According to a study by Ipsos OTX MediaCT in partnership with Katz Marketing Solutions, people who are exposed to radio ad campaigns demonstrate high levels of engagement with brands at all stages of the purchase funnel, and particularly across metrics such as brand affinity and advocacy.

Comparing results among consumers who had been exposed to radio ad campaigns (via listening to at least one station airing the ads) with a control group of people in the same market who had not listened to those stations, on average, consumers’ exposure to radio ads generated a lift at all stages of the purchase funnel, from brand familiarity to purchase consideration, and most dramatically in brand affinity, and recommendation among 23 campaigns evaluated,

Radio appears to be successful across a variety of industries. Ad campaigns for movies, financial services, retail, consumer durables, and fast food were evaluated in the study; all showed stronger results among radio station listeners than the control group of non-listeners.

While many people see radio primarily as a way of communicating a wealth of information about a brand, these study results show the importance of connecting at an emotional level with consumers. The strength of emotional response to each ad used in the campaigns was measured using Ipsos’ proprietary measure. Stronger campaigns used ads with greater emotional power. This finding throws a challenge to creatives developing radio spots to generate ideas and content for ads that go beyond information and connect with the consumer.

Though the results comprise averages of 23 campaigns, overall impact did vary based on the perceived likeability of the spot, says the report. Commercials that had high likeability (likeable among 53% of audiences) had roughly twice the impact across most creative metrics, compared with the least liked spots (likeable among 29% of audiences)

Concluding, an analysis of the findings of the study provides the author a list of Key Creative Findings which are proposed as suggestions for creative criteria:

• Talk to rather than talk at
• Mirroring TV provides powerful imagery transfer
• Consistency between TV and Radio commercials
• Get to the point quickly
• Likeability is key to aided and unaided recall
• Don’t rush commercial tags
• Commercial blandness is ineffective
• Vary pace and intonation
• Normal speaking voice
• Audio signatures and sound bites are extremely powerful

Source: Katz Marketing Solutions/Radio Effectiveness, November 2011

According to Bruce Friend, President of Ipsos OTX MediaCT: “These results have demonstrated to us the power of radio.”

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