Make Better Political Radio Spots and Save My Inner Child

As a kid, my specialty was getting blamed for things I didn’t do. I understand that is every kid’s perception, but I really seemed to have a gift. My father yelled at me for things my brother did (leaving the lawn mower out in the rain, stacking the old firewood in the new firewood pile), things my sister did (cutting up pictures for a collage and leaving tiny pieces of paper everywhere, not feeding the dog), and even things my father himself did (leaving the shovel in the garden).
These days, my father does not yell at me much anymore, but I still get barked at by cranky old men. I can be driving along under blue skies and fluffy clouds, singing along to Gordon Lightfoot, when a big voice bursts out of the radio and starts barking at me for no reason. He wags his finger. He gnashes his teeth. Hey, what did I do? Did my father sneak into the back seat? No, it was a political advertisement.
For more than twenty years, I’ve written and produced radio commercials for big brands all across the country. I’ve studied what makes radio commercials great, read books and articles by the brightest minds in the radio commercial world and been on both sides of radio commercial workshops. The past five years, we’ve used these insights to help candidates come out on the winning end and good causes get the support they deserve. And we’ve done it without calling anyone a dumbass. Well, not in so many words.
The tough guy approach that has dominated radio ads no longer works. Listeners don’t want to hear it. There are endless sources of information and entertainment, and political radio spots aren’t just competing against other political radio spots. If you want to get access to that coveted piece of real estate in the listener’s psyche, you’ve got to be just as engaging and just as memorable as the best brand radio spots. While Pepsi, Geico, and Bud Light are spending hundreds of thousands of dollars paying dozens of award-winning copywriters and hiring Hollywood’s finest actors, we’re trotting out an old broken down model that’s been sputtering along for years.THE DON’TS Stop Wagging Your Finger
There’s a lot of yelling in political radio commercials. Or finger-wagging/lecturing/berating disguised as yelling. It’s the lazy writer’s way out. Even if listeners don’t change the station, they’re not going to like the way you’re talking to them. Which means they’re not going to like the message sponsor either. You may make a good point in your spot, but it makes it that much more difficult to win their vote if you come across as a condescending jerk.Don’t Sound Like a Bully
The big voiced announcer behind the “hard hitting” radio spot is dead. Or should be. He’s a cliché. As soon as he opens his mouth, every radio listener knows what’s coming: A partisan group trying to bash them over the head with dubious facts. Most listeners, including me, would rather turn off the radio than have Darth Vader tell me I’m an idiot if I don’t vote for Proposition X.“It’s Just Plain Wrong”
How many political spots have you heard use the phrase “it’s just plain wrong” or “they’re just dead wrong”? Listeners have heard it a million times. It’s another cliché, like the frying pan hanging on the wall the wife uses to clobber sense into her husband. Please banish “just plain wrong” from your radio commercial vocabulary. Using language like that turns listeners off and they’ll return the favor.THE DO’S Sweat It
In the brand advertising world, radio is known as the most demanding on the writer. High paid writers in ad agencies all over the country break into a cold sweat when they’re handed a radio assignment. If you don’t, you should. There’s no picture, so you can’t cheat. On top of that, it’s the most intimate of all media—there’s almost nothing between your words and your listener. Gulp.
Writers who don’t understand the demanding nature of writing for radio treat these opportunities too lightly. They use the sixty seconds to pack in every piece of information they can think of. That allows them to check off a lot of boxes on their to do list, but leads to a commercial nobody listens to.One Spot, One Key Message
Don’t pack your spot with copy points. Pick one point to get across—just one. If that’s all you remember from this article, it’s a great start.
Sticking with one message works for both positive and negative ads. I have nothing against negative advertising. It works. But we can do it better. One way to start is by limiting each spot to one key message. A few years ago, Maryland conservation groups were at odds with the then-Gov. Bob Ehrlich (R) and came to us asking for a spot. We boiled our message down to a single key thought: Stop the governor from selling off park lands to developers.
Once we had our key message, the creative work began. We worked out different ways to execute it, until we arrived at the one that worked best. Here’s how that script turned out.
