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Dry/annoying commercials killing TSL

W

wastedtalent23

As someone who has enjoyed producing promos and commercials as part of my duties in radio, I can't believe how many dry and annoying spots are are airing nowadays. Years ago, it was important to PDs that I worked for to produce commercials and promos with music, sounders and beds so that it was easier for the listener to listen through a stopset. I worked at a station that had spot codes(1, 2, and 3). A "1" was something heavily produced throughout, with vocals or jingles. A "2" was something that had a music bed and not as produced like a rip and read spot, and a "3" was a dry spot or and spot that had intermittent music. As a general rule, the jock would play the "1"s first and last in the stopset and bury the dry "3" spots in the middle. Some listeners wouldn't mind or even notice that they listened through the stopset and we were promptly back in the music playing the hits. The production director would try to minimize the amount dry material as much as possible.

Times have changed quite a bit since then. Radio stations now are so desperate for revenue, they more often let the advertiser dictate how produced their spots are. I have spoken to numerous business owners that want dry spots because they believe that will force the listener to "hear the message". Most spots that I hear now are dry, sometimes the entire stopset is dry. I believe that this triggers the listener to tune out or the perception that the station is playing a lot of commercials, and they will flip to another station or just turn the radio off. With more national buys in recent years, there have been more dry and/or annoying spots airing. Insurance companies would be a good example. "Call toll-free 1-800 (fill in the blank)" spots are an instant tune-out.

Dry and annoying spots may attract some attention, but in my opinion it is NEGATIVE attention. This is a lose-lose situation for the station and the advertiser, and it kills time spent listening. Are there any solutions to this problem? Or have we past the point of no return?
 
wastedtalent23 said:
Dry and annoying spots may attract some attention, but in my opinion it is NEGATIVE attention.
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Yep, and I've had that conversation with sales folks, and they tell me its what the advertiser wants.

They've also done research on it, and the results are different from what you'd expect.
 
Here in the Phoenix metro we have had two car dealers: one that loudly shouted his ads and another who talked in a normal voice. I would listen to the quiet guy but hit the pre-set immediately if the loud guy came on - even though I would never be a customer of either brand. I don't know if these were examples of '1' vs '3' but a loud, obnoxious commercial tends to drive me away from the product even though, under normal circumstances, would be acceptable. Ads can work against the audience just as good ones can work for the audience. But long ago I learned to ignore commercials of all types. To this day I have to identify a commercial by its presentation rather than the advertised product. I just don't pay attention.
 
Brands wanting to dictate how their brand is presented is understandable, and it’s their money. But as for that being what drives tune out, there are people who, when in control of the proverbial button, will tune out immediately, without a millisecond hesitation regardless of how “produced” a message is.
 
landtuna said:
But long ago I learned to ignore commercials of all types. To this day I have to identify a commercial by its presentation rather than the advertised product. I just don't pay attention.
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Which is why most advertisers don't buy radio stations to reach people of your age. They try to reach you other ways.

Also explains why so few commercial radio stations program for your demographic. Even though they might get good ratings.
 
While I am a big advocate of matching commercials to a format to the point of being as much as possible an extension of the format, I have sales experience too. The client rules. The best way to get a buyer to close their checkbook is to tell them what the can and can't do with their money. With that said, part of the sales approach is selling the fact we know our audience and how to get them to react so when I ask you to reconsider I'm just saying your idea will work but our knowledge of our audience indicates what I suggested will yield even better results.
 
b-turner said:
While I am a big advocate of matching commercials to a format to the point of being as much as possible an extension of the format, I have sales experience too. The client rules. The best way to get a buyer to close their checkbook is to tell them what the can and can't do with their money. With that said, part of the sales approach is selling the fact we know our audience and how to get them to react so when I ask you to reconsider I'm just saying your idea will work but our knowledge of our audience indicates what I suggested will yield even better results.
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I once worked for a PD that would frequently go to war with the sales staff about this. He said that if he was solely responsible for the sound of the radio station that all spots would have to be approved by himself or the Production Director. He would state that "We have pride and dignity here and we work hard to make sure the station sounds great. If the client wants us to broadcast a spot that is going to kill our TSL, then he can go elsewhere. We have the right to refuse service to anyone." I understood his point, but that way of thinking wouldn't fly today. In this day and age, the GM would say something like "That's tough, It's money and we need it. The PD will just have to deal with it, or we'll find someone who will."
 
