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Oh boy, have I had some interesting discussions with PD’s on this one over the years. Because I’ve been around so long, the world of client voiced ads on radio has gone from “over my dead body” to “what does she actually sound like?”

Do they work? To me it all comes back to the idea. If there’s an idea wrapped round the client voicing the ad- chances are it will work but if it’s just a client voicing something because he wants to- not likely.

Whenever I go there, I always try to make it as genuine and as honest as I can. I try to find the passion a client has for his or her business which is rarely found or conveyed in a script.

I remember once sending a client his script via email, we were going to record his ad over the phone. I sat in the recording booth and when he answered, I started asking him about his business- using the old “we’re just getting the levels right” line. He opened up like an envelope with great passion and was very articulate. When he started on the script he clammed up and become all stiff. Guess which one I used?

Another client voiced campaign I did was for a pool company- I took him to one of their recently completed pools and simply asked him some questions. Have a listen to one of the ads.

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Here are my rules for client voiced ads.

1. Is there an idea in it?
2. Have you captured their passion?
3. Don’t make them too smooth- a few …pauses will add believability.

Sydney Harbour Bridge

Everyone’s got a bridge handy- just so happens here inSydneywe have a pretty flash, famous one that everyone knows. Which is why I love to use it in creative meetings.

I often ask clients to imagine that they are standing on the top of the bridge with a microphone and very big speakers everywhere. Below them in boats, on the Opera House steps, the jetty’s and wharfs of our beautiful harbour is the population ofAustralia, 21 million people.

(Yes, yes there are portaloos down the back)

You still with me?

Then I tell them there are 500 people who do more or less what they do in front of them and 500 behind.

It’s busy, so all we can give you is 7 seconds- about 14 words to say something about your business. Something that Mr and Mrs Jenkins and their two kids will remember, forever.

What would you say?

I know it’s a tough question and it doesn’t always come straight away. But you know what? I’ve never had a question that gets my clients thinking deeper than this. It makes them crystallise everything they do into one moment. One 7 second grab.

And if we do manage to find those 14 words- those 7 seconds becomes the creative base for everything they do.

So do you have a bridge handy? Next meeting take your client for a walk.

I have an old friend who owns an Accountancy shop in a tiny little town in New Zealand. Whangamata. Every year they spend $2,000- that’s right $2,000 on their local radio station. Kool FM.

Their yearly campaign gives them an ad a day, every day of the year and sponsorship of the local marine report. Unbelievable really isn’t it? To help out Sue I write and voice her ads and reports and produce them whenever I’m in a studio doing another job.

Now in a town of 3,500 permanent residents (summer holidays 40,000) you’d wonder what the above achieves right?

Well, since they’ve been on the radio- 4 years, they’ve had an average 30% increase in business every year. 35% last year- the other accountant stopped coming to town on Tuesdays!

Radio is working for them and as for me, I get to help out an old friend and write something a little different and that’s always good for the soul.

Do you do things for your soul now and again? Attached is “Accountants at Whanga” my soul ad for the month.

Why Radio Creative is struggling.

Over half the radio commercials broadcast are local retail ads- put together by station creative for small businesses. Sold by station sales teams who every day are besieged by these two words. Monthly budget.
Why? Because that’s where their bonus is. Nothing wrong with that you might say- after all that’s how all media works. True, but that blinked budget focus has created a culture where the creative has become no more important than the clients signature on the contract.
The creative brief is simply another part of the process of getting that client to air.
Many radio sales people and management for that matter have very little love for the product- the ad.
Whenever I speak to radio sales people I like to ask them a question.
What’s your favourite radio ad? Most don’t have one- many can’t even think of one.
When I ask if they have an award CD on their desk- again, most don’t.
The radio ad is their world- this is what they do every day, yet for the majority it’s no more important to their day than lunch.
This is why our daily radio creative is so poor. If there’s no love in the product from the people who sell it, why would there be love from the people who make it?
How do we make our radio creative better? Like any creative, for any advertising, it all comes back to the brief. Nearly all stations spend a great deal of money training their sales guys how to open, chase, close, socialise but very few teach them how to take a creative brief.
Who is the ad talking to? What’s our focus? What else are you doing? What are you trying to achieve? What have you done in the past? What’s worked for you, what hasn’t?
In an ever increasing media world, as long as radio remains focused on the monthly budget rather than the product- it will always be one of the ugly sisters.

I had an interesting new client meeting last week with a chap I can only describe as ‘brisk’. Forget the sport, where he lives, how old his kids are, let’s get on with it.

