OUT, STANDING....
THE BEST I'VE WRITTEN?
FIRST, THE BOTTOM LINE...
I’ve been tasked with writing advertising for a cancer treatment center.
We speak with cancer survivors about their experience. One is a breast cancer survivor. Six years ago, she’d been given six months to live.
No amount of writing I bring can matches the power of her reality.
“Who is a doctor to tell you how long you’ve got to live? He is not God. He doesn’t know how long you’ve got to live!”
The Best writing is about getting out of the way.
End soapbox.
Ça va?
Oh, you want more? Well...
I’ve won a pile of trophies.
Even some huge national awards—essentially the Oscars of radio advertising. Twice. They both came with huge cash prizes at a big awards ceremony in Manhattan. A giant novelty check is involved.
Are they The Best writing?
Or is The Best that which produces big ROI?
A single commercial for an HVAC contractor produces an ROI of 2,000%.
An elder law attorney is able to cancel $10,000 a month in underperforming print because he’s getting exponentially higher return on a $1,200 a month radio schedule.
A deceptively simple change in brand helps a struggling house painter double his annual revenue—with no advertising at all.
We’ve changed businesses and changed lives.
Are those scripts The Best?
There’s one piece of writing will never win an award. It will never even be remembered. An account rep calls me from a small station in Northern California.
“We have eight troubled kids who are going to be kicked out of a group home. It’s going to turn their lives upside down. We can stop it by raising $8,000 to install a sprinkler system. We have until Friday.”
I drop everything. Write a script. Walk into my go-to Production Director, a man who hates to be interrupted. I explain the problem.
He drops everything. We record a commercial. Send it to the account rep.
Three days later, the group home has the money for a sprinkler system.
Nobody remembers that.
But that writing is among The Best. It’s not even changing a business. It’s just changing lives.
Another one nobody remembers…
I write a script for a national talk show host to read. He ignores it. He riffs and says whatever words he wants. Listening to the result, it’s clear that it’s unacceptable.
I go back to him with the script. He doesn’t want to read it. He hates it. It’s imagistic and whimsical. “It’s illogical! It makes no sense!”
He argues. I persuade him that the client wants it on air. So he records it verbatim, but arguing each line of the script as he goes.
We cut out his editorial vitriol and put the message into rotation. Each time it airs, it produces 400% more response than the other scripts in rotation. Is that The Best?
A long time ago, I gave up on the trophy chase.
Trophies weren’t changing my life, and they weren’t of any benefit to my clients. The goal is to be evocative, but not in a way that just brings big laughs from a jury my peers.
Being evocative is about engendering trust and inspiring action. It’s about changing businesses and changing lives. That manifests itself in many ways.
In 2008, we’re asked to do a re-branding for United Eye Care Specialists. Which makes sense. He’s one eye doctor in rural New Hampshire. He’s not united anything. He’s a guy.
This guy is also reserved, introverted, thoughtful, and hates to be the center of attention. So, the obvious strategy?
Make everyone look at him and point.
United Eye Care Specialists becomes Dr. Sam’s Eye Care. “Straight talk. Better vision.”
His radio is folksy announcer/doctor narrative. It’s all produced from actual recordings of long conversations.
His first-ever commercial is about how Mom is the real primary care provider. Doctors are secondary. (Here’s how we know we’re doing something right: that one actually receives hate mail.)
THE BEST I'VE WRITTEN?
FIRST, THE BOTTOM LINE...
I’ve been tasked with writing advertising for a cancer treatment center.
We speak with cancer survivors about their experience. One is a breast cancer survivor. Six years ago, she’d been given six months to live.
No amount of writing I bring can matches the power of her reality.
“Who is a doctor to tell you how long you’ve got to live? He is not God. He doesn’t know how long you’ve got to live!”
The Best writing is about getting out of the way.
End soapbox.
Ça va?
Oh, you want more? Well...
I’ve won a pile of trophies.
Even some huge national awards—essentially the Oscars of radio advertising. Twice. They both came with huge cash prizes at a big awards ceremony in Manhattan. A giant novelty check is involved.
Are they The Best writing?
Or is The Best that which produces big ROI?
A single commercial for an HVAC contractor produces an ROI of 2,000%.
An elder law attorney is able to cancel $10,000 a month in underperforming print because he’s getting exponentially higher return on a $1,200 a month radio schedule.
A deceptively simple change in brand helps a struggling house painter double his annual revenue—with no advertising at all.
We’ve changed businesses and changed lives.
Are those scripts The Best?
There’s one piece of writing will never win an award. It will never even be remembered. An account rep calls me from a small station in Northern California.
“We have eight troubled kids who are going to be kicked out of a group home. It’s going to turn their lives upside down. We can stop it by raising $8,000 to install a sprinkler system. We have until Friday.”
I drop everything. Write a script. Walk into my go-to Production Director, a man who hates to be interrupted. I explain the problem.
He drops everything. We record a commercial. Send it to the account rep.
Three days later, the group home has the money for a sprinkler system.
Nobody remembers that.
But that writing is among The Best. It’s not even changing a business. It’s just changing lives.
Another one nobody remembers…
I write a script for a national talk show host to read. He ignores it. He riffs and says whatever words he wants. Listening to the result, it’s clear that it’s unacceptable.
I go back to him with the script. He doesn’t want to read it. He hates it. It’s imagistic and whimsical. “It’s illogical! It makes no sense!”
He argues. I persuade him that the client wants it on air. So he records it verbatim, but arguing each line of the script as he goes.
We cut out his editorial vitriol and put the message into rotation. Each time it airs, it produces 400% more response than the other scripts in rotation. Is that The Best?
A long time ago, I gave up on the trophy chase.
Trophies weren’t changing my life, and they weren’t of any benefit to my clients. The goal is to be evocative, but not in a way that just brings big laughs from a jury my peers.
Being evocative is about engendering trust and inspiring action. It’s about changing businesses and changing lives. That manifests itself in many ways.
In 2008, we’re asked to do a re-branding for United Eye Care Specialists. Which makes sense. He’s one eye doctor in rural New Hampshire. He’s not united anything. He’s a guy.
This guy is also reserved, introverted, thoughtful, and hates to be the center of attention. So, the obvious strategy?
Make everyone look at him and point.
United Eye Care Specialists becomes Dr. Sam’s Eye Care. “Straight talk. Better vision.”
His radio is folksy announcer/doctor narrative. It’s all produced from actual recordings of long conversations.
His first-ever commercial is about how Mom is the real primary care provider. Doctors are secondary. (Here’s how we know we’re doing something right: that one actually receives hate mail.)
In the first two months, the radio doubled Dr. Sam's new business. In 10 months, a business that had been flat for three years was up 35%. Over the years they've grown and expanded.
More than a decade later, “Straight Talk, Better Vision Radio” continues. The messages are still folksy announcer/doctor narrative based on actualities. But now, we’re talking COVID to a divided community.
The people of New Hampshire are alternately terrified and antagonistic. How do you reach them? By being straight--and even having a little fun.
The Top Line…
"The Best" is beyond subjective.
The Best is doing what is necessary and works right now.
The Best is what changes businesses and changes lives.
Radio is mighty. It is a powerful medium. Often, bean counters are in charge, reducing the work to spread-sheet thinking.
The Best writing can’t be seen on a spread sheet.
It can only be seen in the change it inspires.
Changing businesses.
Changing lives.
Sometimes, that change means surviving cancer.
And sometimes, it’s just about getting a laugh.
Below is the most recent best. It baffled the client. He found there was not a single word left to change…