You know when someone tells you a joke that you’ve heard a million times before, your mind zones out. You don’t hear any of it, all you’re doing is dying for the end and then you politely laugh. Or you stop the joke teller, like 4 sec into the joke with “Oh, I’ve heard that one before.”
The same holds true for commercials. Radio or TV it doesn’t matter. With the advent of digital media the audience attention span has really shortened. On the internet you approximately 4 secs before your audience is gone. So if a page on your website or a video loads slowly, you’ve lost them. If you run the same commercial for a month, day in and day out, your audience gets tired of it and zones out. Any married woman can tell you,”I keep telling my husband over and over and over, it’s like he never hears me! It’s called “Listener Fatigue.”
Ad agencies, radio and TV sales people won’t tell you this. Remember they want to make a sale. They make their money on the time of day and how many times your commercial airs. Was they will tell you is that thousands will hear your commercial. But how many will be bored with it by the 5th playing? They rarely think of what the audience sees and hears. Yes, your commercial. This is the bread and butter to help your business succeed.
It’s time the ad, radio and TV people get off the pot and tell clients the truth. Repetition is not the way to go, but a new fresh message is.
There are few companies that keep their message fresh. Off the top of my head on the TV side, Geico and Canadian Tire come to mind. I’m sure you can think of a few more. As a company and if you’re planning an ad campaign, keep it fresh. This goes for TV networks, OMG, change up your promos once and awhile.
Most agencies would sell a client one over priced spot. Radio stations will sell them one spot as well. Radio also tell the client that they’ll produce it for free. WOW, what an offer. Yes, that commercial will be read by the guy you hear on 30 other spots. Oh, that’ll make your spot stand out. It would be like trying to find Donald Trump in a field of Egos. Here’s a hint, use a voice that isn’t normally heard in your marketplace.
I’m lucky to work with creative clients that want to do radio. Depending on the length of their campaign, I don’t ever sell them just one ad. Let’s say they’re going to advertise for 3 weeks with 5 spots per day, 2 in morning drive and 3 in afternoon drive. I do 3 spots for them under the same theme, advertising a different aspect of the sale or business. They can run a different spot for a week or rotate the 3 spots evenly over the 3 week run. These spots are listened to more and longer, because they are listener fresh. The client gets this for a price that would be half or less a big agency would charge for one commercial.
Try this Mr Business owner, the next time you are visited by a radio sales guy, ask for 3 different spots for your sale at the price you’re paying. Believe me, those guys can grind out spots in no time and it won’t take them that much longer to make you a happy camper.
In this time of down turned economies every business has to work that much harder and smarter, for a positive bottom line. It’s time that agencies, radio and TV jumped on board. Remember, clients want you to go that extra mile. Ad agencies, radio and TV sales seem to be offering less, for more money. A happy client, is a return client, and they’ll tell two friends and so on. It’s time we all got down to business and if you can’t, “Hey, Get Off My Lawn”
The little razor blade played a big part in radio broadcasting. DJ’s, Production and News people, pretty well everybody at the radio station, had a use for this tiny sharpie. During the 20’s and right up to the 50’s it wasn’t used much but through the 60’s through to the 90’s it was a mainstay in radio studios everywhere. One of the main uses of the razor blade was editing taped interviews, songs, commercials and oh, so much more.
Working with just the ear and a grease pencil one could become very adept at almost seeing sound on the audio tape.
In the hippy era DJ’s had long hair, very unshaven proving we were cool, but we still had to go out and do live broadcasts from an advertisers location (doing a “remote”). Management and or the radio salesman would hand you a hint, before you went out saying “Clean up your act!”
Then there was the all important “Show Prep” for announcers in the 60’s and on. “Show Prep happened before a shift or sometimes during, usually during an album cut like “Inna-A-Godda-Davida.”
Being an announcer back in the day meant that you had to exist on Mac & Cheese and if you wanted to splurge…wieners. When you brought leftovers to work the next day, to spice things up a bit, the razor blade came in handy.
There were those special days at the radio station when record reps would drop by. They’d want you to play their latest act. The reps always had goodies like key chains, tee-shirts, free albums to hand out to the staff and management. Announcers loved all these incentives. It was always amazing that an act could become a mega group, just for a keychain or a something where a razor blade was needed.
Announcers thought they knew what the listener wanted and management thought they knew what the listener wanted, thus there were some disagreements. Like when the Top 40 Station Manager or Program Director heard an announcer play something that wasn’t on the playlist or just didn’t like a song…the razor blade came into use one more time.
Some might not know how the lowly razor blade helped personality radio from the 50’s through the 90’s but as you can see it did. For those that worked in radio during that time you know it was a lot of FUN. It was the best job you could have with a Grade 12 education. Radio has lost a lot of face but we now see that “Personality Radio” is alive and well with its shift to the internet. Good on ya, keep up the great work. As for the “Razor Blade” well it’s gone back to saving faces. Gonna miss ya little buddy!
Bryan Cox ( Radio Host, Speaker, Comic and Author)
Well, it’s been around the 6 month mark of not smoking. After 2 bouts with Cancer, putting up with constant nagging from Doctors, family to good friends, I thought maybe, it’s time. 40 years was long enough. It wasn’t the doctors that got to me. Oh God, their stuff is just getting old. They blame *everything* on the fact you smoke. You walk in with a broken toe because you stubbed it, the doc says…”Well the reason you toe broke is because you probably had smoke in your eyes and couldn’t see where you were you were going…I can’t stress enough, QUIT SMOKING”Blah Blah Blah.
