Better Advertising
Listening to Radio Commercials for Fun and Profit
The finalists in the 2018 Radio Mercury Awards have been announced. ‘The 100 or so commercials that made the cut represent some of the best work being done in radio advertising today. From this group, a dozen or two will emerge as national award-winners, taking home the coveted RMA “tube” […]
How to Amplify Your Word-of-Mouth, Guaranteed.
You prize good word-of-mouth don’t you? We all do. Word-of-mouth may not create business, but it helps create a preference for your business or brand in the heart of the hearer. Good radio advertising can have the same effect, only multiplied and amplified. Radio is word-of-mouth on steroids. Individual word-of-mouth travels slowly and unpredictably. […]
The Speech Therapist In Your Pocket
You and I take the sounds of our words for granted. We don’t even give them a second thought. Having learned our alphabet as kids (to the tune of Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star, possibly our earliest exposure to the power of a jingle), we gradually picked up a vocabulary, adding to […]
Putting Your Phone Number in a Radio Ad is a Bad Idea. Here’s Why.
You’re not one of those advertisers who just automatically throw their telephone number into their radio commercials, are you? Good. Didn’t think so. You know better. You chuckle as you imagine somebody pulling over as they’re driving down the road, scrambling to jot down that telephone number. And you recognize […]
How to Write Good in Plain English
Meet P.L.A.I.N. – short for the Plain Language and Information Network. Founded in the 1990s “…to promote the use of plain language for all government communications. We believe that using plain language will save federal agencies time and money and provide better service to the American public.” Wait a minute. Federal […]
So, You Want to Be a Voice Actor?
You could do worse than to learn from Seattle’s Amy Walker.
Thoroughbred Ad Campaign Races into Hall of Fame
One of my very favorite advertising campaigns of all time has to do with horse racing. And life, laughter, and modern culture. It’s DeVito/Verdi’s brilliant “And They’re Off…” campaign, winner of multiple advertising awards over the years, including their induction earlier this month into the Clio Hall of Fame. Here’s one […]
Best-selling Wizard of Ads®Trilogy – FREE!
I’ve read and reread the books in their original published format and more recently have enjoyed listening to the audio versions on multiple CD’s. I’ve also purchased copies of his books and his DVD, The Most Common Mistakes in Advertising (worth its weight in gold, without qualification) to give to clients. If […]
A Lesson in Staying Relevant From Crayola Crayons
Crayola Crayons have been around since 1903. The name “Crayola” derives from the French word for “chalk” and the suffix “-ola” meaning oily, thus “oily chalk.” Its inventors, Edwin Binney and C. Harold Smith, had been supplying chalk and pencils to schools. Crayola manufactures 3 billion crayons a year–about 650 […]