Blog

From Brussels top brass to Abbey Road rockers

The days are drawing in, party conference season is upon us but at least we have a sparkling programme at Radio Festival to entertain us this week.  I am very much looking forward to catching up with friends and colleagues at tomorrow’s excellent shindig at the British Library.

 

To herald the first day of October, Mark Barber, Lucy Barrett and the team will be unveiling this year’s set piece research, an in-depth study into how to best use music in ads to build brands.  The study draws on neuro-science and the science of signs (semiotics) to work out what is really going on at a subconscious level when we respond to music in advertisements.  As someone who spent a considerable amount of time at University being utterly baffled by French semioticians, I admit I was a bit sceptical about the practical application of this research.    Happily, Mark convinced me because on Thursday we are launching a super useful online tool, Brand Music Navigator. This will assist planners massively in elevating music choice to the strategic level of the briefing process, pinpointing the right types of music to elicit the desired effect.    We probably know that music is critical to strategic brand building but we didn’t have the evidence before, or an easy to use guide to prompt choices and decisions.

 

And as the BBC Charter Renewal process cranks up a few gears, Radiocentre’s team is busy marshalling our arguments to contribute to this lively debate.  We are great supporters of the BBC and partner them in many projects including the brilliant Radioplayer, the Radio Academy, DRUK and the Creative Access programme to facilitate more black and ethnic minority young people getting into the creative industries.  Our well documented suggestions are for slight tweaks to the BBC (relative to their size) which would result in even more choice for UK radio listeners.  So we ask for Radio 1 and Radio 2 in particular to provide a greater variety of more distinctive programming during peak hours and, of course, for more rigorous regulation.    We will be making the case robustly in the forthcoming debate.

 

Keeping all those plates spinning at once, Judith Spilsbury (Radiocentre’s Special Projects Director) and myself have just returned from some high-level meetings in Brussels about the dreaded Ts & Cs, those garbled warnings at the end of radio ads which only 4% of consumers tested* claimed to recall.   So they aren’t serving to protect consumers, the goal of the EU regulation which requires that this information be broadcast, but they certainly do deter advertisers from using radio.  Ironically, consumers either think the warnings are there to protect advertisers, or to protect broadcasters.   We have more people to see, both policy makers and politicians.  We need to gain case studies from across Europe.   We have the support, through the Association of European Radio stations, of those countries currently implementing the 2008 directive, Germany and Ireland in particular.  We also need to talk to radio colleagues in countries who are not yet implementing the 2008 directive.  The tough message is that a review is coming in 2017 and, unless we influence the debate now, all countries will get hit with having to include the current mandated warnings.  And no one wants that!

 

There is loads more on the agenda but that is a quick overview for now.  Looking forward to seeing many friends on Thursday at the home of music, Abbey Road, for the launch of our research project, Strike a Chord.

 

*According to Dipsticks Terms and Conditions 2013 and 2015.