August 12th, 2010
Once again the media industry turns to Radio Experts for expert comment on all things radio. Click here to listen to our Managing Partner, Tim Cowland speaking to Peter Allen, Aasmah Mir and Radio 5’s near 7 million weekly listeners.
The subject was an anti terrorism radio campaign and it appeared on the afternoon drivetime show (5 Live Drive). As you can hear, Tim didn’t pull any punches as he fought the corner for the commercial radio industry.
Well done Tim!
Posted by Tam McGregor, Marketing Co-ordinator at Radio Experts, a London based specialist radio advertising agency. office@radioexperts.co.uk
Tags: BBC, Radio, Radio Ad, Radio Advertising, Radio Experts
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July 8th, 2010
One of the more difficult commercials to write for radio is the product ‘demonstration.’ It has long been the stock in trade for TV advertising:
“My product is superior and let me show you why.”
Yet radio should not be shy over this – what is required is the extra 20% of thought and craft to be as convincing as any visual demonstration.
After all, radio has the power to paint pictures in the mind, and from there it’s a short step to ‘showing’ the listener why Product A is superior to Product B. It has been called “selling the sizzle without showing the sausage.”
If you have a product that is demonstrably better, we will show you how radio advertising can demonstrate this to its listeners. Done well, it will prove very cost effective indeed. If of course anyone throws up their hands and says you can only do this on TV and by spending a small fortune in the process, give them our number. Just like your product, we’re demonstrably better!
We’re here to show you how it’s done.
Tim Cowland is a Founder Partner at Radio Experts, a London based specialist radio advertising agency. tim.cowland@radioexperts.co.uk
Tags: Radio, Radio Advert, Radio Advertising, Radio Adverts, Radio Experts
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June 23rd, 2010
I’ve just been onto the Talksport website. I make it my business as a radio advertising expert to regularly do a ‘secret shop’ on all of the main radio station websites.
What struck me as fascinating about the Talksport site was just how much of a multimedia zone it has become and how much World Cup content is available there. Podcasts, videos, articles, pundits, photos, predictions, wallcharts….you name it, they’ve got it. And fair play to them.
The real media change that this typifies is the change taking place at the well run radio stations that have an innately strong editorial nature (such as Talksport, Classic FM, LBC, Jazz FM).
For this fairly rare breed of UK radio stations, they offer yesterday’s radio advertiser a fully immersive multimedia approach today. In this time of change, herded interest and content consumption, stations like Talksport can seize on events like the World Cup by providing access to more than just their listeners. By building the requisite functionality, they can add viewers, readers, community members, social networkers, fans and more to their ever growing list of content customers.
In a changing world of media consumption, we know radio. So we’ll keep secret shopping and make it our business to keep you turned on and tuned in.
Tim Cowland is a Founder Partner at Radio Experts, a London based specialist radio advertising agency. tim.cowland@radioexperts.co.uk
Tags: Radio, Radio Advertising, Radio Adverts, Specialist Radio Agency, Talksport, World Cup
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October 29th, 2009
Every Quarter the radio station listenership results come in and the PR machines whir into action turning defeats into victories and victories into slaughters! There are lots of ways to cut through the results but looking at the actual reach of listeners per week per station is often the best barometer of all. So here’s the independent scoop from us:
London wakes up this morning with a sad Heart (106.2FM). The Global Group station which bled great chunks of radio audience reach last quarter failed to make a meaningful comeback and only limped back into second place due to Capital FM’s mixed bag of results and its loss of reach. Considering that Global own both radio stations, it’s a challenging set of results for them as they tinker with the engine again. Capital FM did take the lead in London though for market share (meaning they get more hours of listening than anyone else) but the drop in audience will be a disappointment to them.
Magic is still London’s top radio station for reach, its been undefeated for years now and it still hits more than 2 million listeners every week. But Bauer’s glee at Magic’s continued dominance will be tempered slightly by disappointment that Kiss 100’s great leap of last quarter fell away quite dramatically.
