Search results matching tag 'radio'

Sounding off

1368741 — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 05:29:00 GMT

Our lovely cousins at the RAB have made an online TV ad to promote radio advertising. The cheeky blighters have based it around our TV ad, but, as they don’t say much we’d disagree with, we have decided to take it as a tribute. Don’t forget to put the sound up.

Our TV ad does strongly feature lines and catchphrases from TV ads but also important gestures and movements: the Cornetto gondola rowing, the R White’s dance, the JR Hartley head-nodding. No matter; the RAB has highlighted an issue we feel strongly about which is the importance of sound in TV ads.

Radio can indeed through sound alone provoke a visual memory from a TV ad; in one of our own research groups someone talked about the British Heart Foundation’s TV ad from a couple of years back where blood clots were seen moving sinisterly under the skin to the accompaniment of the Frank Sinatra classic ‘I’ve got you under my skin’. She said that every time she heard the music she could visualise those clots creeping along veins.

But unless that strong visual image had been linked to impactful sound via the TV ad the radio wouldn’t have worked as well. TV works that way with other media too. Seeing a still image in print or outdoor from a TV ad can remind people of the full glory of the original, but they can be confusing without the TV narrative.

Current fashions in TV favour some stylish action with either a voiceover or a music track; think Sony Balls, Guinness surfers or Cadbury’s eyebrows. And fabulous results can be produced in that way; the latest Budweiser and Hula-Hoops TV ads are part of that trend – even the Philips Carousel film. All of them could – and do – run in any market in the world, either as they stand or with a local voiceover.

But what we’re seeing less of is TV ads with dialogue, where we get to know and love characters through conversations. Some of the classics like Leonard Rossiter and Joan Collins for Cinzano or the Gold Blend couple gave us ongoing mini-dramas that compelled us to watch the next instalment.

There are ways round this of course and one of this year’s most successful campaigns has created a loveable character, with a back-story, narrative thrust and great scripts.

His name is Aleksandr Orlov. VCCP has created strong emotional connections for the comparethemarket.com brand in a low interest crowded market with some classy anthropomorphism. If they did need to export the advertising I guess that the marvels of post-production could transport Aleksandr and Sergei anywhere in the world. It would work for the PG Tips monkey too, though Jonny Vegas wouldn’t travel so well I guess.

The combination of moving images with sound is one of the enormous advantages TV (and cinema) has over other visual media like digital outdoor or online video. Yes, online video has the capability for sound but the reality is that the speakers are only likely to be on if you’re watching TV or a film online. Music is a surefire solution to the sound element in TV ads; we have footage of people dancing, singing, clapping along to them. But hearing and seeing words come out of real people’s mouths – with or without music - is a special treat and provokes a deep emotional response. T-Mobile did it in Trafalgar Square. We’d love to see more.

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Wifi hits the dashboard....

2521313 — Tue, 19 May 2009 12:06:05 GMT

From American online news supplier Inside Radio

"Radio’s reign as king of in-car listening may not be over, but there’s a new threat on the horizon. Autonet Mobile has begun selling Wi-Fi for the car at more than 3,300 stores nationwide, including Best Buy."

We have also heard on the grapevine that Apple are introducing an application for their I-Phone product which will allow people to listen to online radio direct via their car stereos from July of this year.

The growth of online listening continues.

Ross Hemsworth
Glastonbury Radio

The change of media trends in digital broadcasting

2521313 — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 14:36:56 GMT

US market reserach agency Abitron, recently reported that over 60 million Ameriacns a week listen to online radio stations and yet the UK advertising industry remains slow to bring clients to online broadcasters.

Whilst online digital radio is still relatively small, it is a massive growth area and our stationb for example has attracted two former BBC Radio ONe DJ's and a top comedian as presenters in recent weeks.

We will be in a large Winnebago backstage at this year's Glastonbury Festival entertaining the great and the good and yet still the larger sponsors and advertisers are not being pushed in our direction.

Perhaps some of you good people out there would like to consider us as an experimental option!

We get over 5 million hits a month to our website and our audince is surfing the web whilst listenng into Glastonbury Radio, with a credit card in their hand ready to spend money! We are not about just "brand awareness" like FM radio, we are about ACTUAL SALES!

Glastonbury Broadcasting Ltd shares have increased in value ten fold in the past three months - so somehing must be right! Tune in at http://www.glastonburyradio.net

Rock on people!

Ross Hemsworth
Managing Director
Glastonbury Broadcasting Ltd
http://www.glastonburybroadcasting.net

Which social network for the About Time app?

273167 — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 15:48:00 GMT

We met our marketing company last week and discussed our year's plans for marketing. We did a range of marketing in our first year, including instore promotions, a radio competition tie-in in the South, PR, a little bit of targeted direct mail and a very small smattering of advertising. Budget constraints meant we had to be focused on what we knew would shift product. We wanted to do a viral campaign using 'mini' versions of the board game, but it never quite came off.

This year we are determined to take viral marketing, and online display seriously as we focus on some core markets for About Time - relaunch our website as a better shopping-friendly space, and drive traffic to the site to bump up sales. We are looking at a display campaign on some core/niche sites, and a social networking campaign. But assuming we build a game playing application for a network, which one do we go for? Facebook or Twitter, or go straight for the iPhone, or even Amazon's Kindle, which is not even in the UK yet but is getting people excited (and annoyed)?

