why radio

USING RADIO TO ACCELERATE YOUR SHARE OF THE MOTORING MARKET

It’s a commonly held misconception by some car brands and their agencies that radio cannot be used to build car brands, simply because it’s not ‘visual’. They believe that consumers need to see a car in order to want it. (In 2012, nogal?!)

But, as singh&sons ECD Roger Paulse argues, for most people, cars are about something far more important; “For the young driver it’s about independence; going on a date without having to be driven there. For others it’s about getting to work safely in a country that doesn’t have the best public transport. For parents it’s the best way to keep their kids safe during a journey.

These are the emotions that drive our desires – and guess what – they’re perfect to dramatise on radio, because they’re personal”.

While widespread industry perceptions such as ‘visual media is more effective in the advertising of car brands’ have done nothing to quell the misperceptions, the reality is that more and more car brands are beginning to see radio become a viable option in building the brands of manufacturers and dealers alike.

Radio offers brands an opportunity to find a home in the hearts and minds of listeners.

As The Mediashop’s Richard Lord points out in our Burning Question this month; “The vehicle market is increasingly cluttered and manufacturers are constantly fighting for market share. This means that strategically top of mind recall is of paramount importance and radio is ideal for creating this – the main reason being that the majority of radio listening happens in the car – and what better place to try and sell someone a new car than when they are sitting in their old one”.

According to RadioGAUGE UK, Radio has been proven to improve brand perceptions of advertised motoring brands by more than 80%, with the strongest performing automotive campaigns being those that use recognisable audio cues, consistent music, voices and /or slogans.

With brands such as Lexus (see Hot New Radio Campaigns) already realising that radio is about as close to the point of purchase as it gets, 2012 should be a great year as more and more car brands get closer to the action through radio and make their brand campaigns AND sales hit home.

Filed Under: Featured, the power of radio, why radio

STATE OF…THE MOTORING AD SPEND

Radio Specialist John Walls has a particular knack for zooming in on the situation and providing a well-balanced view on things as they stand. His finger-on-the-pulse account of radio ad spend in the motoring sector wouldn’t just put presidents to shame – it signals just how car brands are stepping up to the plate to make sure their campaigns really hit home…

In my previous life as a radio station sales manager we were routinely asked to predict advertising spend for the next 6 or 12 months.

The first thing i always did was to pull the spend for the automotive industry. If spend w

as up, it meant vehicle sales were up, and that meant that consumers were starting to open their wallets again.
invest in a new set of wheels. The first thing consumers do when they feel more financially confident is to

After all, there’s nothing quite like a new car to tell yourself, and your neighbours, that you’ve survived the recession.

On the flip side, if automotive spend was dropping, it meant that manufacturers and dealers were getting nervous, and consumers were starting to tighten their belts. When household budgets get tight, the car gets downgraded.

The automotive industry rarely spends to stimulate demand. They spend to take advantage of demand and economists have long used this industry as their ‘canary in a coalmine,’ their early-warning bell as to where the economy is headed.

Which is why I get very excited when I look at what the automotive industry is doing on radio right now.

According to Primedia Broadcasting JHB Sales Manager Andrew Cooper,automotive spend is definitely on the way up; “The automotive industry is our second biggest spending category behind financial services. We had 18 different manufacturers on air across our 4 stations in January and we’ve already had strong demand from all manufacturers for the first quarter of 2012”.

Ultimate Media’s experience in our first year of operation is that automotive radio spend is in rude health. Investing in radio has not been the issue. It’s rather been about the right way to invest in the medium.

Automotive is a major category for radio, but it’s traditionally been used to push retail offers like the recent BMW 2.99% interest offer. According to Cooper, many of the manufacturers use radio to run with retail offers off the back of new model launches which were advertised on TV.

Nothing wrong with this. TV makes you fall in love with the new model. Radio tells you where to buy it, how to buy it, and how to get the best price. Radio, in essence,closes the deal.

Take VW Claremont in the Western Cape where a recent radio campaign prompted this response from the client as an example;“we estimate that at least 20 of the car sales were directly linked to the exposure on KFM.

The results have been terrific and the dealership has been abuzz with activity ever since”!

While we’re not yet seeing a boom in new car launches on radio, we are beginning to see radio become a viable option in building the brands of manufacturers and dealers alike.

The automotive industry is starting to understand that radio delivers a captive market, literally captive in their cars. The car that they love, they hate, they wish they could upgrade. Imagine a soft drink advertiser knowing that every time a consumer hears their ad they will have a can of soft drink in their hand. Most advertisers would die for that!