Elsewhere in London, Absolute Radio’s pedal is still to hit the metal, LBC stayed impressively strong with close to a million listeners, Smooth, Gold and XFM retained similar results to last time and a big success story was Choice FM who keep on creeping up (how many times have we said that!) and Choice is now close to 600,000 weekly listeners in London
Nationally, more woe for Global as Classic FM dumped around 4% reach (that’s a lot when you have 5.7 million listeners a week). But Talksport enjoyed a modest but pleasant gain as its niche format performed well considering there was no football for half of the survey period.
In Birmingham, an interesting story is developing. On face value, Orion’s flagship station, BRMB, took a loss in audience reach. However, the listening hours are coming back more and more strongly so we’re expecting great things in the future as the programming is starting to work and the seeds of recovery are planted.
There are more stories aplenty across this great radio nation, for the lowdown on any area or station that interests you, please contact us on the details below.
Tim Cowland is a Founder Partner at Radio Experts, a London based specialist radio agency. tim.cowland@radioexperts.co.uk
Tags: Absolute Radio, Audience Research, Capital FM, Choice FM, Global Radio, Radio, Radio Advertising, Radio Audience Figures, Radio Commercial, Radio Experts, RAJAR
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September 21st, 2009
Fascinating changes at Radio 1 as Station Controller Andy Parfitt brings in yet another raft of changes. Parfitt’s strategy is partly to bring in more and more new faces and young blood, but the most amazing changes is less about who’s in and who’s out and more about the changes to the programming.
Radio 1’s previous reputation for delivering new music, more music ,and more new music is now turning into more programming, new programming and more new programming. Items like documentaries, investigations, reports, news and even pseudo gameshows are suddenly cropping up all over the evening schedules. One show in particular even has what seems like a version of Desert Island Disks but reskinned for the Radio 1 late noughties…….the mind boggles.
So why are they doing all of this? Well Radio 1’s remit is to reach 15-29 year olds but recent research has shown that their median age of listener is now up to 33…OUCH!, So they need to freshen up, get younger and get with it – before the young things all get with someone else!
Will it work? Only time will tell but you can be sure that the Radio 1 Controller and his team will be watching the audience ratings and the average ages like hawks when the next RAJAR results come out in about a months time. If their actions prove to be a success, you can be sure that this summer’s and autumn’s bloodletting (Jo Whiley, Edith Bowman, Steve Lamacq et al) will be a mere precursor to the fun and games ahead.
I was privileged enough to be interviewed by a BBC News team on Thursday morning about the changes at Radio 1. The piece screens on BBC News, other BBC channels and will be on the website from this weekend. It’s a fascinating time in the radio industry and as ever your Radio Experts are on hand to navigate you through.
Tim Cowland is a Founder Partner at Radio Experts, a London based specialist radio agency. tim.cowland@radioexperts.co.uk
Tags: Andy Parfitt, BBC News, Radio, Radio 1, Radio Authority Joint Audience Research, Radio Commercial, Radio Experts, RAJAR
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September 17th, 2009
I’ve been busy with my Bunsen Burner, lab coat, headphones and calculator, I’ve been merrily deconstructing the formulas for success in this new audio environment, Radio On Demand. The result is that I can offer clients a Radio Expert On Demand service that delivers a smart route to independent advice and sophisticated audio and media work.
In our travels over the past month we’ve heard a lot of opinions and excitement about our pioneering work as Radio Experts On Demand. The way we see it, there are three Radio On Demand players to highlight to you right now:
- Spotify – now closing in on 2.5 million users across the UK
- We7 – delivering 2.5 million users also – and through a selection of services
- Radio Experts On Demand– forging close links with this emerging industry and generating fascinating media and creative intelligence on what works and why.
If you have campaigns that require carefully honed geographic/conurbation or age targeting then we recognise the brief for you and put Radio On Demand schedules alongside the other stations we recommend. Its quite simply ‘another way’.
Looking for women 25-44 in Greater Manchester postcodes? We can deliver audio impacts on them and only them with our bank of Radio On Demand suppliers.
Looking for regional 45+ audience for travel products? Our Radio On Demand solutions could be perfect.
Want 25-54s with South Coast postcodes for property Open Weekends? We have some stunning Radio On Demand solutions and case studies for you.
