Radio advertising

Radio is a universal medium, which is enjoyed at home, at work or while driving and most people listen to it at one time or another during the day. However, radio advertising has often been seen as the poor relation of television advertising, appealing only to the sense of sound. But the advantage this type of radio advertising has is that it offers the advertiser the opportunity to target his advertising pounds to the markets most likely to respond to his offer. In fact, the music played, the personalities of the announcers, the way news is treated, all these determine the type of listener who will tune in. As a result, each station's listener represents a unique combination of education, buying power and life-style aspirations. The nature of the audience changes during the day and so measured targeting is possible in radio advertising.

Being creatively limited to sound as mentioned before, radio may be better suited to communicating factual information (for example, a special price reduction) than attempting to create a brand image. (David Jobber, 1997) Just like press advertising, radio advertising has advantages and disadvantages.

Advantages of radio advertising

•  Does not require sole attention . A major advantage that radio has over other media is that the audience can be involved in other activities from working to driving a car while listening to it and therefore, while being exposed to an advertisement. For example, when surfing the net, reading Emails or studying on-line offers by advertisers, the consumer needs to concentrate on the screen. On-line advertisers have therefore to make their presentations as interesting and motivating as possible, especially as the consumer may have the radio on in the background. In fact, radio is often described as audible wallpaper.

•  Human voice and music . Radio permits the advertiser to create a personality for his business using only sound and voice. Thus, the use of sound, whether vocal or musical, makes it a live medium compared with passive and static media such as the press, outdoor, print, direct mail and point-of-sale displays.

•  Free creative help is usually available.

•  Penetration . Provided the signal is sufficiently powerful, radio can reach large audiences over great distances and is a means of reaching people who may have access to no other media. Moreover, where there are multi-language and multi-ethnic societies, radio messages can be broadcast in different languages. Radio can also reach illiterates who cannot read the newspapers, while battery-operated and car radios overcome lack of electricity.

•  Transmission times . Radio programmes are usually broadcast for many hours of the day, often round the clock.

•  Companionship . Radio is often listened to as a form of companionship.

•  Radio forms a useful reminder medium when used in conjunction with other media - one of the most important benefits of radio advertising.

Disadvantages of radio advertising

•  Because radio listeners are spread over many stations, to saturate the market totally, the advertiser has to advertise simultaneously on many stations.

•  Listeners cannot refer back to an ad to go over important points.

•  Ads are an interruption to the entertainment and, because of this, radio ads must be repeated to break through the listener's ‘tune-out' factor.

•  Radio is a background medium and radio advertising is often neglected. Most listeners are doing something else while listening, which means the ad has to work hard to be listened to and understood. (David J. Bangs, 1993)