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Spotify says ‘Hola’ Mexico

Spotify the ad funded music streaming service has launched in Mexico, Hong Kong and Eastern Europe and is now boasting more than 24 million active users worldwide. Big numbers.

This is an important move for Spotify’s service, establishing itself within these emerging markets for streaming music. And now that the streaming and music services marketplace is firmly on the radar of the big three technology companies, (Apple Google Samsung), Spotify’s bold moves make a lot of sense. What can be seen as a natural expansion could also be seen as a clever counter strategy following the rumours of the Apple iRadio service/platform possibly launching in June.

And if it’s the fast lane for Spotify – it’s pedal to the metal for Blackberry and 7Digital. Just this week, they announced a deal with in car entertainment system maker QNX. This means that dashboard integrated music streaming services and audio apps are about to become a regular part of the in car experience. That brings GPS in – and that’s really exciting for ad serving and geo / micro targeting possibilities.

If Apple, Google and gang reach breakthrough metrics in ways to connect our mobile devices more intuitively with our car dashboards the picture could change again……and you can rely on Radio Experts to remain in hot pursuit.

Read More No Comments | Posted in Radio Advertising

The Value of Music in Radio Advertising

Whenever we talk to people about the intricacies of radio advertising, one of the things we’re often asked about is the value of using music in a commercial.

Creating a memorable radio ad – one that stands out from the crowd, is always a challenge as every advertiser is competing for the listener’s attention. Using music can help get a message across and make it more memorable. It acts as an attention-getter as well as an enhancer of the message creating a mood or feeling in the listener that transfers to the product or service in the ad.

There are many more benefits of using music in a radio ad. For instance, music can be used to create a sense of continuity by tying together all the elements of an ad. This is a useful tool for a long-term, regular radio advertiser. The music ensures the sound of the ad has consistency, whilst the actual sales message can change on a frequent basis without losing any of the “brand equity”.

Another significant thing about music is that it has the ability to stay in a listener’s mind. When a message carries music it’s more memorable and can even keep circulating in people’s heads, when they’re out of range of a radio and doing their everyday tasks – there is no other medium that works in such a powerful way.

Once the decision has been made to use music in a radio advertising campaign, the work is not finished. There are more choices to be made; do you use simple library music? A bespoke music production, custom produced sung musical identity, or do you go the full nine yards and licence a well-known track? Thankfully, you have Radio Experts to help do the thinking on all of this and find the right solution.

Music definitely has the ability to enhance a radio advertising campaign. Various studies have shown that it increases the likelihood a message will be noticed, understood, and then received positively. Whether it’s used to invoke a mood or to be the primary carrier of the message, music is an efficient and reputable method of engaging with the audience.

If you’d like us to help with your next radio campaign, call us on 0207 841 8744 or email us at office@radioexperts.co.uk

Read More No Comments | Posted in Radio Advertising, Radio Adverts

Norway says “ja” to Radioplayer

We often think of our friends in the Nordic regions as being forward minded. So it’s great to see one of the UK’s innovations getting their endorsement.

Radio streaming platform Radioplayer has been a great success in the UK, making a massive contribution to the large increases in online listening (RAJAR). Now it has been embraced by the radio market in Norway, so that their stations can benefit from its ease of use and smart design.

The rise of Radioplayer and Tunein radio across the globe shows the changing face of radio and audio consumption. People are happy to listen on whatever platform delivers the audio content they crave.

More easy access to more great radio is always good news for us radio experts. So congratulations to Radioplayer on their success in Norway and a warm welcome to www.radio.no, coming this summer.

For more on the radio industry, digital platforms, and how your radio advertising take advantage of all these great platforms  get in touch now…

Read More No Comments | Posted in Radio Advertising, Radio Adverts

Radio is just the job for recruitment advertising

We’ve noticed that the job sector appears to be picking up with more calls than usual from agencies wanting radio plans for recruitment campaigns. So we thought we’d share some interesting research carried out by from the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD)

In their “Employment Outlook” report published in Summer 2012 they state that at any one time 20% of us are looking for a new job with a different employer.

Many of those active job-seekers are using a range of methods to search for their new role and can be easily targeted. But what about the 80% who aren’t actively looking for new job? How can you reach them?

The answer is simple of course – Radio.

  • Radio is an interruptive medium that’s hard to avoid.
  • Radio is persuasive and can get listeners to consider a new job (even if they’re not actively searching for one).
  • Radio’s creativity can inspire them to respond.

Radio is THE best medium for recruitment.

