This is one of eight different commercials running heavily all day April 1st on all six commercial radio stations in the market. (If the local NPR affiliate would allow it, they’d be running there, too.) It’s a special one-day campaign, replacing the advertiser’s usual radio commercials.
Though the advertiser’s delivery and jingle sound the same as always, the copy is…a little different. Listeners hearing these spots for the first time will do a double-take. They’ll shake their heads and chuckle.
More than a few will spend an inordinate amount of time thinking about this advertiser, grateful for both the surprise and levity.
We know this because it’s what happened last year on April 1st when we did this for the very first time. The response was delightful. So, this year we’ve added three new spots to the five we produced last year.
To say that these guys have learned how to talk to their customers on radio is an understatement. Since shifting their focus from promotions to branding, and their ad budget from a print-heavy media mix to 90+% in radio, they’ve nearly doubled their annual sales.
Rod Schwartz backed into a lifelong career in radio advertising in 1973 in Springfield, Illinois. He joined the Pullman (Wash.) Radio Group in 1979, where he worked until his retirement at the end of 2022. From 1991 to March 2024, Rod and his family operated Grace Broadcast Sales, providing short-form syndicated radio features to radio and TV stations across the U.S. and Canada.
Rod currently operates an independent advertising, marketing, and media consultancy for radio stations, independent business owners and busy professionals, and he continues providing syndicated audio features to radio and TV station clients. More information is available at RodSchwartz.com.
An avid photographer, Rod shares some of his favorite images at PalousePics.com and on his Viewbug gallery. See Links for details.
Rod Schwartz's radio advertising blog 