Apurva Purohit,
CEO, Radio City,
Music Broadcast Pvt. Ltd
Innovative ads
The radio campaign for Rin Advanced’s ‘Scratch Card’ puts a humorous twist on popular dialogues from classic Indian cinema. The three spots bring out the core idea of “scratching/scrubbing” (that is, the action of using the scratch card) extremely well.
The spots have a certain old-world charm, which is likely to ring a bell with the end-consumer of the product, that is, housewives.
Trends and issues
• Radio now offers options beyond plain product promotions. Radio spots and contests now include value-added propositions such as content integration, brands woven in the RJ’s (radio jockey) script and ground activation.
• Unique properties specific to radio work better.
We recently structured and rolled ut an “activations” campaign with Cadbury India for their new product—Cadbury Éclairs Crunch—in Mumbai, Delhi and Ahmedabad.
Innovative activation-led solutions customized to address the advertiser’s specific business needs ensure direct quality interface with their core target group.
This is on the upswing and as radio branches out beyond the airwaves with on-ground activation, it only goes higher up the value chain of benefits—both to the listener and the advertiser.
Pallavi Burman,
National sales head, Fever 104 FM,
HT Media Ltd
Innovative ads
Star World creatives for teleserial ‘Desperate Housewives’ involved suggestive dialogues and caught everyone’s imagination. HBO’s creative for the movie ‘Snakes on the Plane’ (2006) made effective use of sound to convey the theme. Axe’s latest ‘Sponge Bar’ ad made an impact with its witty execution. In the past, Close Up, with the use of a catchy retro jingle (“Kya Aap Close Up Kartein Hai?”), Amaron Batteries, with its humorous ads and ICICI Prudential, through the character of Chintamani, made for memorable some radio ads.
Trends and issues
• Radio in India is still at a nascent stage, contributing roughly 3% of the total advertising pie. However, with the release of radio currencies such as Radio Audience Measurement, the accountability of the medium is on the rise. And that makes radio in India a sunrise industry with increased advertising spends. Historically, radio has not been considered a primary source of communication by advertisers, owing to its ambient nature. Hence, the medium was often taken for granted, not thought of too deeply.
• Radio has advantages yet to be exploited. It requires minimal production time, which makes this medium very cost- and time-effective. It also leaves the recipient to paint his own picture of the communication. And with expected growth of out-of-home radio listenership, the immediacy of the call to action will be maximum in the case of radio when compared with television or press.