Radio Advertising

On average, 93% of the U.S. population listens to the radio at least once a week and 71% of the U.S. population listens to the radio daily.  This makes radio an extremely important medium for advertising.  Radio is everywhere.  It is used as peoples alarms, in the car, at the gym, even at work or while studying.  So how do advertisers make their ad catch listeners attention?  One successful way is to model radio commercials on TV commercials.  If an advertiser can get a listener to imagine or replay what they hear in their head, they are more likely to remember a commercial.  This is referred to as imagery transfer.  Advertisers target specific groups of people by advertising choosing the programming format, such as country, rock, contemporary listening, that they want their ad to be played with.  Typically you can narrow down the age of the listeners by looking at the programming format.  One of my favorite radio ads is the Jimmy John's "Fire" ad simply because it is clever and funny.  In this commercial a man calls Jimmy John's multiple times to help put out a fire and all Jimmy John's workers arrive before the fire department.  This ad comically advertises Jimmy John's "Freaky Fast Delivery".

Pros and Cons

Radio is important for more reasons than its large audience including:

• Cost efficiency
• Local relevance
• Most listeners here an ad multiple times.  This helps them remember an advertiser

The downside to radio inludes:

• Radio is only verbal.  Nothing can be seen, felt, or smelt when using radio advertising.
• Normally when the radio is on, it isn't the listeners primary focus.  Listeners may be focused on driving, working out, or work.  This makes it hard for advertisers to be heard.
• Radio stations normally play commercials in chunks.  This means clutter is created.  An advertiser must find a way to stick out from other ads.

Buying Radio Time

Rates for advertising are based on the time of the day as more listeners have the radio on during certain parts of the day, such as drive times.  Lower rates may be obtained by letting the radio station chose when to play ones ads (run-of-station) or by buying a package plan that guarantees good time (total audience plan).