RADIO ADVERTISING… |
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| ARE THINGS REALLY AS BAD AS THEY LOOK? |
This month, Stay Thoughts steps warily into the
‘garbage radio ads' controversy sparked by comments made by Alan Cox of
Publicis Groupe Media, at the Independent Broadcasters of Ireland seminar held
recently.
The column begins
badly. In suggesting I might add my tuppence worth on the issue, the editor
suggested I might nominate ads that give radio a good name. He suggested
Costcutters with Deirdre O'Kane which is okay in itself, but you'd hardly
include it in your list of things to save if the house caught fire. My problem
is that, apart from the usual suspects, most radio ads not only do themselves a
disservice, they do their fellow ads and the radio medium a disservice also. A
bad radio ad assaults in a full-on way – you can sift out rubbish in other
media and ignore it, but rubbish radio really annoys – so you reach for the
mute button and ditch the entire break.
But read on, ST isn't just another groan fest;
positivity in the face of adversity is our May motto. Our primary observation is
that there's wrong on both sides of the fence. Correction, make that wrong on
three sides of the proverbial fence. You have advertisers, agencies and the
medium itself.
What's striking
is that this debate was initiated by a senior media executive, an indicator of
how the pendulum of power in the adland has swung in favour of the guys with
bags of money and away from the guys with bags of brains in the ad business.
Not long ago,
media schedule makers were honoured to book creative work into print and onto
the airwaves – now they have taken on to themselves the right to criticise.
It's a changed world out there, maybe all the better for it.
So a round of
applause for Alan Cox who put his finger in the dyke of radio ad leaking junk words
and assaulting the gentle ears of an audience listening to the Socratic debating
points of Joe Duffy's Liveline on RTE
Radio 1.
The root cause of
bad radio ads lies not as Cox diplomatically suggests in poor production or
lousy acting, although both have their part to play. The irredeemable problem
lies in two areas. The most culpable from the industry viewpoint is the
shocking standard of the initial radio scripts.
The suggestion
that radio writing gets left to juniors is not where the core of the problem
lies; it's the fact that radio writing regularly gets left until last. Here's the TV ad, here's the outdoor, here's
the national press campaign – now would you ever lash out a 30-second audio
treatment pronto.
One that uses a
theme unsuited to the medium and furthermore includes prices, terms and
conditions, shapes and sizes and all the other gunk we managed to avoid
clogging into the elegant treatments in the other media.
Oh, and by the
way, we've no money left, and it's on air Tuesday. And today is Friday at 5pm in case you've forgotten. In
simple terms, radio is far too often the junk bin of the brief and everyone
knows it, does it and is to blame.
The second
problem is that all this hastily conceived work gets spliced together into
three minutes of consecutive aural hell, pitched out at an audience without
apology and often unrelated to the core content of the surrounding programmes. So
is there a remedy?
Cox suggests a
competition. Let the radio groups sponsor a well-endowed competition that
encourages creatives to show off their radio skills, much in the same way as
the NNI Awards promotes good press work.
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STYLE AFICIONADO
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Another awards
scheme is probably two too many, but ST will
buy into anything that elevates the medium into reaching its potential. The question
to ask however is whether such a scheme would, like the press awards, unearth
some great ads about the medium, while the next day at the office the same old
bad work practices would re-establish themselves for brand ads.
Right at the very
root of the problem is the media itself. ST
suggests that Cox and his media cohorts on the buying and selling sides of
radio can probably do more to raise the creative standards than any gaggle of
gong-grasping writers. Here's how. It will cost, it is elitist, but it will
work.
ST suggests the inauguration of station-promoted ‘Elite Ad Breaks' where
only a limited number of commercials that achieve certain standards will be
allowed run and where the audience could have the right to vote off any ad
considered unworthy of the honour of inclusion.