BMW have been building brand on radio for years. But others have now caught on. They’ve twigged on to radio’s innate ability to connect very personally with listeners. “If the radio station is talking about it, then it must be good.”

Here are 3 great examples to ponder on;

Kia Motors

Ray Levin of Kia Motors has used radio to build the Kia brand significantly over the last few years. They leveraged their status as official sponsors of the 2010 FIFA World Cup by owning key radio properties, such as the ‘Countdown Clock’ on Talk Radio 702.
They maximised their radio presence by giving away a Kia Soul on the morning of the opening day of the World Cup across multiple stations. Kia then extended their radio presence by taking ownership of the ‘Take 40’ countdown on94.7 Highveld and KFM. It’s a clever sponsorship, which gives them brand presence within a unique space, along with a forum to promote key benefits of their vehicles.
Kia then took a decision to dominate a defined space within radio with a weekly sponsorship under the East Coast Radio ‘Funsunzi’ banner. After all, it’s so much easier to stand out on radio, than in the clutter of automotive advertising on TV.

Carfind.co.za

Frank McDouall of Carfind.co.za also discovered that radio is a great way to build affinity with a brand. He developed the concept of ‘Carfind of the Week’ and made it a reality on Heart 104.9 FM.
Every Tuesday between 09h00 – 12h00pm the mid-morning show’s Saskia and Mel would paint a picture of a typical Capetonian. It could be the Mom who lifts 3 kids every day, or the surfer dude, or the aspiring female executive.
Listeners are then directed to the Carfind.co.za website to find the perfect car for each day’s candidate. The listener with the best choice of car wins a cash prize. Presenter and station affinity becomes affinity for the Carfind.co.za brand.

SMG

SMG is a multi-dealer BMW franchise with branches in KZN and Western Cape. All motor dealers are judged on a regular basis by means of a customer service survey of consumers.
This survey asks customers to judge a dealership on the basis of ‘poor, fair, good, very good, excellent.” Mark Ross, Dealer Principal of SMG Cape Town, understood that he needed to speak to consumers in a language they would be familiar with. He chose radio to do this.
“Radio has so entrenched our pay-off line which is; ‘Not good, not very good, but excellent’ that our customers regularly quote it back to us”, he says.

Figures aside, radio is a vibrant medium for the automotive industry – certainly with the moving of cars off showrooms every Saturday morning – and most definitely with the building of automotive brands.

Filed Under: insights, Uncategorized, why radio

The Burning Question

“I’ve always thought you needed visuals to advertise a car brand?”

‘Two sides to the same coin’ or so the old adage goes, so when this gem;“I’ve always thought you needed visuals to advertise a car brand?”, arrived in our inbox, we put it to media expert, The Mediashop’s Richard Lord as well as creative genie Singh&Son’s Roger Paulse to find a happy ‘medium’…

Singh&Sons Executive Creative Director Roger Paulse says;

The answer is: “Yes, you do”.

Consumers have a lot of rational reasons to buy a specific car, but even two dozen rational reasons rarely convinces a consumer to buy a car that he or she thinks, looks ugly.

Consumers want cars that look powerful. Or cute. Or futuristic. Or French. Powerful? Cute? French?

These are tropes radio has been great at dramatising for decades. I would never suggest only using radio to sell a car, but assuming that it’s part of a wider campaign, radio does have its place. And that place is between your ears, not in them!

Visual media is terrific at showing you ‘what is’. Radio’s strength is in showing you ‘what can be’. Imagine how it feels to drive this car. Or just own one. Or being able to resell it without losing 90% of its value.

I’m interested in cars beyond their obvious purpose: getting from A-B. I know the history of the brand I drive. I know the exact capacity of my fuel tank. I know how many kWs the engine can produce.

But for most people, cars are about something far more important. For the young driver it’s about independence; going on a date without having to be driven there. For others it’s about getting to work safely in a country that doesn’t have the best public transport. For parents it’s the best way to keep their kids safe during a journey.

These are the emotions and desires that consumers have regarding cars. They’re perfect to dramatise on radio, because they’re personal. And every ad on radio is interpreted according to the listener’s

individual experiences. A visual medium shows exactly what is. Radio allows listeners to experience ‘what can be’.

For all the importance of what cars look like, the fact is that most of us spend much more time in our car rather than looking at it.

The Mediashop’s Associate Media Director Richard Lord responds…

It is a commonly held misconception by many vehicle advertisers and their agencies that radio cannot be used to sell cars as it is not visual. They believe that consumers need to see a car in order to want it.

