ADVERTISING WITH FUNNY RADIO COMMERCIALS
September 7th, 2010So much radio advertising is wasted because most copywriters never have been taught how to create an effective radio commercial, let alone an entire campaign of radio commercials.
The model that most people follow when creating commercials is: I’ll do a little song & dance to entertain them, and then I’ll try to sell them something.
And it USED to work that way. In the 1800’s, a stranger would show up in a town’s public square and put on a show. People would gather around. Then the entertainer would be replaced by the snake oil salesman.
And they sold an awful lot of snake oil that way.
But that’s not how it works with electronic media advertising in the 21st Century.
Remember, ADVERTISING IS MASS SALESMANSHIP.
If you happen to a Sales Manager:
Do you instruct your account executives to conduct sales calls by telling 27 jokes and then asking, “Do you want to buy some commercials?” If you own a furniture store, do you have your floor people tell each prospect a bunch of jokes and then ask, “Wanna buy a sofa?”
If you entertain in a commercial, the entertainment has to be inextricably woven around the sales message. The entertainment and the sales message should be intertwined.
And that’s a very easy and extremely effective test to apply to your commercial: “Is it possible to remove the entertaining elements without also removing the sales message?”
Many copywriters seem to think if they create a funny situation, they don’t need to establish a strong connection between the comedy and the sales message. Your characters must be involved with the product or service: Perhaps they already use that product or that service….or they need the service or the product….or they wish there were such a product or service….or their lives less fulfilling because they aren’t using that product or service.
When creating commercials, don’t do comedy unless you do it well — unless you can do it “funny.” And even if you can “do it funny,” don’t do comedy unless you can do it in a way that successfully sells the sponsor’s message.
