Tune in to better radio ads: too many banks are content to broadcast mediocre commercials on the AM/FM dial. We asked experts for advice on how marketers can juice up advertising done over the airwaves.

• Author: Albro, Walt
• Position: Feature

At the time, it sounded like a great idea. A financial institution (that shall remain nameless) had a successful print advertising campaign that it wanted to convert to radio. The ads featured images of diamonds, symbolizing the bank's strength and stability. The proposed radio script talked about how--deep inside the earth--it took millions of years of pressure for carbon to be compressed into diamonds. The highlight of the spot was supposed to be a sound effect of "diamonds being made."

When the radio producer saw the script, he scratched his head. What sound would the average listener instantly recognize as that of carbon being converted into diamonds? The script was visual and abstract--written by someone who knew little about radio's unique requirements. The concept ultimately had to be discarded in favor of another that was more "radio friendly."

"I had a client who gave me a script that called for sound effects of a man sleeping on a screened-in porch," says Paul Fey, president and chief creative officer at World Wide Wadio, a large radio commercial production company in Hollywood, Calif. "Clearly, the writer was used to working for television. He was forcing a visual image into an audio medium. It didn't work."

These two stories symbolize a problem that is common in radio advertising for the financial services industry. Many bank marketers don't understand radio and, all too often, either create or approve radio commercials that are weak, unworkable or ineffective. The difficulty is particularly noticeable at community banks where, for budget reasons, radio is sometimes the only broadcast advertising that the institutions buy.

Bad radio can hurt. "A truly awful commercial can actually annoy people," notes Fey, whose company annually produces hundreds of new radio commercials for clients including such financial service companies as Wells Fargo & Co., Cal Fed and Bank of America. "An annoying ad leaves a negative impression of your brand."

ABA Bank Marketing magazine asked several seasoned radio-advertising experts to assess the special challenges of the medium and to pinpoint the common mistakes that financial institutions make with it. Their observations and recommendations follow.

Communicating through the ear

Radio is less expensive than television. Production of a top-drawer radio commercial with professional actors can cost $20,000 as opposed to $500,000 for a comparable television ad. For this reason, some--but not all--advertising agencies assign their senior copywriters to television, while relegating their less experienced junior writers to radio.

This can be a mistake since radio writing calls for special skills, says Barbara Goldman, president and producer at BG Productions inc., New York, a radio commercial production company. Radio scripts are best produced by persons practiced in crafting for the ear as opposed to the eye, she notes. Although her production company has worked for such major financial institutions as Citibank...