An Advertiser's Guide to Better Radio Advertising Tune In to the Power of the Brand Conversation Medium

Foreword by Jo Kenrick.

How to use this book.

Acknowledgements.

About the authors.

SECTION 1: The Case for Change.

1 The Scale of the Medium.

1.1 The development of commercial radio in the UK.

1.2 Measurement and growth of the commercial radio audience.

1.3 Who listens to commercial radio?

1.4 Radio’s status as an advertising medium.

1.5 What does the future hold for commercial radio?

1.6 Summary.

2 The ‘True’ Radio Context.

2.1 Why and how people listen.

2.2 Radio’s media attributes.

2.3 How radio communicates.

2.4 Effectiveness of the medium.

2.5 Summary.

3 The Need for a Different Approach.

3.1 Why the need for a different approach?

3.2 Why does radio advertising have to be creative?

3.3 Why aren’t we better at using radio?

3.4 The challenges and opportunities of the medium.

3.5 Summary.

SECTION 2: Harnessing the True Power of Radio.

4 What is Advanced Level Creativity?

4.1 Effectiveness is a relative term.

4.2 Three common structural problems.

4.3 The crucial importance of brand linkage.

4.4 Realism vs. shooting for the moon.

4.5 Thinking at campaign level.

4.6 Summary.

5 Best Practice Process for Creating Better Radio.

5.1 Providing the optimum radio brief.

5.2 Judging good radio ideas.

5.3 The art of radio production.

5.4 Branding in sound.

5.5 Summary.

6 Measuring Radio’s Effect.

6.1 Defining the research objectives.

6.2 The importance of split samples.

6.3 Where to do the research.

6.4 When to do the research.

6.5 Sample sizes.

6.6 Method and questionnaire.

6.7 Measuring the short-term sales effects of radio.

6.8 Measuring the effect of radio sponsorships and promotions.

6.9 Summary.

SECTION 3: Thinking about Radio as ‘New Media’.

7 The New Challenges Facing Brand Communications.

7.1 The evolving consumer context.

7.2 How brand marketing is changing.

7.3 Dialogue, the new brand driver.

7.4 Summary.

8 Radio’s Role in Emerging Brand Thinking.

8.1 Radio as a brand conversation medium.

8.2 Harnessing the power of radio for brand conversations.

8.3 New conversational roles for radio.

8.4 Summary.

SECTION 4: The Seven-Step Guide to Better Radio Advertising.

9 The Seven-Step Guide to Better Radio Advertising.

Step 1: Define a clear role for radio.

Step 2: Keep the brief simple.

Step 3: Ask for the team with radio skills.

Step 4: Take care over tone.

Step 5: Use the right judging criteria.

Step 6: Use preproduction.

Step 7: Consider using a director.

Summary.

SECTION 5: Appendices.

Appendix 1: The RAB Bus Research Study.

Appendix 2: Radio Script.

Appendix 3: Online Radio Ads Track Listing (www.better-radio-advertising.co.uk).

References.

Index.

Mark Barber
After graduating from the University of Life, Mark spent 18 years as a media planner in a variety of media agencies before joining the Radio Advertising Bureau in 2001. He has been using radio as an advertising medium since 1983, during which time his perspective has moved from audience cost-per-thousands to the communication benefits of the medium.
Mark’s previous contributions to radio literature include Understanding Radio, the Brand Conversation Medium and Radio Advertising Effectiveness for Dummies. In his spare time, he supports Charlton Athletic, is teaching himself to speak Turkish, and entertains his children with bad jokes and poorly executed magic tricks.

Andrew Ingram
Andrew has a broad-based experience in advertising and media. After graduating from Cambridge in 1979, he started commercial life in the advertisement department of the Daily Mail, going on through quantitative research, and qualitative research, and eventually moving into account planning before joining the RAB in 1992.
Andrew’s previous books include Wireless Wisdom and Understanding Radio. He is a regular speaker at media and advertising conferences across the globe. In his spare time, he indulges in daughters and classic cars, and an art project involving old plastic bags in trees.
The authors work together at the Radio Advertising Bureau on a daily basis, helping advertisers and agencies overcome the barriers that are preventing them from using radio advertising more effectively. It is this experience that has informed the development of this book.