ANNOUNCER: I’m standing in one of Maryland’s most beautiful parks, a great place for us to play, swim, camp and fish.
BACKGROUND: Kids laughing and playing, birds tweeting.
KID: Okay, first base is the tree, second base is the rock, third base is the log.
ANNOUNCER: But it may not be this way long. The governor has tried to sell public land to developers behind your back.
BACKGROUND: Jackhammers, tools.
KID: Okay, first base is the shovel, second base is the truck, third base is the hard hat.
ANNOUNCER: (Shouting to be heard over the construction) And this year politicians are diverting 75 percent of dedicated land conservation funds to unrelated programs.
BACKGROUND: Construction sounds grow louder.
KID: Okay, first base is the bulldozer, second base is the pipe, third base is the stop sign.
BACKGROUND: Stop construction sounds.
ANNOUNCER: Don’t let the politicians sell out Maryland’s parks and natural spaces. Go to savemarylandlands.org, that’s savemarylandlands.org.
KID: First base is the gas station, second base is the convenience store, third base is the bank. Oh forget it. Let’s just go play video games.
ANNOUNCER: This message was brought to you by Partners for Open Space.
Because we stayed faithful to our key message, we were able to get our message across in a way that resonated. The result? In exchange for pulling the spot off the air, the governor voted to curb his own powers, taking away his ability do sell public lands. A great win for the conservation people. If this had been merely a copy point listed along with several others, it would have gotten buried. And beautiful parks all over the state would have had 7-Elevens where second base should be.Use a Creative Planner
A creative planner asks strategic questions about the communication objectives. These include: Who is the target market, what do they currently think of our product/issue/candidate, what do we want them to think of our it, etc. By getting a creative planner filled out before the assignment begins, the writer gets all the people in position of authority to agree on a strategy, which makes for a clearer direction and minimizes re-writes. (If you don’t have one, I’m happy to send you the one we use at Flying Brick Radio. Just e-mail me at brian@flyingbrickradio. com.)Re-Phrase the Key Message
The most important part of the creative planner is the one sentence key message—a single thought to build your spot around. Study it. Work with it. Play with it.
Here’s a trick I learned to get your thinking started: Re-write that sentence out 10 or 15 different ways. It may trigger something that can get you started writing a great spot.
For example, if the one thing that needs to be communicated is this: Tell your senator to pass the BO bill.
You could re-write that sentence like this:• If we don’t pass the BO bill now, we may be stuck with BO forever.
• If we pass the BO bill, we’ll finally start smelling good.
• Bill got rid of his BO, and now he’s a happy man.
• A country that misses opportunities gets left behind.
• And so on… The Funny Bone Is the New Jugular
In exchange for intruding on their Captain and Tennille marathon, brand radio people talk about giving the listener a reward. Something that makes your message more welcome and helps the listener forgive you for ruining their groove. Typically that means a laugh, but it can be anything that engages them.
Some issues don’t lend themselves to humor, but many do. A funny spot is the most welcome to listeners and humor stays fresher longer. Plus, if you’re funny, you can get away with being a little brash or opinionated. But a caveat: if you’re not funny, don’t try to be. Nothing is harder to listen to than a spot that tries to be funny but isn’t.LOOK HERE for Inspiration
The best brand writers want to be in the Radio Mercury Awards. It’s like the Oscars. For inspiration, go www.radiomercuryawards.com and listen to the radio spots that win the brand world’s biggest awards.
Political radio is hard. It’s right up there with discovering new vaccines and making peace in the Middle East. The budgets are small. The deadlines are tight. The issues are complicated. It’s tempting to throw up our hands and dust off the sorry old shtick we’ve been using for years. Unfortunately, any formula that’s tired enough to be mocked in an article like this is also tired enough to be ignored by listeners. That also means the landscape offers opportunities to stand out, if you’re willing to sweat it.
If you stop yelling at me through the radio, my inner child promises to take his fingers out of his ears and actually listen to your spot. And I’ll bet he won’t be the only one. Brian Klam is the creative director of Flying Brick Radio, which specializes in writing and producing funny radio commercials. You can hear their work at www. flyingbrickradio.com/spots-political.html. E-mail him at brian@flyingbrickradio.com