Radio And The Creative Abyss
October 19, 2011
By John Mountford | 14 Comments
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I can’t hold this in any longer. Radio’s creative standards have been sabotaged … by radio itself.
Some time ago I was lectured by a snotty-nosed young chap about the value of ‘great creative’ in radio. Totally oblivious to the fact that I had been creating radio commercials whilst he was still creating nappy-fillings, he expounded the ability of effective commercials to stimulate repeat business, the contribution great ads make to the overall sound of a station, and how essential it was to him, and his sales team, (for yes, he was a ‘Sales Manager’) to have “brilliant-sounding, Award-winning productions”.
I could have no quibble with any of this – I might have told it to him myself, if he’d allowed me to say anything. But he steamrollered-on, and reached, dear reader, the crux of the matter. He would purchase commercial productions from JMS provided we could give him this cutting-edge, exciting, loyalty-provoking, award-winning originality, ‘for no more than thirty quid an ad’. I left swiftly, with his final words (for that was what he said they would be) ringing in my ears. ‘And if you won’t do it at that price I know loads of producers who will’. It is to radio’s eternal shame that he did indeed find someone who would. I believe this nurk is still in the radio industry. I may give you his name later.
When the judges at Cannes and other major radio festivals bemoan the ‘declining standards of radio creativity’ and refuse (as they did this year and last) to make an award, my thoughts return to this clown. Because (and this is the ‘Emperor’s clothes’ moment), I believe the progressive devaluation of radio creativity is in great part down to the radio industry itself. Whereas it should be actively encouraging creativity, its own systems run directly counter to this. As a result most stations run achingly dull, formulaic and uninspired commercials, not good for the advertiser or the listener. And which major advertiser would welcome his commercial, however good, sitting alongside such a barrage of ham-acting, feeble gags and shouted telephone numbers? And in the light of this, which top advertising agency would demoralise its highest-flying talent in their formative years by condemning them to specialise only in radio commercials?
In today’s cash-strapped, fragmented advertising market, many radio group financial directors must surely assess their commercial breaks not on their effectiveness and quality but on their cheapness to produce. A felony compounded by the increasing tendency to allow salespeople to ‘throw-in commercial production for free’ as a final salesman’s sweetener.
When JMS opened for business our arrangement with radio stations was as follows. We would write and produce the commercial, pay everybody involved, add a small profit, and deliver it to the station. The price the station then sold it for would include a small commission for the Station and the Sales Executive (typically 15% as I recall). TV’s ‘Agency rate’ for airtime still operates in a comparable way.
At some point, radio stations overturned this workable, equitable model which respected the creators of the recorded work as much as it recognised the efforts of the salespeople and, in the manner in which supermarkets allegedly crucify their milk producers, stations opted to add enormous profit margins instead. Not only that, but most decided to incentivise Sales Executives not on the commercial productions they sold, but solely on the airtime. So the cost of each additional voice or sound effect in a production took away budget which could have been spent on airtime – reducing the Execs commission. Where this persists, it’s common to hear loads of uninspired single voice commercials on air. No, really?
But it didn’t stop there. Even though there are now enlightened stations which pay Execs a commission on the entire package, production included, the margins they’re adding to production have risen inexorably higher. In these cases it’s often the client who opts to invest less in production, because in tough times, a client will prefer greater exposure rather than a slicker production. And as it no longer makes a difference to the Salesperson’s commission one way or the other, once again it leads to a greater preponderance of the simple ‘classified-ad’ style of delivery. In fear of losing a client the Salesperson wants to seal the deal now, pronto, no time for development or creative ideas, just get something on air right away! Forgive me Sale Teams, this isn’t a rant about you, it’s a statement of today’s reality.
