YES, RADIO ADVERTISING *IS* A VISUAL MEDIUM

As a radio advertising expert who teaches radio copywriting to people who want to create profitable radio advertising, often I shock people by telling them the following:

When it comes to deliver ing a sales message via commercials, radio is  a visual medium. That may sound ridiculous to you…or impossible. After all, radio obviously is an auditory medium…True?

Yes, the initial connection to the audience is made auditorily, via sound. But for the sales message to have a conscious impact on the listener, that listener almost invariably converts the sounds into mental pictures. The power of a good radio commercial comes from this dual modality — auditory and visual…or, for that matter, that makes good radio so powerful.

A television commercial is limited to whatever actual images the spot’s producers can make appear on your tv set. But the images that your mind can create are unlimited.

All the gadgets, bells and whistles at your disposal should be used only in service of the overall creative sales effort. Why are we using reverse echo on this commercial? Is there a reason to use phasing or to speed up or slow down the vocal pitch?

Flashy tricks and techniques are wonderful when they actually add to the impact of the presentation. Otherwise, they’re simply distractions; you’re just showing off for the sake of showing off.

Imagine that you’re in a Las Vegas casino. As you approach a gambling table, a casino employee flourishes a deck of cards. He proceeds to shuffle them with a series of broad flourishes. He dazzles you with his speed and dexterity. Then he puts down the cards and spins the roulette wheel. That card-handling artistry probably would be wonderful at a blackjack table; it would enhance your blackjack-playing experience. But doing that at a roulette table ….That guy wasted your time and distracted you from roulette wheel’s allure.

GOOD COMMERCIALS —  THE RADIO STATION’S SECRET WEAPON:     Let’s say there are two evenly matched stations in a market, presenting the same musical format. Neither station has a programming, selling or promotional advantage. Let’s further assume that Station “A” produces typical, run-of-the-mill commercials — i.e., boring, noncreative 30 and 60-second spots. The commercials produced by Station “B,” however, are fresh, interesting, provocative, entertaining — in short, people actually enjoy hearing them.

When Station “A” begins a stopset, it is likely to lose far more listeners than Station “B” will with its stopsets. That means higher ratings for Station “B.” Which should mean higher revenues for Station “B.” And bigger commissions for Station “B”’s account executives.