Speaking of Better Radio Ads...

Listening to the finalists in the 2009 Radio-Mercury Awards and reviewing the briefs for the integrated campaigns is as instructive as it is entertaining.

Don't miss the opportunity to gain valuable insights into the inner workings of these million-dollar campaigns. The education is priceless. The tuition, free.

Here's the link.

Selling Seafood on Radio

OK, I'll say it: I like this spot.

It's the third iteration of a commercial we created a couple years ago to build awareness and increase traffic for the fresh seafood department of a hometown supermarket. We changed some of the copy around late last year and relaunched it at the beginning of the Dungeness Crab season.

Our research identified two consumer touch points for the commercial: product freshness and variety of choice. (Living in a coastal state with a high quality fishery, most consumers have high expectations where both are concerned. Seattle-area restaurants probably set the standard in this area, providing a frame of reference generally shared by local seafood lovers.)

Interviews with the seafood manager yielded details concerning the process and timetable for getting fresh fish and seafood to the store. We decided simply to convey this information as demonstrable proof of the store's assertion that their seafood was, in fact, the freshest available.

Response from listeners and shoppers to the ongoing seafood campaign continues to be favorable. (In fact, the feedback was sufficiently positive that I briefly considered entering the spot into this year's Radio-Mercury Awards competition.)

Looking over my past few posts, I realized that I'd neglected putting up any commercials recently - one of the main purposes of this blog. So, let's fix that now and share a spot for seafood.

I'm ready for dinner.

2009 Radio Mercury Awards Call for Entries!

The 2009 Radio Mercury Awards competition is officially underway. As soon as I received the email notification from Wendy Frech this afternoon, I headed over to the website to check it out.

What a great new look! Click on a link and up pops a new web page cleverly disguised as a radio commercial V/O script. The requested information is presented clearly and concisely. Kudos on the attractive website makeover, performed by Cabell Harris, WORK Labs.

This year's RMA competition introduces a new category ("Integrated Radio Campaign") for the best use of radio within an integrated multimedia plan. Winner takes home $10,000. This one's open to agencies, production companies, and radio stations, and clients. Here's the summary of all the prize categories this year from the RMA website:

Prizes:

• One (1) $100,000 Grand Prize
• Two (2) $5,000 Agency/Production Company Prizes
• New: One (1) $10,000 Integrated Radio Campaign Prize
• One (1) $5,000 Political Category Prize
• One (1) PSA Category Award and $2,500 charitable donation
• One (1) $5,000 Radio Station-Produced Category Prize
• One (1) $5,000 Spanish-Language Category Prize
• One (1) $2,500 Student-Produced Category Prize

To be eligible for a prize this year, the commercial must have aired for the first time on a U.S. commercially licensed radio station between January 1, 2008, and February 28, 2009. Deadline for entry at the standard fee ($125 per commercial, most categories) is March 20th; late entries will be accepted between March 21-28 with a higher entry fee ($150).

Full details, rules, links to previous winners and more at the RMA website.

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Want to hear what great radio advertising sounds like? Spend time listening to - and learning from - previous RMA winners. You'll find a substantial library of commercials representing seventeen years' worth of winners archived at the RMA website. The library is fully searchable by client, agency, commercial title, year, and category.

Attention Station Managers: Want to get your team members fired about about selling/writing/producing more effective commercials for local clients? Get everyone together for a 30- to 60-minute meeting (around a computer with a good set of speakers) for the sole purpose of listening to commercials from the RMA archives. See if you don't come away with some fresh ideas for advertising prospects and clients.