Deadly Sins #1

Paul Borny is a former Creative Director for the Capital Radio Group and GCap Media in the UK. These days he can be found enjoying the warm weather in Brisbane – and working as a creative at 4BC/4BH.

He’s also available for voice work through Voices Today, hear Pauls demo here. He hates it when people plug themselves in articles 😉

The deadly sins of radio advertising:

Radio advertising can be brilliant.

It can move you, engage you, bring emotion to a brand and deliver direct response. Sometimes though, radio advertising is bad. Writers fall (or are pushed) into some big traps. Over the next few weeks I’ll tell you what I think the deadliest sins are.

Number 1: Overwriting

How many words go into a 30 second commercial? 80? 100? 120? The truth is, after 20 years of writing radio, I’ve never counted. I have no earthly idea. Doesn’t it depend on the delivery?

The temptation for a client to “just squeeze a little more in” to their commercial is huge, after all they’re paying good money for their campaign so they need to get their money’s worth.

I know one advertiser who actually counts how many words a writer gets into their 30 second commercial and demands its at least as many as last time (some of my peers no doubt know who I’m talking about).

Too often we let the client add a few words, and the commercial becomes overwritten. The thing is, if they tried to put 60 seconds of copy into 30 seconds, we’d tell them they can’t. So, why not draw the line a little earlier, like at 28 seconds?

Keep some breathing space in the commercial, and allow the voices to give a natural delivery that will engage with the listener. I think our advertisers will thank us for it.

Well, most of them…