Buying radio is like shopping at a Roman flea market: There is plenty of room for negotiation. Radio stations in most markets scramble for the same advertising dollars, and salespeople are quick to offer special deals in exchange for a company's schedule of advertising. An advertiser can use his intuition in bargaining for the most effective air times. Although many stations define morning drive-time as the hours between 5:30 and 10:00, says Pearson, most people listen to morning radio between 6:30 and 9:00, and many stations will rotate spots within the time period you request. Stations that sell "rotating packages" with groups of spots divided equally among morning drive-time, midday, and nighttime, will also juggle spots into preferred time slots to keep clients happy.
A number of radio stations offer special packages that are not listed on a rate card, says WZPL's Miles, adding that advertisers that want to stretch ad dollars should avoid advertising during the stations' busiest months, usually August through December. "However, if someone comes to me in January, I'm not going to let him get out the door," says Miles. To encourage advertisers during slow periods, many stations offer special incentives and bonusspots.
"It's no trick to getting radio stations to give you something when you spend money with them," says John Adams, formal vice-president and general manager of Athletic Department Sporting Goods, a 10-store chain of sporting-goods stores headquartered in Indianapolis. The real trick, says Adams, is to get them to participate in a promotion. "When we decide to join in a promotion, it must fit with the station's format," and the clien must be willing to invest sufficient dollars in advertising, says Miles, whose station plays top-40 hits that appeal to teenagers and young adults.
Last June, WZPL participated in a Hobie Cat sailboat giveaway promotion held by Athletic Department in exchange for $5,000 worth of advertising. Athletic Department not only got a sailboat to give away, it also i eceived free mentions about the joint promotion from WZPL. Furthermore, half the cost of the spots, $2,500, was reimbursed with cooperative advertising funds from Hobie Cat because Athletic Department carries Hobie sportswear. Co-op advertising, the ability to split ad costs with vendors (See INC., July, page 94), has, in fact, allowed Adams to more than double the impact of the company's ad budget, 70% of which is allocated to radio.
"The qualifications [for co-op reimbursement] are much easier for radio than for newspaper," says Adams. For example, Nike Inc., a Beaverton, Ore., running sports shoe manufacturer, pays at least half of Athletic Department's media costs of radio, as long as the Nike name is included three times in each ad. In a newspaper ad, by contrast, not only must the retailer include the manufacturer's name, trademark, and an illustration provided by Nike, but it must also devote 56 lines to Nike's product.
When preparing his own radio spots, Adams prefers to use an agency, at $200 to $300 per spot, rather than let a radio station write and read the ad. The quality of production at radio stations -- which is included in the cost of a spot -- varies from station to station. A radio disc jockey's tone can also be a problem, says Ron Pearson. Although some radio announcers can add credibility to a company's message, "if you have the zany afternoon-drive guy voicing your spot and you want to make a sincere statement," he says, "it's a difficult translation."
In radio commercials, the trend is toward "slice of life" ads that listeners can identify with, such as American Telephone & Telegraph's "Reach Out and Touch Someone" campaign. In Sau-Sea's 60-second spots, producer Dick Levy of Levy Flaxman & Associates, in New York City, successfully masks a hard-sell message with a humoious situation. In one, a game contestant, Mr. Ryker, is about to answer a jackpot question. If he is right, he will win a trip to Europe, an oil well, and the space shuttle. If he misses it, he gets a three-pack of Sau-Sea shrimp cocktail.
"You mean Sau-Sea, the shrimp cocktail with the scrumptious shrimp and that tangy sauce?" asks Mr. Ryker. " SauSea, the perfect anytime snack that's only 113 calories?"
Before the host can ask the question in the Famous Short People in History category, Mr. Ryker blurts out, "Goliath," and demands the shrimp cocktail.
But the rules must be followed, the question must be asked, says the host. "Little David, one of history's first short people, slew what famous giant? Goliath is correct. You won."
"Impossible," says the distraught Mr. Ryker. "I meant Marvin Goliath, my accountant."
Humor plays an important part in many radio commercials, but jokes, says Los Angeles radio producer Don Richman, "are for used-car dealers who have a weekend sale. Once you hear a joke, you might laugh the first time, snicker the second, but the third time, you tune it out." Richman also advises advertisers to be realistic: "Don't have children say things that children don't say. How many kids say yum, yum?" Like Richman, radio producer Dick Orkin believes an advertiser's challenge is to create advertising that has a personal relationship with the listener. "That's why we specialize in humor," says the founder of Dick Orkin's Radio Ranch and Home for Wayward Cowboys in Los Angeles. "Of all the emotions, humor is one of the most universal."
