Making radio work

It's called Radio Gauge, and it's described as  the world's only industry-standard radio measurement system.

"It tells advertisers how their campaigns have performed," says Jason Brownlee, of Dollywagon Media Sciences of London. "It isolates the effect of radio and provides a benchmark. It also assesses and can help to optimise the creative impact of radio campaigns."

Brownlee was the keynote speaker at the Radio Works conference, a well-attended event organised by the Radio Advertising Bureau (RAB), an industry body with the mission of restoring the strength of the medium.

Brownlee said that between 2004 and 2007 big-brand advertisers in the UK "were walking away from radio, for two reasons: creative issues and return on investment". But thanks to this new research, "brands are coming back… during the worst recession in decades, brands actually increased radio spend by 5% to 6%".

Research is done by polling radio listeners about their awareness and attitudes towards a campaign, and comparing this with a demographically similar group of non-listeners. This allows Radio Gauge to provide a measure of how a radio advertising campaign has driven advertising awareness and brand consideration.

It also quantifies the relative strength of a campaign's creative execution, and shows how results can be improved by highlighting best practice in creativity. This is done by asking respondents to score each commercial against 11 statements (for example, stands out; I would listen to it; it's clear who it's for).

In one case study for a fast-food chain in the UK, the findings helped the brand increase top-of-mind awareness by 8%, awareness of its advertising by 30%, and boosted brand perceptions to the point where 83% of respondents said they would consider using the restaurant for breakfast.

Brownlee said jingles were shown to be "absolutely vital" in radio advertising. "When you hear the sound on the TV, it reinforces what you hear on radio."

And he should know. "We've tested more radio advertising than anybody in the world," he says.

Research in SA will be conducted for RAB by Ask Afrika.

 - Fin24.com