Only commercials
of at least 40 seconds duration would be eligible. Each break would favour 50
and 60 second slots. The longer lengths mean less competing voices in the break
and allow for a greater degree of characterisation in the actors' voices and
dramatisation of selling messages. Campaign
ads and serial ads with an ongoing storyline would be given preference over
one-offs. There would be an ‘audio interlude', a silent gap, between each
commercial, much in the way that music separates the stories on Sunday
Miscellany. The ads get a chance to breath and the audience gets an
opportunity to listen rather than be shouted at. Advertisers would no longer be
allowed gabble their way through terms and conditions at a pace that makes a
mockery of what's been said. Elite Ad Breaks would appear once every hour in
primetime programming; a typical RTE schedule would allow for one Elite Break
in Tubridy, two in Kenny, and so on through the day. My guess is the slots
would be booked solid at premium rates in jig time.
And when it comes
to award season, the stations taking part in the Elite Breaks Series would
stump up for a worthwhile award for the creators, clients, producers, studios
and actors who put their talents on show.
This proposal for
Elite Ad Breaks should be welcomed by writers, producers and actors. It should also
be welcomed by the media professionals as it allows them to negotiate for what
would become the equivalent of ‘best position' in press or ‘first-in-break' in
TV schedules.
It should also be
welcomed by the media owners as ultimately their interests cannot be best
served by the present position of providing audiences with the least-loved
medium instead of what should be one of the most admired.
It's not gongs
that's wanted, it's guts to recognise a problem and to tackle it in a
provocative way. If anyone wishes to expand, expound or explode with enthusiasm
or even anger at this suggestion, the editor of Marketing will make the magazine available as a forum. Or if you own
a radio station and want to do something real about it, just call me and let's
do it. ST reckons our industry owes a
big thank you to Alan Cox.
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STAYING HOME TO HOLIDAYThe animation ad for Failte Ireland created by DDFH&B-JWT has proved an annoyance to the Dublin Airport Authority (DAA) as the urge to discover Ireland plays up the disadvantages for Irish holidaymakers travelling abroad. |
HISTORY REPEATED
Years ago, your ST columnist wrote an award-winning poster for
what was then Dublin Duty Free. ‘The price of drink would make you want to leave
the country', the poster proclaimed, encouraging natives to up
sticks and depart their green and overpriced land and pick up a booze bargain
on their way.
Bord Failte (as it then was) got highly miffed about another semi-state
elbowing in on their territory and trying to undo their good work in keeping us
all at home in our place. Now Failte Ireland
has taken an interesting competitive approach to promoting its Discover Ireland
home holidays and gone in the opposite direction. This time it's the Dublin
Airports Authority (DAA)) that's getting its knickers in a twist.
Instead of singing the praises of our many native attractions, Failte
Ireland has gone for the jugular by attacking the pitfalls of overseas air
travel, painting a graphically disturbing portrait of a day in the life of the
holidaymaker trapped in the airport, a cross between the Ryanair desk in Dublin
and Heathrow Terminal 5 (where former Aer Lingus boss Willie Walsh is suffering
a bit of personal brand damage).
This approach mirrors the current strategy adopted by Irish Ferries,
which uses a similar line of attack to promote sea versus air journeys, showing
people lining up for a body search,
stripped to their undies.
Failte Ireland
is already plugging the more conventional happy-go-lucky activity holiday
platform and perhaps it is a case of two branches of the same tourist body with
two budgets trying to find a point of differentiation between them. Together, the
two approaches make for strange strategic bedfellows.
The Failte Ireland animation ad is visually striking and right on
message. But the ultimate conceit behind this new strategy of easy-going
travelling in Ireland
begs the reality-check question.
Has the client or agency been caught in a ten mile tailback at any Irish
holiday blackspot on a Friday evening, a regular occurrence that can make an
airport seem like an oasis of peace, calm and efficient organisation as we'd
like it? It's a good ad, but one that
takes a somewhat questionable direction. ST suspects the client won't be
going back to the same place next year
Happy holidays, at home, abroad or at your hot desk.