There are now radio operators (OK I’ve decided not to give names, even though I’m burning to do so) who are charging not twice, not three times, but four, five, even SIX or more times the rate we are supplying commercials to them. So the client who spends many hundreds of pounds on his production is perfectly justified in wondering why he’s getting something so mundane in return. It would come as quite a revelation to learn that whilst he’s spending hundreds of pounds on a production, the ad he hears may have cost only tens of pounds to create. And the sound of the production inevitably reflects that. To compound the problem, having spent so much he doesn’t want/can’t afford to spend more on improving the creative – and who would blame him?
But it is one final twist which has prompted me to write this. A well established radio client recently announced to JMS it wants commercial productions supplied at 25% below our lowest rate. (Our lowest rate, by the way, is actively subsidised by the rest of the business – at this rate every commercial loses us money).
The message concluded with a phrase I dimly recall having heard somewhere before…. If we’re not able to do this, they already know someone else who will.
Radio Creative Awards at Cannes? Don’t make me laugh.
Comments (14 Comments)
Re: Radio And The Creative Abyss
John,
Unfortunately it isn’t just in the commercial area of business that this attitude and these oinks exist!
Programming is rife with similar sorts,as is mangement, creativity costs money to buy real talent, something that radio stations no longer want to invest in barring a few.
The problem is that everyone now aspires to the lowest common denominator and therefore it’s acceptable to be the best of a bad bunch.
After forty years in this industry having worked locally, regionally and nationally for pretty much every large group in the UK, I can only take comfort that I was part of this great industry when it was at it’s best.
I remember well the work you did for Chiltern when I was there!
Regards
Bill Young
Bill Young October 19, 2011 at 1:03 pmRe: Radio And The Creative Abyss
Firstly, many thanks to you for an interesting article from someone who is new to the business of commercial radio.
I just wanted to thank you mainly but add I agree with the quality [or lack of] in commercials made for community radio stations.
I think at the one where I work [albeit voluntary/training] we struggle to get businesses interested in wanting to advertise for various reasons, one being we are only a smallish town with limited coverage so doesn’t appeal to the business except through loyalty to the area, another may well be the ‘cheesiness’.
I have very little experience so know little of the ins and outs of this area, but picking it up slowly with articles like this
Thanks Darren [dafta.duck]
Darren Duckworth October 19, 2011 at 1:10 pmRe: Radio And The Creative Abyss
I’m not qualified to call it one way or another, but I’d be pretty confident to bet that the declining quality of radio ads has had a hand in a declining listenership. This probably brings about a vicious circle of declining interest in radio as an advertising medium, which in turn ups margins and drops quality. It’s another race to the bottom scenario where nobody stops to think what high quality creative can actually do, not only for the brand but for the station running it.
Take Bravia TV adverts, or catchy but infuriating talking rodents. These sorts of commercials take on a life of their own, transcending the barrier between “advert” and “content” and really hitting home. It’s not unusual for someone to go out of their way to watch a stunning advert, why shouldn’t they do the same for audio?
If I’ve understood correctly; It also seems extremely bizarre that advertisers have accepted a status quo where they have absolutely no concept of what portion of their spend is going on the creative, and what portion on the luxury of actually having it air. To blame the radio industry for wanting to drive up margins is one thing, but that’s their prerogative and in their best interests.
If this is the situation, then surely an effort should be made to subvert the process, and make advertisers more aware of where their budget is going? They seem to me as much to blame.
Phil Howard October 19, 2011 at 1:43 pmRe: Radio And The Creative Abyss
Delighted to hear within minutes from one person who’s known radio for as long as myself (thanks Bill), and another who’s only just starting out. The delight comes from the fact that both contributors share my love for radio. But lest I give the impression I’m saying ‘It’s all over – radio’s glory days are gone’ I do believe there’s hope. RAB and others are working hard to fly radio’s creative flag and there’s no doubting there’s still some good work out there. But it’s the bedrock of local advertisers where the issue is most acute. As you’ll find in another article in this blog, it would take so little to fix things. There are very few other media where the difference between mundane and exceptional amounts to only a little extra time and just a few more quid. Time for creative thought, client liaison,copywriting and production, and expenditure for more (or more accomplished) performers. Not a lot to ask to re-invigorate a superb medium, surely?!
