Friday Poll: Your Best Story on the Power of Radio Advertising

    • 1373 posts
    March 10, 2011 9:29 PM PST

    Happy Friday, everyone!

    Here's this week's poll question:

    We all know that radio gets results.  What's your best story about the power of radio advertising?

    Looking forward to reading your replies!

    • 42 posts
    March 11, 2011 4:24 AM PST


    i once produced a 45 seconds ad for my client, it was about worms, and i had roving mike asking different pepole from diffrent social classes whether they are aware they have worms......

     

    Vo: Hey teacher  do you know that you may be having worms

     

    Teacher; Who not me!

     

    Vo: Your worship ..Mayor......  are you aware that you may be having worms

     

    Mayor: Not me are you mad    etc and the announcer    tag..the recent study buy Kemri shows that 1 out of 3 people in your community has worms, visit your nearest health facility for advice and treatment..

     

    the ad was in national language and vernaculars and in three days hospitals recorded a high number of inquiries and visits and the roving mike became a celebrity  and  people  in pubs and social places would jokingly  ask each other..JE UNA MINYOO? ( HEY DO YOU HAVE WORMS?

    • 2 posts
    March 11, 2011 5:15 AM PST

    HI,

    let me share a story from Croatia.I'm a part of agency that do consulting in media named "Brand Media Consulting" and this year we did a great sale promotion on Valentine's Day on SOUNDSET(ac format) radio. It was the best radio promotion ever in Croatia,  and was published by a few well known news agencies in Europe such as FrancePress etc.and all newspapers and magazines in Croatia. The name of promotion was "Baby Boom" and two weeks before Valentine's day we invited listeners in a relationship or marriage and of course in love who wants to have a baby to check in by our phone service, and we picked up 50 couples and on a Valentines Day brought them in a fine hotel where they had a party,dinner and a room for a night,for making love,and tomorrow breakfast.And finally who get a  baby after 9 months also gets annual inventories of diapers,food for a child and everything that child need. All promotion was powered by Pampers, Ariel and few companies witch product refers to a children. It was a really great promotion for a radio.

    P.S. hope my english is understandable

    Regards,

    Darijo

    • 44 posts
    March 11, 2011 7:35 AM PST
    I had a business that begged their home office to allow them to place all their own advertising instead of corporates ad agency.  They finally gave in.  He cancelled TV and print ads...put it all into radio.  The very first year his business located in small town america became the number one selling company in the state.  Beating out even the home office location in "The BIG BIG CITY". 
    • 135 posts
    March 11, 2011 7:44 AM PST

    I had a client that wanted a message about thier business but also wanted to support United Way Agencies in thier message.

     

    So I created a proposal that included 60 second commercials.. The first 30 was about the business then leading into " Powder River Dental cares about our community and the organizations within it, including this United Way agency. Then there is 15 seconds of info about a specific United Way Agency.. the final 15 seconds is a closing on the business.

     

    They have had HUGE response from this. The employees are excited, their pateints are always commenting about how great it is that they promote non profits.. and of coarse the United Way and the agencies are thrilled with the free plugs! It has been a very successful run. Started out as a 3 month trial and is now on its 2nd annual contract.

    • 1373 posts
    March 11, 2011 8:13 AM PST
    *GREAT* stories so far -- and from around the world, too!  Thanks & please keep them coming!
    • 3 posts
    March 11, 2011 8:52 AM PST
    A local plumber had run a fairly agressive schedule on our classic rock station thru the summer of 2010. his offer was for an American made water heater, installed for $499! He finished the year at +240% over previous years gross. The best part is yet to come...I had told him during one of our first consultations "It may seem that with radio you are speaking to the masses, but really you're just speaking to that ONE man/woman who needs your service/product"...fast forward to February 2011...he gets a call from a man who asks..."is this the plumbing company that has the radio commercial for the $499 water heater"...the answer? "yes we ran that radio commercial last year"..."is the offer still available?"...answer..."I'm sorry, it's not, however our regular price for that water heater is $599...would you like to make an appointment?"..."YES! I would"...so as my client is finishing the job and chatting with the customer he (the customer) says..."I'm on the board of directors for this 180 unit condominium complex and our CC & R's require replacement of water heaters every 5-6 years!! I would like to use your company from now on"!!!!!!!! BOOYAH!!! needless to say, I was the FIRST person that my client called and he signed a long term contract shortly after that!
    • 455 posts
    March 11, 2011 2:52 PM PST
    A little over a year ago, I had a potential client who had never done any advertising, other than Yellow Pages. He didn't beleive in advertising but he was coming off the worst year in the company's history. He felt he had to try something different so he signed an annual contract on one of our stations. He went from worst to first as 2010 was the best year in the company's history. In 2011, he signed an annual deal on 2 of our stations. 
    • 34 posts
    March 15, 2011 3:37 PM PDT
    I'm a bit late, but it has been busy here recently.  When I was in Illinois, we were doing a live remote at a car dealer's tent sale.  One  "old school" salesman came over to us and said he thought the dealer was wasting money on radio.  I knew him and asked him to pick out a car that had a decent gross on it and bring me the details.  He did that and we immediately went live.  I gave his name and gave details on the car.  Within 20 minutes he had 4 customers that all wanted to see the car. Needless to say, he was a believer after that.
    • 993 posts
    March 15, 2011 3:53 PM PDT

    VERY nice, Larry!  Thanks for sharing the story. We just never know who's listening, who's paying attention, or when the triggering event will occur that finally opens the door to a new sale or a new relationship.  If I were your client, my big takeaway from this experience would be the value of staying on the air consistently.  He was fortunate that his offer was strong and memorable, and that a competitor didn't take advantage of his hiatus to start chipping away at the memory of his advertising.

    • 121 posts
    September 29, 2017 5:55 AM PDT

    We are in the process of updating our library of success stories and here's my latest: