As people continue to relate to each another, as well as ideas, values, wants and needs (goods and services), through various platforms and media, the concepts of relaying information, entertaining, and advertising should continue to be relevant as long as they create value.

In terms of advertising, it is twofold – value for the customer and value for the client. This leaves media platforms in the middle, not only as the channel carrying the message but as the institution that must create value for the user as well as the seller. Each one’s experience must be equally enthralling.

Creating value for all

The commercial radio industry walks a tightrope between pleasing advertisers and captivating listeners. The question of quantity versus quality is often raised when it comes to the fleeting nature of advertising campaigns. What is enough? Should we do more? Will this work? Why won’t it? And, most importantly, are our listeners turning up the volume or tuning out?

Recently, a client enquired why certain advertising garnered better responses. Was it because it was flighted during a certain time; was the creative content engaging; was it because of the format? Well, all those factors could influence an advertising campaign, however, none as much as marrying the offer to the target audience. If you’ve done your homework and know what your target audience wants, you simply have to tell them that it exists.

Now, this can be done in myriad ways but don’t let your message get lost in your endeavours to break through the clutter. Creativity for creativity’s sake will never tick your conversion boxes.

Returning to the core fundamentals of a profession often offers valuable insights and renewed focus. Only recently new technological advances have seen adjustments to the shape of the wheel but for the most part, propulsion has occurred the same way for centuries.

Going back to the roots of the guru

Most would still consider David Ogilvy the Socrates of advertising and his teachings can be applied across different media platforms.

Ogilvy’s seven principles of marketing are:

• Give the facts
• Be truthful
• Be helpful
• Have a Big Idea
• Don’t be boring
• Understand your customer
• Stay true to your brand

Further, Ogilvy believed that good advertising should be based on good research, and that it should be tailored to the specific audience it is targeting. He also did not regard advertising as entertainment or an art form, but as a medium of information.

Now doesn’t that sound counter-intuitive or even ‘boring’? However, how many ‘awesome’ ads have you seen or heard of which you can’t recall the brand or offer? It takes tenacity to create advertising campaigns that resonate with existing and potential customers and that are instantly recognisable due to their consistency in displaying the brand persona.

Numbers games

When your platform has more than a million listeners, catchy generics might be enough to elicit action as the marketing message will inevitably reach those pockets of early adopters contained within the masses.

On platforms with more conservative numbers, the legitimacy from the presenters might also be required to prompt conversion.

Long gone are the days when radio was merely a platform to flight jingles for advertisers. Today, radio stations are lifestyle brands that connect with their listeners as a trusted friend on air, through internet applications and on the ground. We are an integral part of people’s lifestyle – whether they live within our broadcast footprint or beyond.

Offering value through consideration

Back to Socrates, the philosopher this time, also known for ‘The Socratic Method’, which is basically a form of interrogation – asking and answering questions to explore a subject thoroughly.

How many advertising campaigns have fallen flat because critical thinking was not employed? These range from simply cringeworthy to having serious implications, such as lawsuits and irreparable brand damage.

Of course, this strategy can only work if the group reflects the listeners of the radio station, the brand being advertised and the presenters or staff executing the campaign, as the dialogue will reveal the values, principles and beliefs of the participants.

Once the concept has been interrogated, research done on both the product and target market, and the media plan decided on, one thing usually needs more consideration – spot design. Whether a recorded spot, live read, endorsement, digital ad or even activation, here are some of Ogilvy’s main considerations:

• “When you have written your headline, you have spent eighty cents out of your dollar.” People will likely only remember the headline. What is the one thing that they need to know, which they must remember?
• “The more story-appeal there is in the picture or in the photograph, the more people would look at your ad.” This also rings true for the audio medium where a soundscape can paint a thousand pictures in a listener’s mind and instantaneously transport a person to a setting and, most importantly, feeling. “The more you tell, the more you sell.”
• "Consumers buy products whose advertising promises them value for money, beauty, nutrition, relief from suffering, social status and so on. All over the world. Always.”

We like to believe advertisers seek this same value, and, not necessarily the value that comes with an ‘upsize’ – more of the same for less of the price. Value that comes from careful consideration of the goal or the outcome that is aimed for.

Like Vanilla Ice already implored us in 1990: “Stop. Collaborate and listen”. Take a moment, rethink and revalue, along with your teams, never in isolation, what you are creating and communicating to your audience, your valued followers, on behalf of an advertiser, or a valued client. Make sure your cleverly crafted cake has baked long enough before you take it out, lest you serve a flat flop.

Now go and “rock the mic like a vandal”.

Elzette Boucher-Krüger is the Content Manager for OFM, the sound of your life. She has been working with the radio station’s sponsorships and promotions for over a decade and has a background in journalism.