John Mountford October 19, 2011 at 1:57 pmRe: Radio And The Creative Abyss
I’ve worked as a producer of radio ads for about 6 years now and even in that short time I have seen the creative aspects dwindle more and more.
A. Producer October 19, 2011 at 2:36 pmA station recently admonished us because the voices all sounded the same. We pointed out to them that if you put the exact same voice direction on every single script (warm, mid 30s female), the inevitable outcome is that everything will sound the same. It’s unavoidable.
As the saying goes, you cannot polish a turd and that is all they were giving us to produce.
Even when we do get a properly creative script and work hard to make it interesting, it nearly always gets ruined after the fact because the company has a meeting and every jobsworth feels the need to throw in their two penneth even though they have no clue what they are talking about. Then, of course, they expect the changes for free. That’s if the ad even gets as far as the client without the radio execs intervening and telling us to change things when it is not their call to make.
All we producers can do is soldier on and hope creativity comes back into vogue before we all loose the will to live.
Re: Radio And The Creative Abyss
Good article, but I’m not surprised. However, it should be their key tool. The need to make big profits, I believe, actually COSTS them money.
Having worked in radio for 17 years, I now run my own business. I remember sales managers bemoaning that they were ever chasing for new business and repeat business was low.
As a new business owner, I tried to dip my toe into radio advertising. The salesman was very attentive, until he got my cheque. Then the service dropped like a stone, until the next time he wanted to re-new the deal. I didn’t get much response either. So I take my money elsewhere, where I do get a better response, and customer service, and so spend more year-on-year.
Darren Wingham October 20, 2011 at 6:44 amRe: Radio And The Creative Abyss
I have been involved in UK radio on and off since the 70′s, and the continual eroding of quality and complete abandoment of exisitng and quality talent that exists, is quite frankly quite astounding!
I am ONLY 53 yes, ONLY- and I may as well be 153! Nobody wants you unless, you are a totally naive snot faced youngster- then they will re-program you to become the face-less wonder that they want (and even more importantly, a nice snug yes man!).
When is SOMEBODY going to wake up and smell the roses, and realise that the whole radio scene is ready for the taking.
One single radio station can clear almost the whole board, I Certainly know how to do it- but nobody will put their hand in their very deep pockets- not while they “think” they have it sewn up- and oh, boy…..they certainly don’t!
Talent wins out- in the long and short term. Training monkeys and paying them peanuts, certainly does not.
Arthur Burton
ARTHUR B! October 20, 2011 at 1:51 pmRe: Radio And The Creative Abyss
Hiya
I completely agree about the declining standards and lack of creativity, but would add that part of the problem is also the speed that producers are required to turn ads round.
From the perspective of a voiceover, radio has always been a fast and immediate medium, but in the past decade or so I have noticed that producers are getting more exasperated more often when a last minute campaign is to be entirely produced in an afternoon. Of course we are all used to last minute jobs, pick-ups or changes, but when sales hand over a hastily created job that has been written at speed with more attention paid to the bullet points than any artistry, interest or creativity……even worse when it’s obviously a print ad that has been lifted in its entirety…..how can a poor overworked producer possibly make it sound interesting and attention grabbing?
Again from the v/o side, I increasingly find that two takes and they are away, as long as it fits that’s all that’s required, there is no time to do justice to the piece.
It’s a sad but all too common refrain that economic demands stifle creativity.
David Monteath
David Monteath October 20, 2011 at 4:15 pmRe: Radio And The Creative Abyss
Hi John,
Well said. I have been producing radio commercials since the mid 80s, and we have seen a lot of changes in the industry since then.
With particular regard to commercial production, I believe the advance in technology and the lack of suitable training must take a large part of the blame.
