The Two-Minute Radio Advertorial

People Hate Radio Commercials So We Made Them Longer!

As an advertiser, there’s one simple truth that—once you accept it— will set you free (and increase ROI):

People hate advertisements.

Your audience is exposed to around 5,000 advertising messages a day, and they’re experts at tuning them out. That’s why Wingman’s goal is to create radio advertorials that don’t sound like advertIsing. We create radio spots that fly beneath the audience’s well-tuned advertising-aversion radars. It’s no easy task, but over the years we’ve honed a below-the-radar strategy that’s so successful it drives three to four times the response of a typical 60-second radio ad. We call it the two-minute radio advertorial spot.

Our radio advertorial strategy gives the audience permission to drop its defenses and pay attention to your message. These commercials always feature a radio DJ or talk show host engaging in what appears to be a natural conversation with a brand representative. But the conversation seamlessly evolves into a long-form commercial for a product or service.

Dissecting the Two-Minute Radio Advertorial

Three components make two-minute radio advertorials work:

IT MUST BE AN INTERVIEW

Our two-minute spots are always interviews that sound like regular programming the audience would find on the radio station. Listeners pay attention to the spot because they believe they’re listening to show content instead of a commercial.

IT MUST BE CONVERSATIONAL

Our two-minute radio advertorial spots often begin with the DJ asking the guest (a representative from the company) about a recent news story or event in their lives which dovetails smoothly into talk about the product or service. Once people start talking about “spectacular offers” and pitching a product, the spot is DOA because it just caused a blip on the audience’s collective advertising-aversion radars.

IT MUST FEATURE A LOCAL DJ OR TALK SHOW HOST

We always carefully select local radio hosts or DJs the audience is familiar with. This makes the spot more credible and also gives the appearance that the interview is actual show content. If there are no DJs or hosts available, we choose a celebrity that fits the station’s psychographics.

Selling Considered Purchases with

Two-Minute Airtime

The two-minute advertorial has been wildly successful for Wingman’s clients that sell considered purchases (big ticket items). The longer format educates consumers about high-end purchases.

Wingman began to experiment with two-minute spots back in 2003 with a timeshare company called Consolidated Reports. The ads featured a local DJ interviewing a celebrity (Tanya Roberts, Roseanne Barr, and William Shatner to drop a few names) soliciting listeners to call for a free trip to Vegas.

Verengo Solar’s advertorials used Ed Asner as the perfect foil for the power companies (check out the case history below). The format gave CDW the incredible opportunity to expound on its innovative windows and doors and it allowed Rhino Shield to tell the world about how they kick paint’s butt.

Wingman’s long-time relationships with major market radio stations allows us to bend the radio rules and tap into our network of established local DJ’s and talk show hosts across the nation. Now, one question remains: With double the spot time and greater frequency, what will you tell your target audience about your product or service?

[et_social_follow icon_style=”slide” icon_shape=”circle” icons_location=”top” col_number=”auto” counts=”true” counts_num=”0″ total=”true” custom_colors=”true” bg_color=”#444444″ bg_color_hover=”#fac613″ icon_color=”#fac613″ icon_color_hover=”#444444″ outer_color=”dark” network_names=”true”]

Phone: (310) 302-9400

Email: info@wingmanmedia.com