While visual media can convey a sense of speed, style, quality and looks, there are many aspects of a vehicle that do not need to be conveyed visually. These include safety, fuel efficiency, maintenance plans and CO2 carbon emissions.

These are all critical components that people look for when choosing a vehicle and all of them contribute towards one’s overall perception of a car brand.

Radio is in fact ideally suited to car advertising – the main reason being that the majority of radio listening happens in the car – and what better place to try and sell someone a new car than when they are sitting

The vehicle market is increasingly cluttered and manufacturers are constantly fighting for market share. This means that strategically top of mind recall is of paramount importance and radio is ideal for creating this. in their old one!

Static media such as press and magazines are great for reaching the in-market consumer i.e. those people ready to buy a car now, but they’re not so good at reaching those people not in the market…it’s too easy to turn over the page.

Radio on the other hand has very low levels of ad avoidance and so has a unique ability of reaching both in and out of market consumers – that way when I am in the market for a new car in 6 months’ time, I have already been exposed to Brand X’s communication, making them a ready option on my consideration list.

In fact, research done in the UK by the RAB, suggests that ad awareness for vehicle manufacturers amongst radio listeners is 67% higher than for non-radio listeners. Clearly radio’s doing something right!

Filed Under: Featured, insights Tagged With: burning question, mediashop, richard lord, roger paulse, signh&sons

For every 1 000 South Africans, 109 of them own cars
In China there are only 22 cars per 1 000 people
In India, there are only 11 per 1 000
In Lagos there are 15 per 1 000
In Nairobi there are 50 per 1 000
In New York there are 500 per 1 000

HOW TO use radio advertising to market car brands (great tips!)
The trick of effective ads is always to base them on what the listener wants to hear, and the listener is always one person. Although a station may broadcast to hundreds of thousands of people, each person listening only wants one kind of car.
Although the advertiser may offer three different ranges e.g. luxury, family and city cars, a listener will only want to buy one. One value proposition per ad is often more effective than hoping the listener will pick through a complicated ad to find the parts relevant to them. The objective is not to tell listeners all about the business. It’s to give a listener a compelling reason to come in and buy a car now.

Trends – what’s happening?
“Generally, automotive ads have softened up a bit and are no longer positioned at the ‘man’s man’. Gone are the days of butch automotive adverts. Ads seem to be appealing more to a softer consumer, displaying softer emotional triggers (fun, escapism, envy) and substituting force and horsepower with agility and lightness”,says Ornico’s Tumi Rabanye. She attributes this to guru Faith Popcorn’s EVEolution trend, prediction that within a decade, the companies that do the best job of marketing to women will dominate every significant product and service category.
In addition, she predicts that by 2020, consumers in emerging markets will move beyond basic vehicles to embrace luxury vehicles and green technologies. The market for luxury cars in the developing world might best be compared with the explosion in demand for high-end brands in the late 1990s.

Filed Under: Featured, insights, why radio Tagged With: did you know

RadioWorks Insights

Having successfully hosted the mother of all Conferences, RadioWorks 2011 – an amazing and rare opportunity where a host of the industry’s smartest thinkers got to soak up a whole day of radio, discussing what works, what doesn’t and why, we were suitably thrilled when some of the key speakers agreed to be a part of this publication. Here are just some of the notable takeouts.

Don’t you love it when they get it so right? Jenny Glover, Net#work BBDO

5 Tips on how to make NTR work – John Walls, Ultimate Media

Up close and personal with the Programming Manager – Jason Brownlee

The many shades of black – Lebo Motshegoa, Foshizi

Filed Under: insights, radioworks 2011

A view from the top

‘Frequency is everything’ – or so they say. ‘Radio is the most daunting of all mediums to create for’ – or so they say. In light of the ever-changing landscape, where everyone is expected to stay on top of trends, we’ve gathered some of the biggest industry guns, including Capitec CEO Riaan Stassen, LoweBull CEO Wayne Naidoo, Mediacom Strategist Ross Sergeant, Draft FCB ECD Neo Mashigo and lots more, to weigh in on these and other pressing media and creative issues and make sure you stay on top of your radio game.

