting opportunities may be out of reach for many stations, but thought should still be given as to who should deliver the message. Often the advertisers themselves make great spokespeople (I can hear the protests rumbling from the "professional" bench already. Don't bother. I've been writing for and coaching ordinary folks for years, decades really - with consistent, bankable results for the client! It CAN be done. Just takes a little more time, patience, and perseverance, that's all. Want to hear examples? I can provide you with plenty.)

Great production won't compensate for poor copy. If you can't have both, put your money into the copywriting. Great copy always trumps great production.

Invest in improving the quality of your advertising copy for clients and the inevitable improvement in their results will keep them on the air.

It's just that simple.

And because it is, there's no reason it can't be done.

*Cliches that should be forever banned from radio commercials include:

for all your ______ needs
conveniently located at ___________
the friendly folks at ___________
the professionals at ___________
your ________ headquarters
and much, much more
just in time for ________
like never before
the sale you’ve been waiting for
lowest prices of the year/season/ever
it’s that time of year again
we sell the best and service the rest
our service is second to none
our friendly, knowledgeable staff
you heard it right
it’s happening right now
(Season) is right around the corner

Bob McCurdy's article appeared in Media Post's Marketing Daily Commentary.

The Client Whose Ad Copy Never Gets Changed

Consistency is a great virtue in advertising, all other factors being equal.

Most of my advertising clients have annual contracts that call for being on the air every day. This degree of exposure usually requires regular changes of copy, to maintain a healthy balance between repetition and freshness.

But I have one client, a mom-and-pop automotive body shop and towing service, that's been running the same ad every week, every month, every year...for well over a decade.

Yes, from a servicing standpoint it's almost an embarrassment.

We laugh about it from time to time.

All the way to the bank.

Because Myers Auto Rebuild and Towing also happens to occupy the enviable Top Rung of their category ladder. By a mile.



A dozen years ago, Steve and Theresa Myers met with a jingle company rep we'd brought into town and decided they'd move forward on a custom "musical image" for their shop.

If you've ever worked with jingle salespeople, you know that they often follow an interview format not unlike the RAB's "client needs analysis." They meet for 30-45 minutes with each prospect, asking lots of questions in an effort to document the advertiser's niche, his USP, or at least what HE thinks are his strong selling points. Then they turn these answers over to a lyricist, who presumably will distill from these notes the poetry that will woo buyers out of the WOOdwork.

It has been my experience that many of these well-meaning efforts end rather poorly. in an attempt to feed back to the client in one 30-second song, everything about the business that came up in the interview, the result is an unfocused exercise in musical chest-thumping.

In the Myers' case, the first draft was faxed to them for approval within a week of their interview. Theresa called me, a tone of concern in her voice, to ask if I would stop by to review what the jingle writer had come up with. My response merely confirmed what their gut had already told them.

It was a mess.

The tune was catchy. The singer was perfect. But the message was deficient, to put it kindly.

I quickly offered to rewrite the lyrics.

We checked with the singer to see if he had any objection to this. He didn't; he just wanted to sing something and get paid.

I've always enjoyed writing rhyming copy. The challenge here was to keep the narrative straightforward and focused, to convey when and why someone would call Myers Auto Rebuild, and what they could expect as a result. The completed story meshed nicely with the music, resulting in a :30-second full-sing jingle that has enjoyed remarkable longevity.

When a few weeks after the jingle first hit the airwaves Steve and Theresa received a telephone call from the owner of a competitor's body shop, complaining that his kids were singing their jingle, they knew they had a winner.

And they haven't been inclined to change their copy ever since.

Radical? You decide. Listen to the Myers Auto Rebuild Jingle.

Another "Snow" Spot

Dan O'Day's Radio Commercial Smackdown today reminded me of an ad I did a few years ago, at the request of a young man who wanted to rent snowmobiles at his cabins up in Elk River. It was late season (March) and the snow wasn't going to be around for much longer. Being 60 miles away and having no website, we had to include his phone number in the commercial - a practice generally to be discouraged unless absolutely necessary. Here's the produced spot.

And here's the script:

(SFX: Winter wind)

A giant cedar tree towers above you – it is 18 feet in diameter, 177 feet tall, and 3000 years old.

In the distance, Hemlock Butte….Elk Butte…. Grandad Bridge overlooking an ice-covered Dworshak Reservoir.

And today…it is all yours.

At the front door of this wilderness adventure you’ll find Elk Butte Recreation. You walk in, hop on one of their powerful snowmobiles, and an unforgettable adventure is about to begin.

While there’s still snow on the ground, why not do a little exploring on a big sled? Half-day and full-day snowmobile rentals are available now at Elk Butte Recreation.

Call to reserve yours now. 208-826-3632. That’s 208-826-3632.

You Get What You Pay For. (Or, Advertising Salespeople Need Advertising Training, Too.)

Last week I posted a quick response to George Williams' report on the partnership between RAB and VCU Brand Center, "Incubating the Next Generation of Radio Creatives," in which I sort of wondered out loud whether one of Radio's vaunted advantages, the offer of free copywriting and production to advertisers who purchase air time, is really the value we believe it to be.

Might it not also be one of the main reasons for so much pap passing through the airwaves, purporting to be effective advertising?

To put it another way, to the extent that a radio station is in the advertising business, doesn't it make sense that management would make a dedicated investment of time and money for the purpose of training its sellers (who most often are also its copywriters) in the fine art of advertising?

During my formative years in radio ad sales (1973 into the early '90's) I was fortunate to receive a great deal of "sales training," but precious little advertising training.

From the sales trainers I learned how to get the money. Few of them had anything worthwhile to say about how to create commercials that would turn an advertiser's money into an "investment" rather than an "expense."

Most of that education I had to acquire on my own. So I bought books. Tapes. Videos. Studied Hopkins and Ogilvy, Trout & Ries, Jay Conrad Levinson and Bernice Fitz Gibbon (thanks to Chris Lytle for his tip on the latter; I even managed to obtain a signed first edition!), among many others. I stumbled across the Wizard in an interview in Radio and Production and started getting his Monday Morning Memo. When in a particular MMM he asked readers to pick up a copy of his first book, I did. Ditto the second. And the third. Good stuff.

I also listened to ads, hundreds and hundreds of ads, from stations and agencies across the country. Thanks to the RAB cassettes that came with the Monthly Sales Meeting kits (my favorite part was the "Hot Spots"), and the tapes of nothing-but-commercials they generously sent upon request, I was able to pick up many good ideas over the years.

Whether stations continue the practice of offering free copywriting and production services to their advertisers, or they start emulating their TV brethren and charging for them, the increasing demands of the marketplace for accountability and results will eventually force the issue. Stations that invest in the training and resources to provide advertisers and listeners with attention-grabbing, compelling, credible commercials will enjoy a degree of success that cannot be achieved or sustained any other way.