Insights: Brand Purposes Resonates With Radio Listeners

Pierre Bourvard

This week’s Westwood One blog from Pierre Bourvard features an AM/FM radio format planning tool that can help advertisers find causes that resonate with AM/FM radio audiences.

For many advertisers today, selling a product or service isn’t enough. Companies also have brand-purpose initiatives aimed at bettering the world. Brand purposes can range from environmental issues, equality, local charities, or community concerns. Major names in the industry cite their brand purpose as important corporate cornerstones that guide their overall strategy.

In addition to working towards improvements, brand purpose is used as a way to connect with consumers.

• Consumers want brands that support important social issues: A recent national study conducted by research firm NuVoodoo found that Americans want brands that support current social issues like the Black Lives Matter movement. Most consumers had positive impressions of companies or media outlets that issued statements, publicly donated, ran ads, explicitly denounced White Supremacy, and removed or changed offensive content that had previously aired.
• Using the first planning tool, advertisers can look at brand-purpose indices for each AM/FM radio programming format. For example, News/Talk listeners are 54% more likely to have volunteered for a charitable organization in the last 12 months and are 67% more likely than the general population to be a member of a charitable organization.
• The second planning grid depicts the audience reach of brand-purpose targets achieved with AM/FM radio programming format: For example, 18% of those who hold religious faiths and beliefs are reached by Country AM/FM radio on a weekly basis.
• Best practice: Prioritize reach, the #1 media sales driver, over index: According to a Nielsen study of nearly 500 advertising campaigns, reach is by far the most significant driver of sales. For brand-purpose campaigns to make a meaningful impact, select AM/FM radio formats with large amounts reach among target audiences.