Wednesday 11 November 2009

How Cliche is your Christmas Radio Advertising ?

Regular readers to the Ad Vantage column in the Radio Magazine will know that for what feels like an age, I have been banging on about the lack of recognition for Commercial Producers in the Sony Awards.

But if you don’t know already, the organisers of the 2010 awards have announced 4 new categories; 3 of which allow Commercial Producers to flex their creative muscles. The new categories are: ‘Best Use of Branded Content’, ‘Best Single Promo/Commercial’ and ‘Best Promotional/Advertising Campaign’.

I don’t know what finally persuaded the organisers to add these categories, but this is truly excellent news and I really hope that radio stations everywhere will submit loads of their best work. You can get details at radioawards.org.

In the last 2 weeks, I’ve noticed an upsurge in demand for Christmas radio ads. Good news for producers and radio stations alike ! When I worked in station commercial production departments many years ago, the demand for Christmas commercials was massive. So much so, it wasn’t unusual to actually run out of Christmas library music !

Things have evolved over the years. Over the last couple of years, the feeling I got from many advertisers is that “listeners know Christmas is coming. They’ll come without being invited”. This year, things feel different. It’s not desperation either. It’s the feeling that advertisers are A) feeling a little more confident about things and B) Know they can only get out of the slump by getting off their arses and start advertising !

Christmas radio advertising though is often predictable. There’s nothing wrong with having Santa in your ad, but the dialogue usally resembles an audio version of a till receipt rather than something that’s actually Christmassy. As I indicated in my last Ad Vantage article, there’s more to a brand than it’s price. This Christmas, I think commercials should be doing a couple of things:

1: Perhaps we should gently draw listeners attention to Christmases past. Not necessarily idyllic Christmas card-like snowy scenes such as Victorian children skating on glittering frozen ponds and all that sickly stuff. What I mean is Christmases past when we were younger and had less responsibility and commitments. Many psychologists suggest that in ‘difficult times’ we get comfort in remembering the days when life was easier. For brands and businesses with a heritage, this kind of stuff is gold.

2: Let’s make Christmas cool ! Over the years, numerous bands have released songs that don’t actually sound Christmassy, yet they encapsulate the cultural tone of the year the song was released in. Christmas music in radio ads usually feature musical church bells, sleighbells and choirboy samples. Hardly ‘today’.
How about some electric guitars ? Ambient pads, sound-scapes or some really cool drum loops ? By doing this kind of stuff, advertisers are presenting a new and original offering for Christmas. Far more inspiring than the cliché Yamaha DX7 approach.

Oh, and when Christmas Day is over, pull the Christmas ads. Many advertisers continue with the same ads after Christmas Day. But from December 26th, the sparkle of Christmas fades really fast. By all means keep on advertising, but instead focus on the next big thing.

For radio adverts that are far from everyday, click here.

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