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As Magicman launch a new radio ad campaign starring comedian Harry Enfield, our CEO toured This Is Global’s flagship studios in Leicester Square. When online continues to eat up traditional advertising models, why does radio still reach huge audiences? 

Magicman CEO Mark Henderson ‘on tour’ at LBC and  sister radio stations

On May 1st Magicman launch new radio ads across 3 networks in South East England. In Sussex on Smooth and Heart, and in London for the first time on Smooth. Although relatively new to radio advertising, Magicman are not strictly newbies. Our first campaign was cut short when its star and magic icon Paul Daniels was suddenly taken ill and died soon after. 

Despite this tragedy, traffic to Magicman’s website went up by 20% for the first 3 months of 2016. Response to radio advertising is notoriously hard to quantify but as a part of a holistic marketing approach, it raises product awareness and brand likeability. Is it any surprise that we wanted another bite at the cherry? But who to cast?

Humour has been an important element of our radio advertising from the start, so we were over the moon when our first choice for voice over artist, Harry Enfield, agreed to lend us his verbal skills and much loved character Greyson of Mr. Cholmondley-Warner fame, to our campaign. Excuse me for not attempting the accent but how long before ‘No! For a repair like that, you need a Magicman!’ becomes a catch phrase? 

Harry Enfield autographs a Magicman radio script 

As print ad revenue dwindles and television audiences segment, if you are going to advertise (and you should), where can you reach a mass audience other than online where competition is fierce? 

In February 2016 RAJAR, the body responsible for measuring radio audiences, announced that 90% of UK adults listen to radio every week. That’s 48.2 million people over 15 years of age. Before I became marketing manager at Magicman I spent 5 years at BBC Radio 1 and a short spell at BBC Radio 4, in that weird meeting of worlds that was working on a website in situ in a radio station. So the fact that radio listener figures continue to stay strong is no surprise to me. 

It’s not that UK radio listeners increased by 0.6% on the previous year’s figures that is interesting, it’s that audiences do not appear to be suffering from the exodus to digital platforms. Or course RAJAR records both commercial and non-commercial audiences but if you look to the United States who do not have an equivalent of the BBC, the figure for weekly radio listeners rises to 93% of all adults according to Forbes. Incidentally, if you think that the BBC is advert free, start counting the trailers for BBC shows. 

Mark Henderson and his wife Vanessa meet Kate Garraway 

Audience reach aside, there are many other advantages to radio advertising.

Never underestimate the power of audio. Have you ever watched a movie without music or played a video game without sound effects?

It was the first mobile medium - as long as we have cars, we’ll have radio.

You’re always in the prime spot - when your ad is on air, you are centre stage and at the front of the listener’s attention. 

It’s immediate - radio reaches consumers within 2 hours of their largest purchase of the day, providing that they drive to the shops.

It’s cost-effective - it’s not called the ‘theatre of the mind’ for nothing. A good script and clever sound effects or music can create any scenario the listener can imagine.

It’s intimate - in your personal life when you have something important to communicate, you talk to someone. Anecdotally, listeners often say that they feel the presenter is talking to them directly.

If you have ignored radio as an adversing platform because your image of the industry stems from This Is Alan Partridge or Smashie and Nicey (thanks again Harry), then be prepared for a rude awakening. 

Our new ads were recorded at This Is Global’s flagship studios in London’s world famous Leicester Square, and afterwards the Magicman entourage were treated to a tour.  This Leicester Square HQ is the home to radio stations Heart, Smooth, Capital FM, LBC, Classic FM, X and Gold as well as to some of commercial radio’s best known presenters including Toby Anstis, Chris Moyles and Kate Garroway. 

With enough staff to rival Broadcasting House, enough neon and animated displays to outshine Picadilly Circus and cutting edge technology in every studio where the communication coming in is as important as that being broadcast, it is easy to see that radio remains a vibrant and exciting medium worthy of the attention of today’s media consumers and of your marketing team.

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More information

A reminder of Harry Enfield’s brilliant Mr Cholmondley-Warner sketches:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y4CXY6TVBMc 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LS37SNYjg8w 

An interview with Harry Enfield about his new Channel 4 show The Windsors: 

http://www.channel4.com/info/press/news/interview-with-the-windsors-prince-charles-played-by-harry-enfield

Kate Garraway's show is on Smooth, Monday to Friday from 10 am to 1 pm.

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