How can advertisers get the most out of their audio dollars? Audacy has teamed with Veritonic to come up with four tips that will help a radio or podcast ad become more impactful. The biggest is making sure the ad evokes a listener’s memory and emotions, and one way to do that is through sonic branding. That includes things like an audio logo, signature music or an easy-to-remember tagline which research has shown can improve not only brand recall but also purchase intent. It also points out that Veritonic research has shown sonic branding increases radio ad recall by 17% and podcast ad recall by 14%.
Another tip is to spend more time thinking about the music used in a commercial. That starts with deciding whether or not to use a music bed in an ad, although Audacy’s sales team says there is good reason to do so. “Ads with music are simply more memorable than those without. Whether on radio or podcasts, it reverberates with three percent higher energetic emotion scores, four percent higher recall, and five percent higher purchase intent,” it says in a blog post.
The voiceover talent is just as important as the music. While some research has shown that women deliver better ad results, Audacy and Veritonic say their research suggest that having both female and male voices is a better option. They say that audio ads with multiple voices increase recall by 10%.
When it comes to what that voice actually says, there are a few simple tips to follow when writing an audio script, according to the sales teams. It starts with mentioning the brand – a lot. They point out that research shows when an audio commercial mentions a brand four or more times, purchase intent of the product increases by four percent.
Similar to using two different voiceover talent, they also suggest that writing multiple ad scripts is also a good way to improve an ad’s performance. Using a variety of scripts is an easy and relatively cost-free way to target a brand to different listening demographics.
Finally, the research also suggests that a 30-second ad is the “sweet spot” in audio, outperforming shorter and longer ads on metrics including engagement, brand effect, and brand recall.
“People think about what they see, but they feel what they hear. Audio is not only the most trusted and immersive medium, but it’s also the number one reach medium,” the blog post says. “Done properly, it sparks emotions, evokes brand recognition, and drives purchases. Add in a little surprise that catches your audience off-guard, and you’ll be hearing the sweet sound of success.”
The findings are based on content analysis on 113 ads from podcast and broadcast radio, across the entertainment, auto, CPG, and financial service categories. The content analysis delved into 20 attributes, including voiceover gender, sonic branding type, and ad tone. They then ran a custom survey asking 330 consumers their opinions about the ads and the brands they represent. Within 48 hours of their responses, they were contacted a second time to gauge ad recall.
Download the full Sound Creative study HERE.
Comments