The Why
Let's start with the numbers. 75% of an advertising campaign's success hinges on the creative. When it comes to AM/FM radio, 92% of the population listens each week — in the car, at home, at work, at their desk, and on-the-go. That's a whole lot of people listening to a whole lot of radio commercials.
And when it comes to radio commercials, emotional engagement is key. Each time you air an engaging commercial you are growing brand equity. A study done by Ad Agency OMD found that engaging radio commercials can generate up to 8 times the return-on-investment than non-engaging ones. That's why being on-emotion is the first rule of success — even more important than being on-message. However, when it comes to radio commercials, the numbers appear to be staggering.
NATIONAL RADIO COMMERCIALS
20% are engaging and will achieve maximum ROI. 30% are partially-engaging, which could result in 2-4 times the ROI. Unfortunately, 50% of commercials are non-engaging and do not pay for the cost of running the campaign.
LOCAL RADIO COMMERCIALS
8% are engaging and will achieve maximum ROI. 24% are partially-engaging, which could result in 2-4 times the ROI. Unfortunately, 68% of commercials are non-engaging and do not pay for the cost of running the campaign.
Considering the Advertising Research Foundation studied 5,000 ad campaigns and discovered that 75% of the ROI comes from how good the creative is, why are radio stations and marketers not paying attention to how good their commercials are?
If being on-emotion is the first key. Being consistent is second.
According to Roy Williams (the Wizard of Ads®️) — you can expect to get double the return-on-investment from your radio commercial the second year and triple the ROI the third year. If you change the essence of an emotionally engaging spot, you can end up back to at ground zero and have to start rebuilding your brand. The proven key to success is to create an engaging message then freshen the commercial 3-to-4 times a year without changing the essence of the campaign.
While all this sounds extremely logical, the challenge the radio industry has faced has been finding a cost-effective way to ensure all commercials are emotionally engaging. We now have a way to achieve this extremely important goal — SpotQ.