It's something we have to decide - our campaign will include some simple competitions based on our time trivia concepts. But there is the phenomenon of multiplayer asynchronous games like Scrabulous (now Lexulous)which drove sales of Scrabble even when the makers had never approved the online game.

Any thoughts on this would be most welcome

Brand has gone should Ross go as well?

2308643 — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 12:11:04 GMT

Russell Brand and Jonathan Ross have landed themselves in hot water after making obscene phone calls to 'Fawlty Towers' star Andrew Sachs.

More than 27,000 people have now complained to the BBC about the calls, which were made during Brand's BBC Radio 2 show on Saturday night earlier this month. Brand has resigned and Ross, although having apologised, faces calls to go. Should he go?

[Poll]

Local radio gold dust

2228399 — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 11:26:00 GMT

If anyone's forgotten how amazing local radio is - check this. Is true local radio viral gold dust . . .

http://www.wordmagazine.co.uk/content/when-hardeep-met-les

I'm starting a campaign to get Les Ross on national radio. Think he'd be a perfect replacement for Jonathan Ross (no relation) on Radio 2's Saturday morning slot . . .

Good luck Absolute, but that's enough rebranding of radio stations

1704826 — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 13:41:00 GMT

The Beatles' A Day in the Life finally heralded the death of Virgin Radio and the phoenix-like emergence of Absolute Radio this morning.

After a slightly pompous mission statement about what the company thought ‘real music' is, which included the suggestions ‘gigs not photo shoots' and ‘built to last not flavour of the month', breakfast DJ Christian O'Connell declared that today was ‘The first day in your life of Absolute Radio'.

It's difficult not to wish them well, given the state of the radio industry, although I still find the Absolute name a bit underwhelming.

Rather more fleet of foot and less self-reverential, over at O'Connell's former station, Xfm, his replacement Alex Zane, lampooned the relaunch by temporarily re-naming his own charge as ‘Tremendous Radio' at exactly the same time that Absolute emerged from a rather lengthy and largely Beatles-inspired music mash-up.

With Capital 95.8 being rebranded, Xfm being disbanded from some cities and other stations being subsumed into the Jazz FM network there has been too much change in radio.

Radio owners would do well to remember that while it might just be possible to whip media buyers and branding experts into some sort of excitement about these changes, listeners probably don't care that much.

Radio is TV's retirement home

1704826 — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 12:15:00 GMT

Selina Scott's decision to sue Five for alleged age discrimination has reignited the debate about the treatment of older presenters by television companies.

According to reports, Five welshed on an agreement to use Scott as news presenter when Natasha Kaplinsky was off on maternity leave. As has been covered extensively elsewhere, other presenters - such as Kate Adie, Anna Ford and Moira Stuart - have also found themselves thrown in the news dustbin, amid accusations that the TV industry is only interested in ‘autocuties'.

However I think I've found a retirement home for these TV veterans - commercial radio. Magic 105.4, which also has Dr Fox as a presenter, has just signed up 80s pop temptress and avid gardener Kim Wilde to present a weekend show. David ‘Kid' Jensen, 58, also still finds work on radio most recently on Planet Rock. Fluff Freeman was also working up until his hundredth birthday, I think, too while annoying youth presenter Tim Westwood is surely the wrong side of 50.

Virgin Radio, run by Absolute Radio, renamed Absolute Radio - how absolutely boring

1704826 — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 17:26:00 GMT

So after months of trying to build up some sort of excitement about Virgin Radio's enforced name change with promises that the new name would only be chosen once all stakeholders had been ‘engaged with', the radio station in association with ad agency Albion has come up with Absolute Radio.

In a remarkable coincidence, this is also the name of part of the consortium that bought the ailing radio station, the other being the Times of India Group, which I suppose they decided after a lengthy process involving ‘complex criteria' was not an appropriate alternative.

Times of India with Absolute Radio bought Virgin Radio in June and promised to spend £15m on the new branding. There is a key lessons here - don't try and build up expectations and excitement when you are going for the obvious name otherwise it'll end up looking distinctly underwhelming.

Russell Grant deal with AOL reminds me of In Bed With MeDinner

1704826 — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 16:06:00 GMT

In the mid-90s there was a TV programming on late night LWT that was one of the finest TV shows ever made. It was called In Bed With Medinner and took the rise out of old and usually cheaply-made TV documentaries. It was a great shame when it ended.

In one particularly memorable episode the programme showed something that had gone out live to celebrate LWT's twentieth birthday some time in the 80s. It was excruciating. Nigel Dempster did a piece to camera where in a set-up piece he happened to ‘bump into' 60s model Cathy McGowan. As he did so he said:' It's Cathy McGowan! A star of the 60s and an even bigger star of the....'. And then he stopped. Because he couldn't pretend that she was.

The reason for this rather long and rambling introduction is that I was reminded of the scene when I read a story about AOL partnering with astrologer Russell Grant to launch a horoscope channel. Russell Grant? The last time I saw him on telly I was off school ill, TV-AM existed and both him and I think General Galtieri was eyeing up the Falklands.

According to AOL, the deal showed that the company was committed to working with ‘the world's leading content providers'. Surely that's one of the biggest overstatements going. AOL should have taken Dempster's advice.