Badvertising

Having bought a new house, which is still in the process of being built, I seem to spend every weekend in various Home Furnishing stores, one store in particular brought to my attention the importance of getting the delivery of an in store audio advert right!


Retailer ‘X’ had a music profile quite similar to a commercial radio station which I’m sure is what X asked for in their brief but after hearing Justin Timberlake followed by Britney Spears (oh the irony), there was a garbled message, delivered at a million miles an hour by a voice that had little or no chance to breathe, I think it was something about curtains but I literally can’t recall any of the advert and I was actively listening! Imagine the affect on customers, absolutely none at all I’m sure.

 
Price, Offer, Product (POP) there must’ve been 4 or 5 of each in a 30/40 second advert. Now don’t get me wrong, there’s a time and place for such a lot of information, which is local radio, much to the annoyance of Creatives in the local radio world but they know the importance of the local radio campaign, to drive people to a specific store, product or service and to get results, results matter!

 

In store this is completely different.

In store you have people in the right place, at the right time, in the right frame of mind to buy. For example you don’t go to a Carpet store to browse Carpets for fun...  do you? Well if you do I’d hope you’re in the minority.

Some really important Do’s and Don’ts to remember when writing or producing an in store audio advert and wanting to get result:

• Do, think about leading with one POP, and tell your customer about it, where to find it, the saving, the quality and the benefit.

• Don’t, tell your customer about several offers in one message, before you know it your customer won’t know which price refers to what and everything sounds confusing.

• Do, think about the speed of delivery of the voice, slow it down to a conversational pace and talk to the customer, more of a ‘Shoppers Friend’ advising rather than preaching.

• Don’t, SHOUT AT YOUR CUSTOMERS. They’re there to buy, listening to local radio style adverts barking offers won’t do your brand, customers or colleagues, for that matter, any good at all.

• Do, be creative! Add character, humour and style  be all the things some local radio Producers aren’t allowed to be due to the amount of information they have to cram into 30 seconds.

• Don’t, reel off the POP in a boring ‘We have 50% off this week’ way, it’s the responsibility of the copywriters, producers to bring stores to life, excite and engage.

So who’s to blame for X’s 'Badvertising?'

Is it X, or the provider of their service, let’s call them ‘Y’?

Just because X hears local radio adverts that have 45 seconds worth of words crammed into 30, it doesn’t make it right, however Y should be advising X of the best way to get results from their in store advertising.
 

 

If the scripting is something X is happy with then Y has a responsibility, at the very least, to make it audible, whether that means the ad runs slightly longer then so be it, it’s a small price to pay to have a good quality voice being heard than what inevitably ends up just being audio noise. 

The beauty of in store messaging is the freedom it gives Creatives to be just that, without strict 10, 20, 30, 60 second limits as with local radio, and the flexibility it gives retailers to say what they want, when they want.

Now, which colour should we do the Kitchen?

 

         D