Mary Ellen,
I know that can be very frustrating. First, you are correct that the "mention this ad" approach is bad. We strongly oppose that in any ads on our stations as customers can actually be offended by this strategy of "respond to our advertising AND evaluate it for us".
When client's have enough frequency on TV, it will generally source well. Had a client years ago that dropped TV and for the next three years it continued to be the number one sourcing media. It illustrates that consumers really don't know. I've found the best answer is to not get pulled into a discussion of which is better. They are both very powerful media tools that work in different ways. If there is a comparision, it would be comparing a radio station to a TV program. As TV runs 30 and 60 minute programs, their audience turns over everytime there is a new show. Radio Stations have the same general target audience 24/7 which allows greater opportunity to build frequency against a target. If you have multiple stations, there is an opportunity to build additional reach by adding more stations.
One thing that hasn't changed over the years...a successful ad campaign must have both Reach (reach the right people) and Frequency (tell them enough times to expect results). This is where TV has a challenge.
Mary Ellen,
Many years ago I was an ad agency AE, and my client was a major market bank that spend heavily in all media: TV, radio, outdoor, newspaper, and even direct mail. Once, when one of the bank's vice presidents opined to the advertising manager that the bank should drop radio because "no one listens to radio anymore," the ad manager asked us to design a test.
As it happened, we had just begun work on a campaign to introduce a new consumer checking account product. We recommended a radio only campaign, and developed a total market radio buy over a period of six weeks. Before the campaign began, our research department did a market study to determine the level of consumer awareness of the bank's name and the name of the checking account product. Remember, the product had not yet been offered, and no advertising had been done. We found a high awareness of the bank's name (no surprise), and at least 10% of respondents picked out the product name from a list.
After the campaign, we ran the market study again, and this time awareness of the product name was over 80%. More importantly, listeners responded, and thousands of new accounts were opened every day of the campaign! The bank's projections for the product were far exceeded, and it became one of the most successful new product launches ever for the bank.
But here's the kicker. We added one more question to the survey: How did you hear about (name) checking? I'll never forget the number: 64% said TV!
The lesson: don't trust consumers to give you an accurate answer when you ask how they heard about something. They don't know, because they don't care.
Roy Williams gives us some valuable input on Mary Ellen's question, posted May 6. He points out that TV's greatest threat is the DVR: people who can afford it simply skip the commercials! See the whole memo at www.mondaymorningmemo.com.
Have another great day in Radio!
Bryant
Nothing is more frustrating to customers than being asked a bunch of questions that have nothing to do with their purpose in being at the store. Customers don't care how they got there.
I have a client (realtor) whose #1 answer, when potential clients are asked how the learned about her, is "billboard". She's NEVER had a single billboard but her major competitors do. She runs a very aggressive radio campaign. I just had a client (doctor) run a direct mail campaign in conjunction with a heavy radio schedule. A segment of the ads, pre-mail drop, focused on looking for the direct mail piece coming your way. A segment of the ads, after the mail drop, focused on you should have received the direct mail piece. The results were 400% greater doing the direct mail/radio combo than the direct mail alone.
If someone is really gung-ho about a media source, I always tell them "If I could show you a way to increase the effectiveness of your (TV, newspaper, etc.) advertising by ____% (get the specific number from RAB) would you be interested in talking to me?" I then tell them I don't want them to spend any more money but if they move 30% of that budget over to radio that's what their results will be vs. the stand alone media source.
According to RAB, the ROI for radio is 49% greater than TV. According to an experiment done by Roy Williams for a weight loss product, radio beat newspaper 14-1. Same schedule (one day), same budget, same copy.
Ocassionally, when clients tell me they're not sure radio is working, I offer to do a "test" for them. I'll run one ad for them at no charge if they'll give the first 10 people that come through the door ($100, a new car, a year's worth of groceries or gas, etc.) When the client says, "I can't do that," I respond by pointing out that settles the questions of if we have listeners and can we drive traffic to your door. We both now agree that it all has to do with the message and move on.
Radio can be better used in ARG and Web Series to promote products in tandem. The Hero in show X can make a date to have lunch at Dinner Y (the Advertiser) as a Radio spot promoting both the Web Series the Dinner at the same time.
As more drop off TV for Web Series you are putting your advertisers in a great place.
