New CUMULUS MEDIA Survey Reveals Increased Interest in Audio Creative

CUMULUS MEDIA | Westwood One’s Audio Active Group Identifies Blueprint for Developing Impactful Ads

CUMULUS MEDIA | Westwood One’s Audio Active Group (AAG) announced the results of an October 2021 survey on audio creative practices. The Audio Active Group conducted a survey of senior audio activation executives to understand the types of questions they field from brand clients and strategy teams. The primary finding was that there is a heightened interest in audio creative best practices, attributed to two factors: 1) Podcasting has captured the attention of marketers who seek recommendations to optimize brand and sales effect, and 2) Big brands are discovering radio as an effective way to supplement and complement mass reach for TV, especially pharmaceutical brands.

• Have a conversation: Don’t shout
• The first five second matter: Say the brand early and often
• Don’t get caught up on spot length
• The fewer the messages, the greater the recall
• Use consistent, unified creative across different media to deliver impact
• Tell a story with emotion
• Use a fluent device, ie. a recurring character or scenario
• Entertain for emotional gain
• Make the ad audible and easy to understand
• Use music for branding
• Create a sonic logo that has melody and says the brand name
• Leverage the appeal and trust of radio personalities
• Target your core audience: Women prefer a female voice
• Don’t worry about wear-out

Click here for the complete guide to audio creative best practices.

The Audio Active Group, led by Pierre Bouvard, Chief Insights Officer of CUMULUS MEDIA | Westwood One, partners with clients to provide media and creative strategy and business outcome measurement of their entire audio campaign.