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Upside commercials
- Thread starter DToTheJ
- Start date
"FIVE THOUSAND DOLLARS!" Every stinkin' break!! Now, I used Upside on occasion in Idaho (great for Boise Sinclair stations), but a moot point here in WA with the reservation just a few miles' drive away. The commercials are just redundant at this point.
Another one I got sick of was Zealthy (for GLP-1 meds). I'm pretty sure the 'women' having a conversation were AI-generated. Annoying and aired every single break on my favorite secular FM station in Boise...
Another one I got sick of was Zealthy (for GLP-1 meds). I'm pretty sure the 'women' having a conversation were AI-generated. Annoying and aired every single break on my favorite secular FM station in Boise...
K.M. Richards
Program Director, The Eighties Channel™
Repetition is how brands stick in consumers' minds. Redundancy is deliberate.
Think about how advertising has always worked. The brands we remembered were the ones that we saw on practically every one of our favorite television programs ... the ones who we heard several times a day on "our" radio stations ... the ones who advertised in pretty much all of the most popular mass appeal magazines ... the ones with billboards everywhere you looked.
This is no different, except that they apparently annoy you personally.
K.M. Richards
Program Director, The Eighties Channel™
As for the OP and first responder ...
New Jersey Statute § 56:6-22:
It shall be unlawful and a violation of this act for any distributor, refiner, wholesaler or supplier, with intent to injure competitors or destroy or substantially lessen competition:
(a) To offer, directly or indirectly, a rebate, concession, allowance, discount or benefit, of any kind or nature whatsoever, in connection with the sale or distribution of motor fuel.
I didn't bother to look it up, but I imagine Wisconsin has some similar law on its books, or Upstart wouldn't have that restrictions.
Everyone will accept any advertiser, unless they are brick-to-the-head offensive, to pay the bills. Local or national? Makes little difference.
I even remember Mutual, back in the late 1970s, running ads for the Bulgaria travel ministry nearly every hour in one of the two hourly commercial positions.
New Jersey Statute § 56:6-22:
It shall be unlawful and a violation of this act for any distributor, refiner, wholesaler or supplier, with intent to injure competitors or destroy or substantially lessen competition:
(a) To offer, directly or indirectly, a rebate, concession, allowance, discount or benefit, of any kind or nature whatsoever, in connection with the sale or distribution of motor fuel.
I didn't bother to look it up, but I imagine Wisconsin has some similar law on its books, or Upstart wouldn't have that restrictions.
Everyone will accept any advertiser, unless they are brick-to-the-head offensive, to pay the bills. Local or national? Makes little difference.
I even remember Mutual, back in the late 1970s, running ads for the Bulgaria travel ministry nearly every hour in one of the two hourly commercial positions.
Two notes-
1) K.M. is correct. My business advertises on local radio pretty much exclusively. We are told by our marketing company that it takes some 40+ impressions to get someone to pick up the phone or hit the web site. We have been running similar spots on the same News/Talk station for 10 years, and are still getting lots of new leads every month. Repetition works.
2) "The average American is now spending $5000 per year on gas. That's crazy!" Yes it is crazy. Because it is not the truth- not even close. Do the math. We know the average American drives around 11,000 miles per year. In a car that on average is getting 25 miles per gallon. Which means he/she is using on average about 440 gallons of gas per year. Even at 4 bucks a gallon that's only $1760 per year. So the entire premise of the ad is a big fat lie. What that says about the advertiser I leave to you. I am an insurance broker- the data provided comes directly from one of our national carriers.
1) K.M. is correct. My business advertises on local radio pretty much exclusively. We are told by our marketing company that it takes some 40+ impressions to get someone to pick up the phone or hit the web site. We have been running similar spots on the same News/Talk station for 10 years, and are still getting lots of new leads every month. Repetition works.
2) "The average American is now spending $5000 per year on gas. That's crazy!" Yes it is crazy. Because it is not the truth- not even close. Do the math. We know the average American drives around 11,000 miles per year. In a car that on average is getting 25 miles per gallon. Which means he/she is using on average about 440 gallons of gas per year. Even at 4 bucks a gallon that's only $1760 per year. So the entire premise of the ad is a big fat lie. What that says about the advertiser I leave to you. I am an insurance broker- the data provided comes directly from one of our national carriers.
K.M. Richards
Program Director, The Eighties Channel™
Then challenge their ad with the FTC. Misleading advertising is a violation of federal regulations.
K.M. Richards
Program Director, The Eighties Channel™
I wanted to come back with an update on this. I run two programs on KRKE that have had Upside as national sponsors, and the "$5000" claim spot has not turned up in several weeks now.
Kroger in Atlanta isn't on any radio station I listen to in Atlanta anymore. I do hear Upside is now at Kroger commercials instead. It's really stupid for Kroger because the folks that shop price are using Aldi. If my information correct, the merchant pays the rebate plus a percentage to Upside.
Disclaimer: I use to cut Kroger commercials in the early 1990's. They were the 30 second donuts. They were using the "Right Store" slogan. During Derby week they had commercial that promoted Kroger floral did the Roses for the Kentucky Derby winner that didn't use the jingle.
Disclaimer: I use to cut Kroger commercials in the early 1990's. They were the 30 second donuts. They were using the "Right Store" slogan. During Derby week they had commercial that promoted Kroger floral did the Roses for the Kentucky Derby winner that didn't use the jingle.
I'd forgotten about that. Don't remember ever hearing one of the ads, but recall reading/hearing about them.
K.M. Richards
Program Director, The Eighties Channel™
The weirdest thing about them is that they weren't produced spots, but essentially a "live read" which Mutual had one of the anchors, the late Dan Scanlan, read and then they aired that every time it was scheduled.
Do you think Mutual talked to the feds before agreeing to run them? You'd think there'd have been a discernible number of listeners who'd have been less than pleased hearing ads for vacations in a Communist nation. Would they have done anything akin to a cost benefit analysis?
Ad income v. indignant/lost listeners? If so, guess we know which way they decided.
K.M. Richards
Program Director, The Eighties Channel™
No idea. Mutual was already the last choice for a network affiliation by then and my tenure at the affiliate where I heard those was about to change owners and formats so no one really cared. The "other" Mutual affiliate in the market only carried Larry King and they didn't get a regular daytime affiliate for close to eight years after we dropped them.