It’s hard to tell what the issue here is. Is it some form of censorship, is it sound business practices or just plain ignorance.
Hamilton Ontario’s Big B Comics has been running some radio ads on a local radio station. Y108 plays a classic rock format, it’s a very popular station and the store has been getting good results with their ads.
Enter the artist Eklipz; a good friend of the shop’s and a very talented man. The artist wrote a little number for the shop which Big B planned to start running in January 3rd. To everyone’s surprise and disappointment Y108 chose not to run the ad. The musical style of the ad does not fit the Y108 listener’s tastes is a rough translation of the stations position on the ad.
Say what? I’ve heard classical music used in radio ads but have never made the mistake and thought I was listening to a classical station. I can go on here but I’d like to share the ad with you.
Click below to hear the ad
[podcast]https://www.comicbookdaily.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/big-b-ad.mp3[/podcast]
Feedback on this would be greatly appreciated
Yay! A subject that I’m qualified to voice an opinion on…sort of.
I took radio broadcasting in college and my best guess would be this.
The ad is not to the musical format of the station. While we’ve all heard classical music used by various stations in various formats for various ads, classical music is kind of genreless when it comes to advertising. Think about it in these terms; how many times have you heard country music used in an ad on a rock station? Or metal used in an ad on a Christian rock station?
The ad you’ve posted is not only not in a rock format but it’s rather well done and sounds like a real rap song. If I was channel scanning in the car and not paying attention to the station or the actual “lyrical” content (which is rather common) and I am a listener who doesn’t like rap, I’d skip the station defeating the purpose of the ad and not helping the station win any listeners either.
Ads should follow a similar format to the station that it airs on. The idea is to please your demographic with an ad so both the client and the station win not to be jarred when music the listener might not like comes over the speakers.
That being said, the ad’s pretty awesome and would fit in well at a station like Flow.
Having heard various Big B radio ads over the years, I can say that I feel this is the best.
Wow, I really like the Ad…it would get my attention, and in a positive way.
When I tried to place advertising on a local Radio station, they insisted on developing the ad themselves. I did resent and regret thier efforts. And I ended up spending alot of money on a product I didnt like or connect with.
Dave