Anthony Ortuso from Rothco, part of Accenture Song talks about why radio advertising is so bad. The reason he gives is because radio advertising is treated like the dumpster of all mediums. It is where brands put brand information that they don’t want on other mediums. Radio advertising, he feels, should be treated just as well as any brand television commercial.

Anthony played examples from the South African market, a market that really treats radio like a craft, they put enormous creative effort into the work they produce.  With most digital platforms, you have to get the brand message across in the first 5 seconds. But that is not the case when it comes to radio. Radio and audio platforms deliver a captive audience which allows brands the time to craft their story. With any concept, it doesn’t matter what the channel is, what matters is the insight, the uniqueness of the concept and then, how it is executed within each medium. How it is executed will be different by medium but ultimately, all media should be telling the same story.

Anthony told the audience that they need to demand more of radio, not just in terms of craft and production but also in time. Not just to create 10 and 20 second spots packed full of information but use longer second lengths, treat the commercial more like a song. And leverage the power of the medium.