In a world filled with enough content marketing and advertising to choke a horse, in a fractured landscape of media and broken attention spans, audio advertising (which has been around for over 100 years) is presenting agencies with new ways to reach audiences. But what kind of information is required for teams to make the case to include audio advertising in their marketing mix, and how has this legacy medium changed and adapted since its inception?
The History of Audio Advertising
Since the invention and popularization of broadcast radio, it’s been a perfect vehicle for entertainment, propaganda and audio advertising.
The first officially recognized audio advertisement in the US, was a jingle called, “Have You Tried Wheaties?” created for Washburn-Crosby (which would ultimately become General Mills), and written and performed by local musicians living in Minneapolis.
One of the more interesting aspects to early audio advertisements wasn’t just the businesses attempts to capture audiences, but the medium of radio itself was trying to figure out it’s own existential issues. In the first two years after launching Wheaties, the cereal failed to catch on. But the jingle changed everything. The history of this campaign and time in history is captured on the General Mills blog, and worth requoting here;
“That’s when Donald Davis, company vice president, stepped in. He contacted the manager of the WCCO radio station – which at the time was owned by Washburn-Crosby Co. (hence the call letters) – and suggested a special radio campaign for Wheaties.
Davis wanted to prove the effectiveness of WCCO or, in his words, “find out what that radio station of ours is good for.”
He met with Henry A. Bellows, then WCCO manager, and Earl Gammons, the station’s publicity man, who wrote the jingle, which borrowed the chorus melody from the popular 1919 song “Jazz Baby.”
It’s fascinating that the jingle itself is credited with jumpstarting General Mills success as a company, and equally interesting that the jingle was an appropriation of an existing tune, taking advantage of cultural cues already existing in the popular consciousness.
Advertisers, radio companies, and broadcasters would continue to develop on the original premise of the Wheaties jingle in the coming years, promoting products in 30 or 60 second spots and sponsoring entire shows. A few historical examples of brand sponsored radio programs being the Firestone Hour, Champion Spark Plug Hour, King Biscuit Time, The Bell Telephone Hour, and of course many groundbreaking soap operas, radio plays, variety shows & comedies, and children’s programming; radio was a medium that could connect advertisers with audiences in a myriad of ways through creative and enjoyable content.
The most indemnifying reality of modern approaches to audio advertisements, is that they aren’t reinventing anything, sticking to what has worked in the past, and mostly mirror historical precedence, although the means of distribution have evolved.
There have been a string of branded musicals released in the recent past. Taco Bell recently created a full-scale Tik-Tok musical based around their Mexican Pizza, starring a full cast of influencers and the legendary Dolly Parton. Carl’s Jr. created a burger-themed musical called Written In The Stars, and skincare giant Olay created a musical in 2019 called “Road To Glow”
The Current State of Audio Advertising
Flash forward to today, and advertisers and brands are still discovering the huge potential of advertising campaigns on radio and other audio platforms. Despite countless evolutions in digital marketing, radio continues to be a viable and valuable means of promotion – reaching 93% of adults each week.
Today we have audio advertising platforms like broadcast radio, Spotify, Tidal, podcasts, satellite radio, and mobile apps, which have expanded the addressable audience size for advertisers.
Marketers can interface and place ads directly with the platforms themselves, or engage audio advertising agencies, like Radio Direct, Strategic Media Inc, and many others, to create campaigns that reach their audience’s ears where they are most likely to be found.
Where Audio Advertising Is Headed
Adding the benefits of programmatic and digital advertising to audio is a natural progression of this medium, and there are many companies that have moved to corner this section of the market.
Companies like Decibel Ads, and AudioGo, allow brands and agencies a chance to programmatically place audio ads in mobile apps, YouTube, and digital radio. Programmatic ad agencies have also gotten into the game, with companies like StackAdapt using their technology to place audio ads in a wide variety of screen-free locations. Odeeo is another audio ad agency, with a solid focus on in-game audio ads that can run in a variety of gaming locations, such as apps and streaming sites.
The future of audio advertising echoes it’s past in many ways, and for many of the same reasons. With so many new platforms and systems being created to appease the masses, many of these platforms, like radio stations of the past, are wondering how they can monetize their services, and agencies and brands are equally interested in new ways to reach audiences in a fragmented content landscape.
The mechanisms of audio advertisements may have dynamically shifted to reflect the platforms, abilities, and technology of the current moment, but one thing that will never change is the ability of audio to connect with an audience in ways other mediums cannot.
And so, the most important thing to consider when deciding if audio advertising is a tactic worth pursuing, is the strategic importance of creating effective audio advertising and connecting it to a measurable campaign that can move the needle. How do you create an effective audio advertisement?
How to Create Audio Advertising
The secret to creating an effective audio advertisement thankfully doesn’t stray too far from how to engineer an impactful ad on any medium, the only difference is the ingestion method, ears vs eyes, has to be at the creative forefront of consideration.
An audio ad campaign has to start with a solid brief, outlining the landscape in which your target audience operates in, the competitive benchmarks, clear details on how the campaign will be measured, and an unambiguous depiction of what success looks (or sounds) like.
Once the brief is locked down, it’s time to think about the aural implications and inflections of your brand. How can you incorporate your sonic branding and audio identity into ads? Is a jingle or musical component your best method to ingratiate your brand in an audience’s memory? Or is a more traditional approach, like a host-read ad or simple copy with a solid CTA, your best bet?
Most audio ad slots are only 15-30 seconds long, and that’s not a lot of time to make an impression. Some things to remember while creating an audio advertisement are;
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Grab attention from the very start
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Keep copy simple
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Be sure to use voice talent that matches your brand aesthetic
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Silence can be captivating; don’t stuff the ad full of music
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Calls to action should be memorable enough to inspire action when the listener is away from the ad, so keep phone numbers and web addresses short or utilize a specified landing page with a distinct URL, or call tracking with repeated numbers
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Keep the focus on the experience and think contextually about where your ad will be heard, ie. cars, in earphones on a walk or at the gym, or on smart speakers.
Another thing to think about when it comes to audio advertisements, is that the medium functions best when exposure frequency is taken into account. Rather than focusing on direct response, meaning informing and pushing your target audience to action, don’t be afraid to entertain and nudge listeners, giving your campaign time to hook people with ear worms and other memorable attributes that are native to the audio experience.
Modern marketers are so obsessed with being on target, they may be missing the point of being targetable, meaning, being noticeable in the first place. Rather than prioritizing the capture of intent, audio advertisements can unlock your brand’s ability to be captivating.
There are many more considerations for audio ad creation, and the creative limits for the ad itself are dictated by the endless imagination of your agency and audience. That’s why engaging an audio advertising agency and creative studio to help in the creation, execution, and distribution of your audio campaigns can be a partnership worth exploring.
If you’re interested in making some noise for your brand through audio advertisements, get in touch with Audio Content Lab today.