Clients who do their own commercials drive me nuts. Like the guy on the Horizon Heating and air conditioning commercials. He's every where. I can't get away from him. I hate the way he brags about his company being on time and if they are one minute late the visit is free. What does he do.. take it out of his employees pay. His voice is just getting on my nerves. I turn the radio off every time I hear him ..Is he a franchise?
-
Get involved.
We want your input!
Apply for Membership and join the conversations about everything related to broadcasting.
After we receive your registration, a moderator will review it. After your registration is approved, you will be permitted to post.
If you use a disposable or false email address, your registration will be rejected.
After your membership is approved, please take a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself.
https://www.radiodiscussions.com/forums/introduce-yourself.1088/
Thanks in advance and have fun!
RadioDiscussions Administrators
Clients who do their own commercials should be tarred and feathered.
- Thread starter TGunn
- Start date
I'm in Philly...I was saying for the most part clients who do their own spots are a tune out. Unless they are doing something comical.. They are just feeding their ego. I had to record a client's spots one time and he was always wanting to go 4 or more seconds over ... Then he threatened my job if I didn't let him do it. I said go ahead.. He went to the GM and the GM told him what I had said ..and he'd have to pay more money ..
It's their money. They can do what they want. You tell them they can't and they'll just take their money to the competition. Most stations charge a production fee, and that money is paying your salary.
Last edited:
I know clients don't always sound great but I try to encourage as many as will to do their own spot or at least a line in the spot. There is reasoning behind it: it stands out, it helps to bond the listener to the client by being 'familiar', it increases real or perceived results, the client's friends say they heard the commercial and it's just darn near impossible when a client needs to trim their ad budget for them to cancel themselves (I call it the failure factor). I know the client spots can be rather cringe-worthy at times but I will say this: you remember the spot and chances are you'll talk about it, even if it is so bad. And to get you talking and remembering is just what good advertising should do.
The first rule is the client is almost always right because it is their money
The first rule is the client is almost always right because it is their money
N
Neal Page
Guest
And I assume because nobody can tell if the "tune outs" are directly affecting time spent listening, the customer can be right. What if you do know, or could know?
The job of a good sales person is to maximize the revenue from the client.
That's the ultimate job of the sales person. That revenue can be maximized by not talking the "bad on air" clients out of wanting to do their own spots.
As I said, you can charge clients more if they do their own spots. I'm willing to look at research that says people tune out client-voiced spots. But no one's shown me any.
Last edited:
It has been said time and time again that even bad publicity is good. Gallery Furniture in Houston has the owner doing commercials. He'll tell you his commercials are horrible. Everyone knows of him and his store that began as a piece of furniture on a street corner in to the largest volume single location furniture store on earth. In fact, including the furniture store chains, I think he is like #4 or #5 in total sales, not in Houston but nationally. Ask anybody in Houston if they have heard of Mattress Mack and Gallery Furniture. His spots air on TV, cable and radio daily.
Sounds like sour grapes to me.
Through the years I have seen some GREAT examples and success stories of people doing their own commercials, and I've heard some real losers.
It seems that we could offer you a clean, easy, economical solution to the problem.
Try tuning to another station!!!!
Ah.... that's much better.
It seems that we could offer you a clean, easy, economical solution to the problem.
Try tuning to another station!!!!
Ah.... that's much better.
I admit clients do want to stand out like a sore thumb. The more out of the ordinary they sound, the greater the chances are you will listen and then talk about them because they are so out of the ordinary. That can include irritating. Not matter the emotion, if they stand out, chances are they'll be remembered and there's a chance you'll mention them to folks you know.
I was always amazed by the concept of not wanting to cancel yourself. I watched businesses scale back on marketing but left that advertising with their photo (business or owner) and the radio and TV spots featuring the client remain untouched. We used to write in the business name versus the word 'commercial' or 'spot' on proposal schedules because more often than not, if the package was a bit too pricey, you could hand them a pen to strike out the spots they didn't want and generally they'd buy as is, not one spot struck out. My boss said it was all because they were asked to strike out their business name.
I was always amazed by the concept of not wanting to cancel yourself. I watched businesses scale back on marketing but left that advertising with their photo (business or owner) and the radio and TV spots featuring the client remain untouched. We used to write in the business name versus the word 'commercial' or 'spot' on proposal schedules because more often than not, if the package was a bit too pricey, you could hand them a pen to strike out the spots they didn't want and generally they'd buy as is, not one spot struck out. My boss said it was all because they were asked to strike out their business name.
Some clients are horrible, others pretty good. However, how many advertisers want Rush Limbaugh doing their spots? He's got an excellent voice, but there's baggage that comes with him doing their spots. He didn't last long doing a Pizza Hut TV commercial, too much negative reaction from the public. Same could be said of Howard Stern. Some listeners would love him doing a spot, others would react the same way as many did with Limbaugh doing the Pizza Hut spots.