TheBigA said:
Which is why most advertisers don't buy radio stations to reach people of your age. They try to reach you other ways.

Also explains why so few commercial radio stations program for your demographic. Even though they might get good ratings.
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Both are good points.

A third one: today advertisers have a wealth of research, and they know that changing consumer habits among people over 50 or so takes a lot more "impressions" than among younger consumers. At some point, it costs more to make the sale than can be earned from the sale. So there are few ad campaigns targeting those over 50 or so except for products that most people do not use until they are are "seniors".
 
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Bottom line: If there was ANY other way for stations to make money besides advertising, they would all jump on it in a minute.

Radio would sound completely different.
 
TheBigA said:
Which is why most advertisers don't buy radio stations to reach people of your age.
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I've been that way my whole adult life. And it's true on the TV subnets as well (where the majority of ads ARE focused to me).
 
landtuna said:
I've been that way my whole adult life. And it's true on the TV subnets as well (where the majority of ads ARE focused to me).
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At 119 years old, I have to wonder what they think. That's ten years older than my aunts.
(See...some of us read the member profiles 😉 .)
 
When I was programming radio I definitely used a code system for which spots ran first. Though, in retrospect I am not sure it made much difference. But atleast I “felt” like I was doing something proactive, lol.
 
seatownmedia said:
When I was programming radio I definitely used a code system for which spots ran first. Though, in retrospect I am not sure it made much difference. But atleast I “felt” like I was doing something proactive, lol.
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Those were the days where Traffic had rules like: Never running two competing auto dealership spots back to back. Same with furniture dealer spots, and airlines, and...

Come to find out in the future, consumers don't care as much as we in radio thought they did.
 
AbrahamJSimpson said:
Brands wanting to dictate how their brand is presented is understandable, and it’s their money.
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When I was a production director - and I had a direct business client I thought was open to it - I'd say something like "look, you're really good at what you do. You're an expert in (air conditioning or garage doors or whatever it was), but making effective ads is what I do" and try to craft something that worked for them or at the very least rework their spot so it was better.

This didn't happen often, but when it did the client was usually happy with the result. My partner in crime and I created this one spot for a restaurant that turned into a campaign. As they opened up new locations they came back to us for creative because it was working. We made money, the station made money, the client made money. It was all good.

Unfortunately it more often happens that the AE or manager or fill in the blank just wants to get the money on the books, and they'll agree to whatever the client wants in order to close the sale. Then they come in with their home studio produced jingle (had it happen) or their kids to voice the spot (had it happen) or some other terrible idea that makes the spot crash and burn.

Yeah, the sales person closed the deal, and the client got to hear their "masterpiece" on the air, but then it fails and they go away thinking "radio doesn't work."
 
Don CT said:
How many ads are read in house vs national generic ads.
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Generally, live reads pay extra if they are read by a well known and well rated established talent.

"Live" reads today are mostly, for both legal and logistical reasons, pre-recorded. A talent will do a variety of live reads, so each one sounds different to the regular listener. You are more likely to see live reads in sports and talk formats, given the shows' spontaneous nature.

Of course, many stations will not accept recorded "live reads" that are endorsements by talents from another station in the market where the talent identifies themselves.

I don't know what a "national generic" means. If you refer to the customary agency account, those are generally recorded under the supervision of the agency's creative department, approved by the client and sent to the stations on the buy, whether local, regional or national. The agency takes care of making sure the right fees are paid in union markets, and also handles residuals if the campaign is extended with the same creative.

Agencies generally don't like local stations "doing" the spot as they both make money on production and lose control of the stress and emphasis points in the delivery. Remember, agencies not only get commissions on ad placement, they also charge clients for creative, production and other functions of account management.

One of the reasons why agencies liked TV from the very beginning is that the production of video ads involves much higher fees. We see this with online video streams and web advertising where the visual part creates significant profits.
 
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