If you have clients planning a recruitment campaign, brief Radio Experts and we’ll pinpoint a solution to reach the right people and develop some amazing creative ideas to generate a response.

Read More No Comments | Posted in Radio Advertising, Radio Adverts

Amazing times for Audio

At least 3.7 billion songs were streamed in 2012 from sites such as Spotify, Deezer and We7.

3.7 billion……..yikes!

The music discovery and music listening marketplace is an absolute ocean of opportunity for us, as audio professionals. And yet, almost inevitably, a question we’re sometimes asked by journalists when this sort of stat comes up is “Will this be the end of radio?”

The simple Janet and John answer is ‘no, radio is in rude health, the stats prove it.’

The long, jargonised, techy and full on answer is ‘Radio is rude health because it now exists in a more micro targeted audio and music loving environment. That means it provides a synthesis between CRM driven personalisation tools and the emotional connection of being spoken to – not advertised at – spoken to. Radio delivers listeners, it delivers listening hours and it delivers an audience of ever more defined and passionate music lovers.’

Big data – micro meanings – audio persuasion – massive numbers – Direct response ROI.

Oh good heavens……if you only knew some of the exciting conversations we’re having here at Radio Experts.

I see 3.7 billion songs streamed in 2012 and I just think………I love being in the radio business…..

Read More No Comments | Posted in Radio Advertising

It’s not what you’re on to – its what you’re in to : RAJAR update

Total radio listening was up 1% year on year – with over a billion hours crammed into our good nation’s very British eardrums. But how it found its way into our eardrums is an arena where we are seeing massive change. Across the board, we are seeing a plethora of devices and ways to listen that break the traditional FM/AM dial mould – but we’re also seeing a fragmentation of the listener hours across an ever stronger fold of the more niche stations.

The Results in Summary

The big middle of the road stations, Heart, Capital, Magic and Kiss in London – all maintained a dominance but absorbed some quite significant drops. But it was the smaller niche stations that pushed upwards and onwards.

And that’s good for Choice…..

So let’s start with Choice FM. London’s now major alternative urban station posted a very aggressive and pleasing 568,000 weekly listeners. Then there was XFM who came back with a vengeance and had a positive RAJAR for the first time in many moons. Smooth in London went large and also did well nationally with its older calmer more eclectic mix of music and style. A result that will please Global Radio as they eye up their slinky new outfit.

A big star this RAJAR was Absolute Radio, posting rises across the portfolio of stations and streams, Absolute London fared well and the headline was Absolute’s Christian O’Connell Breakfast Show now being London’s second biggest behind Dave Berry and Lisa Snowden on Capital. It’s old style thinking but if you start the day with a station, it does tend to stick around a little longer in your listening habits.

It’s also looking more and more like Bauer are in the lead to buy Absolute Radio. Meaning the battle of the top 2 (Global v Bauer)  is started to look less like David and Goliath and more like Tiger Woods v Rory McIlroy.

As well as Absolute, nationally, Talksport fell back a little bit – but its figures always swirl around like an Andy Murray lob shot in the wind, as its listenership fluctuates with the live sporting events it carries. Classic FM posted rises and its mega audience still pushes way beyond 5 million. That’s a lot of listeners…….

The Heart and Capital networks both posted fair results throughout the regions but the Global policy of talent investment centrally, delivered locally (!) is paying more dividends to the balance sheet than the RAJAR highlights reel. On the other hand, Bauer’s portfolio of stations generally did well. Magic topped London but Key 103 also took the Manchester crown. Metro had a big one in Newcastle, Clyde 1 piled on the Glaswegian listeners and overall there was a sense that passionate local big city radio has once again proved that it has a very solid contemporary relevance.

Big shout out to Real Radio Wales too – topping half a million listeners making it a real heavyweight station now and a fabulous way to deliver an important geographic audience to advertisers.

Radio Devices – How we listen

Digital listening was up 14% year on year to a 33% share of all radio listening to any digital platform. This largely thanks to the UK Radioplayer and innovative stations such as Absolute Radio leading the way with their Apps and streaming services. Thanks to increased and better access to many different platforms and the release of faster internet on mobile devices (4G), online listening reaches 51 million hours per week – up 43% Y on Y. To add to this 19% of adults have listened to radio via their mobile phone – up 28% year on year.

