Survey: Some 'Fed Up' Wiith Radio Spot Results

Many marketing professionals indicate they are “fed up” with the quality of results from traditional radio spot advertisements and believe “there must be a better way” to achieve marketing objectives using radio.

Sixty-two percent of consumer brand marketers and advertising agency decision-makers agreed with that sentiment in a random poll conducted by radio marketing company CRN International. More than 90 percent reported less-than-stellar results from spot commercials. At the same time, 57 percent said they feel promotions, branded content and other non-advertising strategies collectively generate the greatest results for their brands.

The findings, generated from 75 marketer respondents, by no means were an indictment of radio as an effective marketing medium. In fact, the vast majority of respondents reported they have used radio in their marketing mix and achieved success in a variety of ways. More than 244 million Americans listen to radio every week, according to the Radio Advertising Bureau.

The responses suggested high levels of satisfaction with a number of non-traditional radio marketing tactics.

For example:

• 57 percent indicated they were very pleased with the results of campaigns that employed branded radio content.
• 71 percent reported being very pleased with the results of campaigns that employed on-air celebrity DJ endorsements and recommendations.
• 93 percent said they were very pleased with the results of campaigns that employed testimonials from everyday people.
• 52 percent said they were pleased with the results of campaigns that included local radio station appearances.
• 63 percent reported being pleased with the results of campaigns that employed radio-activated contests and sweepstakes.
• Moving forward, 68 percent said they would be interested in exploring radio marketing beyond traditional advertisements to separate themselves from the pack.

“The results support our belief that traditional advertising, while still the most common way to deliver a marketing message on radio, is not the most effective way,” said Robert O’Mara, CRN’s Managing Director of Strategy and Development.  “It’s not necessarily the fault of the ads themselves. But the nature of radio broadcasters to combine all commercials within a designated ‘stop set’ of several minutes often causes listeners to lose focus. Some of the other radio marketing tactics, by design, are geared to separate messaging from the ad clutter and hold listener interest and attention.”