By Jeffrey Hedquist
Often we tend to think of radio as a stand-alone medium. While it can work effectively this way, more often it runs in combination with other media.
It’s well documented that a radio version (not just a direct lift of the soundtrack) of a TV spot can bring to the listener’s mind the TV spot, and daily you can hear dozens of spots directing you to advertisers’ web sites. Radio is a fantastic multiplier of the results of other media as well: newspapers, direct mail, billboards, magazines, point of purchase, skywriting...
“In the middle section of this Wednesday’s Press Chronicle Citizen is an ad you’ll want to cut out, stick on your refrigerator, keep for reference. It describes an offer we can’t mention on the air!”
“This…is your mailbox, yet it’s somehow different. Waiting inside is something that will change your life…for at least 6 weeks. What looks like an ordinary coupon book, is really…”
“You’re walking down the cookie aisle at Safeway and you see it the big blue banner. You pretend not to notice, but it beckons you on…”
“’What the heck does that mean?’ That’s what you're thinking. You know, that huge billboard on I-17. The one with the red letters that say ‘Help’ and lists a phone number. You’re tempted to call it but…nahhh. Well, so far this week, 1253 Dallas commuters have called that number, and here’s the kind of help they got…”
A commercial we created for Newport Creamery drew listeners’ attention to a free standing insert in the newspaper and multiplied the results they were getting by a good percentage. (Listen to it on this month’s RAP Cassette.)
Now go out and do some multiplying of your own.
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© 1999 Hedquist Productions, Inc.