The Most Impactful Advertising

Randy Lane • June 12, 2023

The most effective advertising is based on three primary components:

  • A strategic campaign
  • A personality spokesperson
  • Storytelling

Strategic Campaigns

We continue to see highly creative one-off commercials quickly forgotten, and worse; many people remember the spot but not the brand.

In his recent   Ad Age article,  Superbowl Marketing Has a Real Problem – Too Many Ads and Not Enough Campaigns,  M.T. Fletcher notes, “People don’t remember ads unless they’re part of a campaign.”

Campaigns work for your advertisers, your station, and your show.  The Bert Show  has successfully used their tagline , “Real. Funny.”  as an on-air and external marketing campaign for years.

Advertising campaigns  are either solutions to the pain points of a product/service or highlight brand distinctions. The new Chipotle campaign  For Real  is getting attention as an antidote to all the processed food in America.

Personality Spokesperson

Several products/services feature personalities who become familiar to the audience and are associated with a brand. Think “Mayhem” for All-State and “Lily” for AT&T.  Evan Bass  from the  Bachelor  TV series is the face of the  Men’s Clinic  brand in Nashville and throughout the southeast.

The key word is  personality , not the amateur spokesperson we often see for businesses on local TV spots.

Radio stations are wise to utilize their most well-known and successful personalities as marketing spokespersons for their external advertising . DeDe McGuire  hosts the ensemble cast  DeDe in the Morning , and she is the face of the brand for the show and K104 Dallas.

The combination of a strategic campaign and a personality spokesperson is key to creating marketing impact and memorability. What is your strategic campaign? Who is the face of your brand? It is your most popular air personality or show.

Tell A Story

Rather than rattling off facts about a product/service, the most effective ads communicate information through an entertaining or touching story. The beauty of campaigns is they are an ongoing storyline. It’s important to keep them fresh and updated.

“The best arguments in the world won’t change a single person’s mind. The only thing that can do that is a good story.”
Bestselling author and Pulitzer Prize winner  Richard Powers

Photo by  Joshua Earle  on  Unsplash

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