Reasons why I did not touch that dial in 2010 – Rui Alves, Lowe Bull

Radio Creative: Time to raise the bar – Wayne Naidoo, Lowe Bull

An antidote to ‘creative’s block – to be taken daily – forever – Tony Hertz

True commitment to transformation will benefit radio – Ross Sergeant, MediaCom

Building a New Brand - Riaan Stassen, Capitec

Wooing the listeners – Luci Hirsch, Hirschs

Time for a shake up - Neo Mashigo, Draftfcb

Filed Under: creative Mind, insights

Insider Info

With the proposed announcement of 3 new commercial stations, South Africa’s radio landscape is set to be immeasurably more robust in the coming year. It is without a doubt an exciting time for the industry to sit up, take notice and full advantage of radio’s unique offerings. Who better to set the scene than some of the radio business heavy weights we’ve come to know and respect. Ryan Till of Primedia Broadcasting, Nick Grubb of Kagiso Media, Rivak Bunce of United Stations and Eugene Zwane from SABC coming right up.

Radio as we knew it - Rivak Bunce, United Stations

The future is LOUD - Eugene Zwane, SABC

Rules of engagement - Nick Grubb, Kagiso Media

Radio: The driving force behind meaningful connections - Ryan Till, Primedia Broadcasting

Filed Under: the power of radio Tagged With: Radio Heavyweights

For as long as frequency has been debated, so has Media Inflation Watch been a highly contentious issue. Not ones to mark our own homework, we asked Mike Leahy for a quick synopsis on how radio fared in 2011and we’re pleased to announce that the results are good – very good…

Media Inflation Watch, an analysis module of Media Manager online, hasn’t been too kind to radio in the last few years. Whereas station rates were pretty conservative, the performance delivered didn’t quite add up.

In the last few years RAMS data indicated that the average listener was spending less and less time with the medium. Although last 7 day numbers were still high, the numbers for the average ¼ hour and thus the performance of the average commercial spot was falling, placing severe pressure on the competitiveness of the medium as measured.

Fast forward to 2011, however,and a different picture emerges – one in which the average listener is deciding that it is worth devoting time with radio.Looking at the diagram below, and for the most part, audience growth continues to outpace rate card rate increases – (the most positive results seen by radio for some years!).

Radio also has the lowest cost per thousand at R29.13, when compared with television at R48.31 and print at R108.46, meaning that advertisers are able to reach all income brackets more cost effectively.

This, coupled with the audience resuscitation indicated below means that the number of listeners to the average spot is stabilised. It has led to a more competitive MIW index, to the relief of…well, everyone!

Mike Leahy

IBIS Media

Filed Under: insights Tagged With: mike leahy, MIW

Let’s face it, no one likes to read a long-winded article, much like no one likes to sit in a studio all day, toiling over a couple of 30” ads, right? But what happens when the hundreds of thousands of rands invested in airtime are riding on the power of your message? What then?

Surely it’s worth slowing down and giving some focussed attention to the crafting and production element of your radio campaign?

We sat down with a couple of radio engineering and production experts who concur that when it comes to producing well written and engaging messages, you’re better off zigging while everyone else zags – The results in brand awareness and actual sales, as they’ve seen, are worth it!

Mashabela Creatives Founder,David Mashabela says;“Although there are a few advertisers who still enjoy selecting the right voice for a particular ad, getting the music that will capture the emotion they are trying to communicate or just want to be a part of the creative process that happens in the studio, they are, in 2011, fading out.The result of this is that more and more radio ads are starting to have the same tone and feel as super market newspaper inserts – just product and price.

Mashabela insists that herein lies the opportunity for involved advertisers and their passionate engineers to shine – a well written, well produced ad on radio stands head and shoulders above the crowd. And isn’t that just the thing that marketers are forever chasing after?

Executive Electronic Producer at an agency that’s become renowned for its award-winning radio work, Net#work BBDO, Tanja Rae thinks that what it ultimately boils down to, is still always an interesting piece of copy;

“Without copy that has a purpose, that evokes an emotion or likeability, you could have the best production team waiting to produce and still come up with pretty much nothing memorable.

Next step is to surround yourself with the best sound engineers, producers, voice artists and language supervisors. The beauty of living in a digital era means that engineers have all the library music, sound effects and a multitude of plug-ins, at their fingertips.

Yet, it still takes an excellent engineer to insist on going on a field trip to record the actual sounds of all the models of cars for a client, so that he can build up his sound effects library for that particular client’s future productions. This is called passion and I suggest finding an engineer that has truckloads of it.

Radio production is an exciting process, where, when all the stars align, there really is no limit to the pictures you can paint in the mind’s eye.

Filed Under: creative Mind, insights Tagged With: production

With an infinitely greater choice of stations and products, advertisers are now more than ever, on the lookout for breakthrough ways of interacting meaningfully with listeners. Here then are the five top tips on how to navigate those waters, courtesy of Radio Specialist John Walls.

Filed Under: insights Tagged With: John Walls, ntr