Thursday 7 January 2016

Create A New Addiction !



This is a typical day in the Calvert household:

I get up at 7.30ish. I check my BBC News app and then go downstairs to feed our 2 dogs Wainwrights dog food. We’ve tried other makes, but the dogs went off them.

Then it’s a quick jump into the shower. By then Dan, my 10 year old son will be tucking into his Kelloggs cereal. My wife will be straightening her hair with her GHD’s and I’ll pop out to walk the dogs in the rain wearing my North Face raincoat.

At 8.30 sharp, I kiss my son goodbye and my wife takes Dan to school in her Hyundai car.

By then I am in the office. I will check the Brand Republic website for the latest advertising news and then start scriptwriting on Microsoft Office 2016.  I’ll record voices via my Audio TX codec and mix commercials on Pro Tools on my Mac Pro. (Pro Tools is so much more stable on Mac !) Alternatively I could be doing voiceovers via my Neumann mic. From there I will gather some documents and jump into my BMW and head to a meeting. I usually stop at the local M&S shop to buy sandwiches and a can of ‘V’ energy drink. I don’t drink Red Bull, because for some reason it makes me feel sleepy.

At the meeting, I present the document and play audio from my Bose Acoustic Music System. In my opinion, nothing sounds better.

After the meeting, I check emails on my Iphone. On longer trips, I bring a small Seagate hard drive of all the radio commercials and music Airforce has ever recorded over the last 10 years, just in case someone needs me to send them something we’ve made in the past. Then it’s off home. On my way back, I will usually stop at Tesco to buy red wine for me and Prosecco for my wife. She used to drink Cava, but nowadays it gives her a migraine.

It’s back into the office until about 6pm. I walk the dogs wearing my Timberland walking boots. Then it’s family time. Having said that, I keep the phone on just in case a client calls. Dan will have had his tea, (he loves Bertolli pasta) and then he looks at Youtube on our Ipad. My wife and I may discuss things like our next holiday. We prefer Thomson/Sensatori holiday resorts.

At 7.30ish, I will cook dinner and then watch TV on our Samsung TV. Later, I check emails and Facebook, then it’s off to bed.

So what’s the point behind me telling you my daily routine and preferences ?

Every day, we all go through routines, rituals and habits. You’ll have superstitions as well. You’ll do things in a certain way because you think things will be better as a result doing things ‘your’ way.

You may avoid walking on cracks in the pavement. You may never walk under a ladder. You won’t buy a pastry from ‘that’ bakery on the street corner because you heard someone got food poisoning.  You may think that if you buy a Lottery ticket with a specific set of numbers, you stand a better chance of winning.  You won’t drink alcohol until after 7pm. You will always park in generally the same area when you visit your local supermarket.

The list goes on and on.

Our days are dominated by these routines, rituals, habits, beliefs and superstitions. Some will be very subtle, whereas others you will be completely aware of and apologise to others for them.

We carry them out because they make us feel, among other thigs,  ‘in control’.

And guess what ? Every big brand knows that.

That’s why they create products that help to maintain and enhance that feeling of well-being, familiarity and security.

We think we own brands. But in reality, brands actually own us. They make products we believe we can’t live without. For example, for thousands of years, the human race has survived perfectly well without the need for things like mobile phones, make-up, social media and coffee. Yet today, the very thought of being denied these things for just 24 hours sends a lot of us into a mild panic !

Brands adapt to our needs of the moment, For example, see this commercial for Lucozade from 1971. Lucozade was a drink that helped poorly kids feel better. And here’s their latest offering.  Notice how the 2015 ad shows how the brand is no longer about helping poorly folk. It’s about helping today's working generation get through their day in a better way.
 
So today, as you sip your daily Starbucks Espresso Macchiato (because you believe it’s the only way to keep you going), consider how you could encourage radio listeners to create new habits, rituals and safety nets with your product or service.

Better still, give us a call and we’ll work that bit out for you.

For help on making your radio commercials tap into the minds of your audience, visit www.airforce.co.uk