OK I can take a hint. But he was all over the place like a bee in a jar and even though I tried to bring him back on track with my brief paper- we still zig zagged.

By the time I had walked back to the car and drove back to the office I realised where I went wrong.

Because we were both unsettled in the meeting and I was trying to impress, I tried to justify the time by throwing some ideas around- some really good ideas.

What I should have done was listen more, write more and then taken some of those ideas home with me.

Then, if they still looked good the next day, worked them up and presented them more formally.

Which would give me a far greater chance of selling them.

As I’ve said before – ideas are the new currency, so why did I throw my money around willy nilly?

I’ve taken up Ocean Swimming this year- it’s one of the fastest growing sports in the Southern Hemisphere. Here in Australasia it’s well organised and very safe.

There are usually many different divisions; I swim in the 45 to 55 male/female division.

Most Sunday Mornings there are over 300 of us lined up on the beach for the big start. Now I’m no Michael Phelps, but I’m no slug either, yet every week it amazes me how much this sport is such an equaliser.

Like last week for example there was a lady on the edge of the pack- 30 kilos over weight and self concious. There’s a guy beside me, who looked like the company accountant in goggles instead of glasses and just in front, another woman who was shorter and smaller than my 85 year old granny.

Guess what? All three whipped my arse!

Sales thought for today.

Are you judging potential clients by the way they look or the way they swim?

Have gone into voluntary administration here in Australia and while I’m sorry for the people who may loose their jobs. A small part of me isn’t. When they launched in Australia- the interest was incredible. I was doing a lot of inter state travel in those days and it wasn’t unusual to see people getting on a plane with 6-7 boxes.

Very powerful marketing that was. I was also visiting radio stations all over the country and every time they launched somewhere, they would flood the station with product giveaways, hoping the announcers would give them free publicity.

If I recall correctly this was their strategy-PR. I certainly can’t remember a lot of mainstream marketing.

Perhaps in the end this is what they needed, only so many times the breakfast announcer is going to give you a free plug.

Don’t get me wrong- I love PR and it can be the most powerful branding any client can do. But is it enough? I’m sure their demise was due to lots of things- healthy living, value, the right real estate.

Or perhaps, all they needed was a good old fashioned mainstream media campaign sold by a hard working account manager and written by genius like myself.

We may never know for sure.

1/ Ten Words Fay.

It’s a nickname I’ve picked up over the years.

Probably because whenever I speak to a group of young writers, I always encourage them to go back to their script and take out 10 words. Those words can be just tiny ones like an ‘it’ or a ‘the’ or a ‘got’- hate that word. Take out 10 words and watch the script breathe in production.

2/ The art of…..pause.

Rather than say the word or words try saying nothing. I love leaving a hole in a radio or TV ad. It’s the white space of print and it draws listeners in.

3/ Stop Shouting.

Imagine walking into a shop and the sales person started talking to you like this. HELLO, HOW ARE YOU? CAN I HELP YOU WITH ANYTHING TODAY? HAVE YOU SEEN OUR SPECIALS? You’d walk out of there so fast the security scanner would think it was yesterday.

Yet so many ads yell at us, I refuse to shop at those stores. 

4/ Give Them Names.

I always give the characters in my commercials names like Sam or Sue…not MVO or FVO. When you gave your characters a name, a good voice will help you develop the character. I guarantee you that ‘Sam’ will give you a better read than ‘MVO’.

5/ Stop Producing.

As a sometimes voice, it drives me mad. You get handed a script and before you’ve even read it, they are telling you to how to read it. I never start producing a voice till they’ve read it 2-3 times in the studio. They might give me something I wasn’t expecting. Plus I always try and get the agent to email the voice the script before the session. Not only does it save time but if they’re worth their salt, they already have an understanding and a feel for what I want.

6/ Miracles May Not Happen.

A producer friend of mine recently told me a wonderful story. The writer wanted to have horses come from one side of the ad and horses come from the other side and then the lead horse in each group to meet and challenge each other…all in 7.5 seconds. It ain’t going to happen. Don’t expect miracles with sound effects…and if you do use them, tell people what they are hearing as they hear it.

7/ Find A Time

My best working time is between 4 and 6 p.m. don’t know why it’s just a time when things seem to pop out. Perhaps it’s because thoughts have been running round in my head all day. I know people who love late night-others lunch time.

Find your best time and keep it as clear as you can. I believe you will see a huge improvement in your quality and productivity.

shaunfay@ig3.com.au