Back in the day, in order to produce commercials for UK Independent Radio, you needed a studio constructed to IBA guidelines, at least a couple of Studer quarter-inch tape machines, if you were lucky a multitrack tape machine, a decent mixer and a whole host of outboard equipment. All of which cost a small fortune.
This not only limited the amount of production companies, but also meant that anyone entering the world of commercial production had to be pretty serious about it, and had to charge rates which reflected their investment.
Now, you can produce a radio commercial on a laptop with rudimentary editing software costing just a few pounds. Which means that ANYONE is capable of putting commercials together (technically speaking), and the country is now flooded with people thus equipped producing stuff in their bedroom and calling themselves “Commercial Producers”.
It’s not what you’ve got of course, it’s the way that you use it. These guys may have the gear, but do they have the knowledge to put together exciting, effective and engaging radio commercials? No, of course they don’t, because nobody has told them how.
The trouble is, there has never been any structured training in the commercial radio industry, certainly not in Commercial Production. (Why is it a station expends all its efforts in improving the music mix, the presenters and the news, but completely ignores the biggest potential switch-off of all which takes up over 10% of its output – the commercials!? Because they don’t truly understand what a great commercial is, as nobody has ever told them.)
MHP gave up servicing radio stations with Commercial Production five years ago (we used to service 22 stations) because we were being squeezed on price, because (as in the case of JMS) our other clients were subsidising essentially a loss-making part of the operation, and because banging the drum for creativity was exhausting us – I could count on one hand the number of Sales Directors who really understood how vital it is to fill that 30 seconds of dead air with something worthwhile and not just cram with as much information as you could “because that gives the client good value”.
Great commercials need not cost a fortune – you don’t need customised music, a stack of sound effects and eight voices to make a commercial that sounds good and works well.
So yes, things do need to change. Stations need to rethink their strategy of Commercial Production as a profit centre with 400% markups, and someone needs to go an tell this new generation of ‘radio people’ (are they really though?) how it should be done.
I am happy to do that, if anyone’s interested. You never know – it could actually help the radio business turn itself around.
Matt Hopper
Matt Hopper October 21, 2011 at 8:29 amRe: Radio And The Creative Abyss
Hi John
Great article, so very true. And it’s not just radio and it’s not just Britain. We recently produced a TV documentary which was aired at prime time on a weeknight on a national network here in NZ. It cost us NZ$75,000 to produce it. We were paid… nothing. Zero. De nada. We were given a few weeks to sell some advertising space ourselves – but have you tried selling TV advertising at the end of a tough financial year with a couple of weeks’ notice? We’re not sales people, we’re TV producers. We’re relying on slow but steady DVD sales to try to make our money back. This scenario is rapidly becoming the norm.
Sadly the broadcast industry was hijacked by bean counters some years ago. The result is that there is little or no imperative to produce imaginative, innovative programmes or commercials. They’ve applied the principles of mass-manufacturing to an industry which used to rely on creativity and innovation. So “Masterchef” works. Let’s do 57 varieties of the same thing because it’s worked before, it’ll always work again. We never need to do anything new or creative because we can keep repackaging old ideas at minimal cost. In the end, of course, it’s a self defeating course of action because all the creative people give up and go away, and eventually the numpties end up running the joint. And the audience will, eventually, see through the tinsel and realise there’s nothing new to see.
I understand your frustration, John. Good luck to you!
Allan Lee October 21, 2011 at 10:42 pmRe: Radio And The Creative Abyss
Cripes Allan, don’t give British radio stations the idea of commercial producers having to sell their own spots!!!! But seriously, my condolences on a staggering bit of chicanery by a National TV Network, it beggars belief.
John Mountford October 24, 2011 at 8:19 amMatt, delightful to hear from you after so long, and I’m in full agreement with your views. Cheers John
Re: Radio And The Creative Abyss
As a former presenter, and now v/o, often supplying to commercial radio, I have a slightly different take, John.