The possibilities are endless because Radio used to offer three tiers, national, regional and local, but Radio On Demand services (like Spotify and We7) offer a 4th tier.
To find out more about our aggressive work in this new space, including how we have achieved click through rates at more than 10 times the average for some clients, just speak to the Radio Experts team. Its our favourite subject at the moment!
Tim Cowland is a Founder Partner at Radio Experts, a London based specialist radio agency. tim.cowland@radioexperts.co.uk
Tags: Commercial Radio, On Demand, Radio, Radio Advertising, Radio Expert, Radio Experts, Radio On Demand, Spotify, We7
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September 15th, 2009
Over the last few months, there’s been a lot of noise in the industry about services like We7 and Spotify. And I’ve been making a lot of that noise myself!
www.we7.com
www.spotify.com
Step 1, I suggest you join these sites and see what they offer their users. Its a fascinating insight into the brave new world of audio advertising.
As a Radio Expert, I understand that Radio On Demand Services are reinventing response levels, relevancy and clever use of audio creative and branding. As you’d expect, I’m one of the people at the forefront of this market shifting evolution and I’m pleased to say that I already have a series of successful campaigns under my belt.
Click through rates are through the roof, happy customers abound and results are encouraging across the board. That’s all in a day’s work for me (usually!) But as the song says ‘it aint what you do it’s the way that you do it’. Which is why I have developed a series of strategies for successful Radio On Demand campaigns.
To find out more about how to make Radio On Demand work for your brand and work for your click through rates – get in touch! Your Radio Expert is all ears.
Tim Cowland is a Founder Partner at Radio Experts, a London based specialist radio agency. tim.cowland@radioexperts.co.uk
PS – as I’ve been writing this entry an email has just arrived telling me that a client is achieving 0.7% click through rate on Spotify. That’s more than 7 times the average click through rate for a flat online campaign!
Tags: Ad, Advert, Advertising, Commercial, Radio, Radio Experts, Spotify, Streaming, Streaming Radio, We7, We7 Radio
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August 13th, 2009
Radio touches ears, hearts, wires and dancers. But at Radio Experts, we also know that its often at its best when it touches the funny bone. There have been some great radio wind-up merchants over the years, Stern, Penk and most famously of all Mr H G Wells with his War of The World’s Radio Hoax. But if you’ve got 5 minutes to spare and you fancy a little chuckle to yourself, I’d like to introduce you to Wackhead Simpson, a South African radio wind up genius. This guy has that perfect combination of balls of steel and balls of steel. This one has a UK theme.
click here for the audio clip
Tim Cowland is a Founder Partner at Radio Experts, a London based specialist radio agency. tim.cowland@radioexperts.co.uk
Tags: Advert, Advertising, Commercials, Radio, Radio xperts
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July 27th, 2009
As a Radio Expert, I live for my clients and for the success of my campaigns. So, when I’m recommending schedules, choosing the stations and geography that fit the brief and devising creative……there’s a lot of pressure to get things right.
Fortunately, successful radio advertising is as much about experience as it is about inspirational creativity. On the back of an envelope, I reckon that the team at Radio Experts have been responsible for placing in excess of £50 million worth of radio advertising over the years as well as countless dollars, Euros and all sorts of other weird and wonderful currencies. In terms of commercials written, we’ve quite simply produced too many to count. Big ones, small ones, fat ones, thin ones, loud ones, quiet ones….there’s little we haven’t done creatively over the years.
But the most important thing to me is to keep on learning. By making a science out of what works (and also taking careful note of what doesn’t work), it only increases the service I can provide to my clients and their very important advertising pounds / Euros / dollars / kwacha!?*
After all, if you’re not learning, you’re just not tuned in.
Right now, we’re learning some fascinating stuff about retinal eye movement in front of a computer and where your eyes go when you hear audio messages. There’s so much to learn and so much to get better at…….it might not be everyone’s bag, but I think being a Radio Expert is the most exciting job on the dial.
Tim Cowland is a Founder Partner at Radio Experts, a London based specialist radio agency. tim.cowland@radioexperts.co.uk
Tags: Ads, Advert, Advertising, Commercials, Radio, Radio Experts
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