All in all – the big headlines

  • Listening: We’re listening more and more – radio is match fit and surging across new platforms like an enthusiastically overfilled bath.
  • London: Magic tops London, Capital and Absolute go 1st and 2nd  in London’s Breakfast Show wars. Smooth and Choice FM deliver big rises and more relevance in a more fragmented market (sharing is caring)
  • National: Classic up, Absolute up, Talksport down a little but its gender skew now 81% male, so when it’s right…..it’s oh so right.
  • Regions: Clear trend towards rewarding Bauer’s strategy of local passionate big city content. National talent based Global content does well but pumping passionate local content seems to do even better. There’s room for both.
  • How we listen:  Everybody Appy? We are listening online and via mobile more than ever, with online listening up 43% year on year. Radio and click thru move ever closer and become more symbiotic.

For more info on what this quarters RAJAR means for radio advertising in your area or for your brand drop us a line or give us a call now.

Read More No Comments | Posted in Radio Advertising, Radio Adverts

In-car entertainment: getting a turbo boost for 2013

From the announcement that VW,  General Motors and many other large manufacturers are putting DAB radio into cars as standard to the fact that UK became the second largest market for new cars in the EU (according to the SMMT)… the UK has been really revving up its engines in 2012.

Combining all this positive activity together, is it any wonder that in the UK motoring still has the biggest Radio Advertising spend – (RAB, Nielsen)?

With the convergence of in-car entertainment systems and the rollout of 4g(ee), the creation of the in-car entertainment experience can be a new in-car advertising space.

Where else can you have such an intimate connection with the listener? Where they are intently listening on a regular basis? Combine that with timely traffic updates or local information and advertising the incar audio experience is about to get a turbo boost. Check out Spotify’s collaboration with Ford getting the car stereo to control Spotify.





Imagine the power of intelligent car entertainment systems which can look at where a person is driving (thanks to their GPS) and tailor advertising to their destination or where they are going to pass on the way…

For more on the developments of in-car radio, on demand or indeed radio advertising for the motor industry in 2013… mirror, signal and manoeuvre your way over to our office…

Read More No Comments | Posted in Radio Advertising, Radio Adverts

Movember’s Over but Radio’s always on Trend

As the handlebar moustaches, the Frank Zappas, the Philleas Foggs and Babyfaced Assassins all curl up their Movember moustachios, we can only marvel at the way that social activism is becoming so trend and viral driven. Pop a #hashtag on anything (or anyone) and you can pretty much #makeithappen. It’s a great example of social activism and connective convergent community behaviour because community means something very different in the technologically connected Global Village (Marshall Mcluhan not Leicester Square).

All of this reminds us of one of radio’s greatest strengths………(naturally)

Because Radio is the original, the heritage, the greatest of all interactive community media experiences. Radio is unlike TV where people watch a show on this channel then a show on that channel – with radio they listen to a station around the clock and they join a community of listeners, enjoying a shared yet personal experience. That’s why radio is great for brands, great for charities, great for staying on trend and great for the emotional sell.

(RAB emotional multiplier)

Radio engages community, even if community itself is changing.

#bringiton

Read More No Comments | Posted in Radio Advertising

Christmas advertising – why music matters…

Yesterday saw the release of the new McDonald’s Christmas TV campaign. It joins the roster of big brand ads currently circulating as we edge closer to the festive period.

This year, more than ever, these ads play on our nostalgic and emotional connection with Christmas – using sounds and visuals deeply ingrained in our memories of this time of year.

Take the current John Lewis creative which puts a love story between two snow people to a target-market-touching reboot of a 1984 Christmas number one by Frankie Goes To Hollywood.

Meanwhile Coca Cola, who have had more of a hand in how Christmas is branded than most, roll out their latest specially composed “Something in the Air” ident.

Or how about Tesco’s take on Christmas, subverting the norm by using popular non-Christmas songs alongside Christmas branding?

The one thing all these emotive ads have in common is great music. They tempt us into loving, believing and mostly importantly investing in their brands by coupling festive scenes with powerful well chosen audio.

It goes without saying that Christmas is a hugely important time for advertisers. But the importance of music in Christmas advertising is something that we at Radio Experts feel can’t be talked about enough. Just as radio is termed “an emotional multiplier” the right music in a radio campaign can multiply its listeners’ emotional response.

If you’re looking for a famous track to tap into the right feelings about your product or service, Radio Experts can source it for you. We’re fully conversant with dealing with the intricacies of the licensing process so you don’t have to be.

Music has incredible power to create emotions at a time of year when emotions can run high. And the rewards for getting it right – both financial and in terms of brand perception – are great.

For more on Radio Advertising and the powerful and effective use of music please get in touch…

Read More No Comments | Posted in Radio Advertising

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