Sales…even on-air talent…how many times has it been pounded into our brain we need to direct all creative towards the demo? Target those ads appropriately! Find out who’s buying what and create a spot that’s directed to that specific type of person! What happens when you discover…wait for it…people aren’t that simple? GASP!
Somehow, we’ve gotten away from the creative side of the creative. We’ve placed a lot of emphasis on targeting the “appropriate” audience, and not enough on creating a commercial that’s actually good!
A new study done by Nielsen’s Five Keys to Advertising Effectiveness found out of 450 campaigns creative was what drove 49% of sales. Targeting contributed to only 11% of those sales. Another interesting find is the emotional campaigns…the ones that really tug at your heartstrings…did better than the ads where it’s all message and limited entertainment.
Emotional = 37%
Rational = 8%
The Creative Dividend did their own study and found similar results. They looked at 1200 campaigns across two regions. This time they expanded their research and not only did they look into the US, but they found campaigns in Europe to examine as well. This discovered emotional ads weren’t the only ones doing well. When humor is involved in creating a campaign it tends to have five times more market share growth than those who give only facts.
Tik Tok’s The Long and Short of It, Nelsen’s Podcast Brand Effect Study, and Kantar Millward Brown all conducted similar research. In each study, regardless of who was questioned or how it was done, the results all mirrored each other. This tells us one thing…we need to add more emphasis on the CREATIVE part of the creative. Weird, right? You have to actually use your creative side while creating creative?
Instead of, immediately, thinking about what the sales rep told you (Sorry sales…a little…) put together an idea of what you imagine a spot for that client should sound like. What would grab YOUR attention? Once I was tasked with writing and producing an ad for a comic book store. In it, I had a kid meeting Shatner and them fighting over an item in the store. The ad had Shatner beaming up because he didn’t get the item, it was filled with sound effects and various voices. The client loved it and used it for years! While providing entertainment, I was able to still use every piece of information the client and sales provided.
The takeaway from all this is, as I’ve said before, we need to get back to when radio was about entertaining! Sure, times are changing and we need to change with them… but there are key elements that will never change.