To advertise or not to advertise on radio

Bangladesh has an emotional attachment with the radio as a medium. Radio played important roles during a lot of our achievements and triumphs as a nation, starting from the war of liberation to the spreading of the news of winning the ICC Trophy back in 1997, to name a few. However, with the turn of the 21st century and aggressive infiltration of global television in our lives this medium has been sent into the intensive care unit. Other than cricket matches which were not telecast on a regular television channel the government-owned radio stations were not tuned in to often.

All of this was about to change when a handful of visionary businessmen applied for private station licences and launched new brands, breathing life into this medium, in 2006. The "apparently" dying industry not only turned around but also created ripples in popular culture along the way. New artists, new genre, new music were introduced. Underground music became mass music. Campus singers became nationally popular singers. Most importantly, the youth found a hard-to-find entertainment gateway in radio which other mediums were unable to provide for various reasons.
Smart advertisers followed suit in trying to reach an attentive and engaged young audience. The private radio industry rapidly grew from 0 to approximately 600 million BDT per annum within 7-8 years.
After almost a decade of rapid, uninterrupted growth now the industry faces a new challenge: Advancement of Digital Media. Finally we arrive at the question posed before this article began. The answer is an overwhelming yes. Let's debunk some myths:
Myth 1: With the exponential growth in the penetration of smartphones that can essentially carry thousands of songs of choice no one will listen to the radio.
Answer: Do not underestimate the magic of the element of surprise. How many times were you delighted with THAT song that you simply overlooked and forgot to copy to your phone that played on the radio? Or that cheesy song which you like but were too embarrassed to add to your collection? If radio were to be obsolete, it would beby now globally when the Walkman came into the market back in the day. If anything, advancement of technology will enhance this medium by spreading it to more people through apps, extensions etc.
Myth 2: Radio is not as effective as the other media of advertisement as this is the only medium where there are no visuals.
Answer: Ever wondered why books are almost always better than movies? Because your imagination is more 3D and HD than any technology that will ever be on this planet. Why is Bhoot FM the most popular radio show and arguably the most popular entertainment segment in the country? Because it lets your imagination fly. What if it were a television show?Now imagine that.
Myth 3: Well not exactly a myth but radio sometimes happens to be an afterthought in overall media planning.
Answer: Other than digital platforms radio is the only medium that offers engagement with the customers. More than 90% of radio consumption is from mobile phones. This means it's a personal medium just like how one browses from a phone or desktop individually. So attention to content is very high. Its high time radio was taken more seriously than it is currently in Bangladesh.
 Let's list down a few reasons why advertisers should use radio.
1. Efficient targeting
Radio targets audiences efficiently because different stations attract different listeners - Radio Foorti listeners are worlds apart from Radio ABC listeners etc. This allows advertisers to talk selectively to the groups they are most interested in.
2. Reaches people at relevant
times and places
Most radio listeners are engaged in another activity, and this means that advertisers can reach listeners at key "touchpoints" during the day - when they are on the school run, at work, before going out of an evening, and so on. Research shows that advertising which is relevant to what the listener is currently doing is likely to be more effective.
3. Reaches out in an ad avoidance world
Research shows that the radio, together with cinema, has the lowest level of advertising avoidance. People rarely switch stations and are therefore available to listen to any message that is relevant, creative, intriguing etc. This is a great opportunity for advertisers who want to reach out to new customers, or to tell existing customers something they didn't know.
4. Has a "multiplier effect"
on other media
Studies show how radio multiplies the effect of TV and since then the finding has been re-echoed when looking at radio alongside other channels. Radio's multiplier effect seems to originate in the fact that it is an audio-only medium, and therefore stimulates a different part of the brain.
5. Radio creates a large "share of mind" for a brand
In the same way that the music industry uses radio to gain airplay of their artists and create chart hits, radio also creates a sense of ubiquity for brands. This is for two main reasons - firstly, because radio ads are on frequently and secondly because listeners tend to spend so long listening (thanks to Dhaka traffic). A brand which is big in radio can create a disproportionately large share of mind for itself.
6. Radio drives response, especially online
Radio has always been a strong "call-to-action" medium, and this is even more true in a world where consumers access brands via the internet. An online multiplier study found that radio can drive brand browsing (direct to a brand's website or searching for a specific brand in a search engine) by over 52%.
7.  You're always on the front page with radio
With radio advertising you are front and center in the listener's attention span when your ad is on the air. You're never buried on page 11, for example.
8. Radio is a friend
Listeners use radio for emotional reasons - to keep their spirits up, to stop themselves from feeling bored in a car or while doing daily chores. This leads to them seeing radio as a kind of friend, and this is a valuable context for an advertiser to appear in. The majority of people are listening to radio on their own and they will have their own personal experience of the output which is not shared with other people. Radio presenters actively cultivate this relationship so that listeners feel they are being spoken to on a one-to-one basis. This makes for a more powerful advertising opportunity as when, for example, a radio presenter talks about "our friends at Company X", the listener is hearing about a friend of a friend. And this has a strong effect on bringing a brand closer.
Radio is here to stay and it's essential for advertisers to adopt best practices to increase ROI for their businesses. The future looks bright for the Bangladeshi radio industry as more and more private radio stations are entering the market. The government is also playing its role by trying to accommodate highly localized community radio stations which will provide advertisers with interesting options to ponder on.
Salim Shadman Pathan is an ex-radio professional-turned-digital media
planner. Agree or disagree at: [email protected]