The idea of a different voice is an important one. Most stations have the same voices doing the local spots[usually jocks or talk show hosts if not produced by an agency], so when Myron Proudfoot, owner of Proudfoots Furniture Barn comes on the air with his less than stellar radio voice, it draws your attention. Sort of the same way as dead air does. At some point people are listening to the radio, but not hearing the radio, it becomes background filler or even white noise, especially while driving in a car in traffic at rush hour. You aren't hearing every word said.
An example of this was when I was doing a radio show many years ago, and had a trivia contest. I did record trivia's where I'd play a well known artist and play the B side of the record, or a lesser known song if from an album and asked who is singing this song, call in with the correct answer, be the 7th caller and win blah blah blah blah. This one day the phones really lit up and as the hour progressed and was almost up they just weren't getting it. So while I read the weather I inserted, in the forecast, the trivia answer: The forecast for this evening will be clear and cold and the answer to our trivia question is Brooklyn Bridge, the overnight low will be..... No one caught it. They kept calling in and that was one trivia where I definitely stumped my listeners, even when I gave them the answer.
So having that moment of dead air [a mortal sin on old Top 40 radio], or a different voice, even a less than star quality voice, will get listeners to focus. Maybe that's why NPR does dead air in their deliveries, because it causes you to focus back on what they are saying.
I remember a TV commercial years ago, where the woman whispered the entire spot. It caught your attention, because it was NOT loud like every other commercial.
So sometimes different is a good thing.
NOTE to moderator: the must log out to re log in as the time runs out is a very irritating thing and makes one not want to bother to post. Can't you folks somehow fix that????
The idea of a different voice is an important one. Most stations have the same voices doing the local spots[usually jocks or talk show hosts if not produced by an agency], so when Myron Proudfoot, owner of Proudfoots Furniture Barn comes on the air with his less than stellar radio voice, it draws your attention. Sort of the same way as dead air does. At some point people are listening to the radio, but not hearing the radio, it becomes background filler or even white noise, especially while driving in a car in traffic at rush hour. You aren't hearing every word said.
An example of this was when I was doing a radio show many years ago, and had a trivia contest. I did record trivia's where I'd play a well known artist and play the B side of the record, or a lesser known song if from an album and asked who is singing this song, call in with the correct answer, be the 7th caller and win blah blah blah blah. This one day the phones really lit up and as the hour progressed and was almost up they just weren't getting it. So while I read the weather I inserted, in the forecast, the trivia answer: The forecast for this evening will be clear and cold and the answer to our trivia question is Brooklyn Bridge, the overnight low will be..... No one caught it. They kept calling in and that was one trivia where I definitely stumped my listeners, even when I gave them the answer.
So having that moment of dead air [a mortal sin on old Top 40 radio], or a different voice, even a less than star quality voice, will get listeners to focus. Maybe that's why NPR does dead air in their deliveries, because it causes you to focus back on what they are saying.
I remember a TV commercial years ago, where the woman whispered the entire spot. It caught your attention, because it was NOT loud like every other commercial.
So sometimes different is a good thing.
NOTE to moderator: the must log out to re log in as the time runs out is a very irritating thing and makes one not want to bother to post. Can't you folks somehow fix that????
If you are writing a very long post, write it using Notepad and then copy and paste it onto the website.
I have to agree that dead air tends to make me focus a little more. If for no other reason that it stands out.
With that said, the only annoying thing about the Horizon guy is the saturation; he does a decent job of presenting his company and exactly what it offers that competitors may not. Diffrentiation is key here.
With that said, the only annoying thing about the Horizon guy is the saturation; he does a decent job of presenting his company and exactly what it offers that competitors may not. Diffrentiation is key here.
In my area, there's a guy who runs a high-end shoe store who is actually very good on the air. (I think he may be a frustrated DJ...he rebuilds old juke boxes; has a garage full of them, a basement full of 45 rpms...and a very understanding wife!) There are also a couple of used car dealers who are not so good; one records his commercials, the other does live "conversational" spots over the phone with a morning talk host.
Back in the 60's and 70's, Erv Goldfine, who ran a local department store with his family name on it, was a familiar character (and I mean "character!") on local TV, doing all his own spots. Unpolished, but really enthusiastic; his tag line was always "At Goldfine's...OF COURSE!!" He and his brother Manny also appeared in their print ads, their photo faces attached to different cartoon bodies each week (two of the Beatles, a pilgrim and Indian at Thanksgiving, etc.) He was a character, but he was also a success!
Back in the 60's and 70's, Erv Goldfine, who ran a local department store with his family name on it, was a familiar character (and I mean "character!") on local TV, doing all his own spots. Unpolished, but really enthusiastic; his tag line was always "At Goldfine's...OF COURSE!!" He and his brother Manny also appeared in their print ads, their photo faces attached to different cartoon bodies each week (two of the Beatles, a pilgrim and Indian at Thanksgiving, etc.) He was a character, but he was also a success!
- Status