Damn, I loved it though. I find myself cruising used car lots finding and sitting in the cars that were smoked in. I’m even putting car air fresheners in my meat smoker and letting them slow roast over a pack Benson and Hedges, then selling them on the “I used to smoke” Black Market. I’m kind of in a space like a food addict would be in, when he discovers there’s a food channel.
Life changes for you and those around you when you don’t smoke. Some good and some bad.
Loneliness? oh hell ya, No more going outside when it’s -40 making new friends with folks that love to say, “Cold enough for ya”.
NOW, I have to be like every other guy on the Planet and fall asleep after SEX, because there’s no more smokin’ SORRY ladies no more chatting. OK, I can here the jokes…”what no more smokin’, have you looked?”
Yes folks, thanks to me band-aid companies will go broke and thousands will be out of job. No more going to pull the cigarette out of my mouth and as my fingers slide down just to have the burning end comes off between my fore and middle finger.
Yes it will be my fault that the environment will end up in the dumper..no more saving my empties to afford a 15 dollar (Canada) pack of smokes. Yes, this is also a picture of every lonely non smoking Canadian Comedian, in his natural Habitat.
One good thing about quiting smoking, is that there is more of an employment opportunity for kids coming out of school …. in the Anger Management field.
No more burn marks on my cars back seat. That’s right no more butts being pushed back in the car by the wind when I flick them out of the window. This means we can say GOOD BYE to the Mom and Pop Car Upholstery business.
I thought because I owned an iPhone and a Mac computer made me enough of a self righteous ass. Now lets add in, the looking down your nose non-smoker, Holy Crap, pretty soon this will be me. It’s always so nice …above the water.
But back to that Loneliness thing again.
Come to think of it, I had more friends when I smoked. I think because I was more of an even keel. Sure I make fun of it, but know it’s better for me and everyone else that hangs out around me. This bit, by the way, was only about quitting smoking cigarettes. Even though I don’t use them any more, I’m still in love with Cigarettes, ….butt soon, very soon I’ll be able to say to them, “Hey, Get Off My Lawn”.
Bryan Cox, (Radio Host/Comedian/Speaker/Author/Lover of the Back/Slash
I love, love, love anything or anybody that shows …creativity! When public perception and I see that one of the biggest Corporations in the World, just sitting on their sacks of money and copying ideas from others, I know that we might be close to “End of Days”.
In Canada, it looks like McDonalds have either decided of jump off the Creative Commercial train or have been taken to the cleaners by a very un-creative Ad Agency that might be run by, Clowns.
Let’s have a look at one campaign … Back in Jan-Feb 2015 Lays Chips ran a cleaver campaign asking Canada to pick a flavour that best represented their area of Canada.. Here have a look
In the SUMMER of 2015, McDonalds offered flavours from a different region of Canada…The “McLobster” represented Atlantic Canada, Maple and Bacon Poutine repped Quebec, “The Nanaimo Crumble” stood tall for the West Coast, “Cottage Country Chicken” counted Ontario in and Western Canada was shown off through the Western BBQ Burger. McDonalds this was a blatant rip off from the Lays idea.
As they say in commercials, “We won’t stop there…Wait …there’s more.”
A & W has been doing commercials for over 2 years, where they have a spokesman go out on the street or to events and offer folks food and then get’s their comments. Have a peek at this…
Now, I don’t know what McDonalds paid the “McClown Ad Agency” for this completely original advertising idea, but if you keep reading I might have a few for you… Have a look
Oh and look what McDonalds did after I posted this revealing video…made it private. Anyway there was spokesperson carrying out burgers to a group at the Calgary Stampede then asking them what they think. Duh….A&W has been doing that for years. I have to tell you, I’m in that advertising game, writing and voicing. Knowing first hand how hard it is to come up with an idea that will blow someone away. So when I see huge companies like McDonalds giving up the Creative ghost, I have to shake my head. Hey, McDonalds or Ad Guys from McClown, you can steal these ideas. Or, pay me even hire me, that would be nice. Oh by the way, I’m sure noooo one has thought of these, but feel free to add some of your own folks…ha ha
—Instead of having a Clown with red hair as your mascot. Why not hire just a cute, hot woman with red hair?
—How about a burger that disappears so fast and cleans on the way out…you could call it the Mr McClean?
—A giant Fish Sandwich that comes with a story just as big, call it The McWhopper…ya, “whopper” is a good name.
To solve some of the Worlds problems, plus keep us all entertained while you do it, we have to be, CREATIVE. Please don’t give up. Whether you’re an author, commercial copy writer, lawyer what ever, just never stop being CREATIVE. The World will be a better place for it. Hey, McDonalds and your Ad Guys…Get Off My Lawn!
Bryan Cox…. Radio Host/Author/Speaker/Lover of the Back-slash/
The little razor blade played a big part in radio broadcasting. DJ’s, Production and News people, pretty well everybody at the radio station, had a use for this tiny sharpie. During the 20’s and right up to the 50’s it wasn’t used much but through the 60’s through to the 90’s it was a mainstay in radio studios everywhere. One of the main uses of the razor blade was editing taped interviews, songs, commercials and oh, so much more.
Hey, Get Off My Lawn 