RAEL finds Radio Ads Make a Personal Connection

I'm hoping that I can be better at making posts...as my last one mentioned, I am up to my eyeballs with fun/interesting/time-consuming stuff to do. But, I know how disappointed I am when the blogs I like to peak in on regularly don't have new updates...so, I'll try harder.

Let's start the week with a summary of a recent Radio Advertising Effectiveness Lab study summarized by Radio and Records here.

This study showed that radio listeners feel that radio listeners develop an emotional connection with the ads that stations play...more of an emotional connection than with Internet advertising. This is not a surprising finding, of course, due to the greater level of cognitive effort required to process audio ads than visual ads. Listening is something that we must "do" to a much greater extent than looking.

The trouble becomes how a radio producer can get a listener's attention to the radio message in the first place...when the radio is playing in the background while the listener is driving or making dinner, or working ore whatever....

My own work suggests that the use of structural features such as changing speakers, sound effects, music, production effects, can be used to "force" listeners to pay attention for a brief (like for only a couple of seconds)...after that, it is the content which must drive the day. An interesting finding from the RAEL study is that a feeling of LOCALISM can add to the emotional connection. What's happening in your community? Is it the stuff that everyone is talking about? Then your commercials should be, too.