World-renowned creative directors Nick Angell and Antony Hooper were in Dublin this week to call on the Irish advertising industry to ‘up its game’ when it comes to radio advertising.
Speaking at Media Central’s AUDIOlogy series of talks, which was run in association with IAPI, the award-winning duo said that radio is becoming more of a ‘numbers game’ and is being driven by return-on-investment modelling while less time and effort is being devoted to the creative and production process.
“As a result, the industry is becoming less brave and less experimental,” said Nick Angell.
During their ‘Pushing Radio’s Potential’ session the pair called on creative directors, copywriters and media planners to “up their game” and improve the listening experience for the audience. ‘Podcasts, spot-advertising and the emerging speaker technology give fresh opportunities to increase the popularity and creativity of audio marketing,” said Hooper. They called on the industry to meet the challenge of pushing the creative envelope despite the constant pressure on budgets.
They also called on clients to ‘spend time crafting a clear proposition for their agency teams otherwise it is just a list of facts and figures. A good brand proposition acts as a springboard for creativity,’ they noted. They also highlighted the wealth of experience in the Irish radio production industry and encouraged production teams to make full use of it.
This marks the second in the AUDIOLogy series of talks which is driven by Media Central and is co-presented with IAPI. The Audiology Series is aimed creatives, clients and media planners and focuses on Ireland’s radio creativity. Another event is planned for later this year.
“Radio reaches 83% of the population every day and we believe radio has a huge role to play in media plans,” says Deirdre Kelly, Insights Manager, Media Central.
“Media Central reaches 2.1m listeners every week and we have a responsibility to work with agencies and clients to strengthen the quality of creative and show how radio can build a client’s brand – this is the aim of the AUDIOlogy series. Choose Radio’s recent Flahavan’s case study has proven that radio advertising increases both brand awareness and sales.”
“IAPI delighted to support this initiative by Media Central,” said IAPI CEO Charley Stoney “We believe the relations that exists in Ireland with radio and story-telling should give us the edge in creating world class audio creative. We would urge all IAPI agencies to rise to this challenge.”
