This is Envoy Town and I Approve of This Message

Political Ads Lost in the Deluge

Who writes these things? Who listens? Is it November yet? Every year at this time I ask the same thing about political radio and television commercials where half of them obviously find actors who were innocently walking down the street and were kidnapped and forced to act at gunpoint! "Alright - once more with feeling punk or your poodle gets it!" Instead of "I'm Harold Billings and I approve of this message," I think it should end with "This is Hank and that's what I'm talking about!"

How Many Times can we say it?

In advertising my rule of thumb is that there will be a spot before yours and another after and chances are they both will be bad, so yours has to reach the sensibilities, the entertainment quotient and the message without using radio over-usage quotient. The cheesy un-creative spots that say the phone number 3 times, the website half a dozen times, and then the name of the bill, or action committee 5 or more times. A sixty-second radio commercial is an average of 185 words. The average commercial station runs commercial breaks with 4-7 commercials every 15 minutes. If every one of them said the name of the advertiser 5 times, the website twice and the phone number 3 times, chances are the listener is tuning the entire spot out.

How Many Different Ways Can I tell it?

On the other hand a memorable story that relates directly to the product, candidate, or service and shows the result of using it, voting for, or subscribing to without over-using the name, slogan, website or phone number will be more effective and appeals to the listener and stands out as the meat between the two spots that came before and after yours. Ask yourself this: what message am I trying to convey and not so much how many times I will hammer it in a spot-but how many different and creative ways you can say it!

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