An interesting one coming out of the UK sees System1 and Radiocentre release Listen Up!, a new publication exploring the role of emotion in audio advertising effectiveness.
Radiocentre is the industry body for commercial radio in the UK with a focus on advertising, policy and clearance. System1 is the Creative Effectiveness Platform that harnesses the power of emotion to drive growth for the world’s leading brands. They also allow brands to compare their ads against competitors thanks to a database of over 100,000 ads. The Irish equivalent, Radiocentre Ireland, was established in 2022 by the IBI and RTÉ to promote audio as a marketing medium, with the core aim to promote the benefits of audio to advertisers and advertising agencies.
Listen Up: Key findings
The analysis in the publication is based on 131 radio ads, featuring effectiveness and emotional data collected from over 50,000 radio listeners and non-listeners.
Among the findings (read about them here) you’ll find
- Audio ads that make listeners feel more positive drive consumer behaviour change and deliver longer-lasting brand effects.
- Radio is as likely to cause long-lasting effects through an emotional response as TV advertising.
- Well-branded (fluent) radio advertising creates bigger trust effects.
- Audio ads with more right-brain features are more likely to cause longer-lasting brand effects.
Per Andrew Tindall, Listen Up! author and Global Director of System 1, “Listen Up! demonstrates how radio is the ideal environment to entertain for commercial gain. The creation of mental availability, trust & behaviour change with right-brain creative features can inspire a new generation of audio advertising.”
The publication reveals six key take-outs that will help brands and agencies develop compelling creative for audio platforms. At the heart of these findings is the important role that feeling (i.e. positive emotion) plays in audio advertising’s short and long-term effectiveness.
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If you’re working in commercial production or advertising, be it radio, TV or the online space, this could be worth an hour of your time for reading.