There are too many stations now, all chasing the same revenue pot. The halcyon days of just 19 ILRs are gone for good. A pity, because back then, a good Programme Director would refuse to transmit an ad if it sounded poor on air. But the station could afford to be picky. That’s unthinkable today. Any old crap will go to air, because they need the revenue so desperately, just to survive in many cases.
It’s easy for those of us “on the fringes” to criticise; Of course, transmitting poor ads is short-sighted, because of the effect it has on listening figures. (Transmit enough rubbish, and some will inevitably tune out.) But when the MD is breathing down your neck, and your job depends on delivering revenue, you really cannot afford to turn anything down, and, yes, your sales people WILL be bullied into bringing in bad scripts for the same reason.
I read, on average, about a dozen scripts a day, and now play the game of “spot the client-added line.” This is the one that has turned a measured, intelligible read into garbled nonsense… and you know full well that the client has insisted that the “free air freshener with every service” line MUST go in, and no, nothing can come out, or they won’t place the order…
Result? The listeners hate it, the ad doesn’t work, and the client never returns to radio, because, ironically, someone in the radio station has been too weak, or too scared, to say “no.”
John, you and I are lucky. We do have the option to walk away from daft, low money offers and ultimata. Here, we do it regularly, and in a way it’s actually good for business, and one’s sense of well-being.
But you’re the boss of a sizeable operation, and I’m joint boss of a two-person outfit. If our livelihoods depended solely on getting the revenue into the struggling radio station, come what may, and meeting horrendous targets, would we be quite so brave?
In a word, I agree with what you perceive as the effect, but I think the underlying cause is deeper, and more historical, than you suggest. Radio looks like a big business, but it isn’t. The ROI on a small IR is usually appalling – you’d be better sticking your money in the Post Office – but the government screwed it up with mad, bogus promises of “listener choice” and thus created too many stations, too quickly, and with little or no thought as to the long term result. The lowering of standards you describe is across the board, not limited only to quality of com prod. And yes, it really is a great pity.
A final thought – if radio really is a cost-effective advertising medium, as it claims, then why is it not awash with great, creative ads, extracting maximum value from the broadcast spots? I suspect the answer is that, much as we’d all love to see a return to creative ads, perhaps they are actually less cost-effective than cheap and cheerful. Either that, or the industry itself is, ironically, poor at promoting itself!
Phil Sayer October 26, 2011 at 2:58 pmRe: Radio And The Creative Abyss
This article very much reflects the thoughts of many people. Particularly those who have been in the radio commercial production business before the consolidation of the radio companies.
The decline in standards and attitude towards creative/production is horrendous. Though many stations genuinely believe they’ve got it right ! I now find it quite funny when we approach radio stations offering our services. I can bet my bottom dollar the first question they will ask is ‘what do you charge ?’. A better question would be ‘OK, what can you guys bring to the table ?’
Like Matt, doing low priced bulk production for a station is something I’m just not interested in. Doing cheap stuff that is marked up to oblivion doesn’t do anyone any favours.
Radio stations focus too much on selling airtime. What they should be doing is selling advertising. Focus on the ‘advertising’ aspect and everything will change.
An excellent article John.
Best wishes,
JC
John Calvert October 28, 2011 at 3:26 pmRe: Radio And The Creative Abyss
There’s a fix for the radio industry. And it involves the salesperson becoming a writer and “marketing strategist”. When the salesperson hands off some notes to the production department to make magic…something is lost. The salesperson must become the person that sees everything through from start to finish. I’m a radio sales rep and I do my own ad writing, research, and strategy creation. And I write new ads for my clients on an average of once per month.
The salesperson has to work WITH the production team. And also teach the advertisers about the strength of radio. And if it’s going to take an extra 4 days to produce a commercial, the salesperson needs to make the advertiser understand WHY and help them be comfortable with that.
When we stop being a commodity…everything will start heading in the right direction.
Duane Christensen January 16, 2012 at 1:42 pm