Most radio spots are either boring or obnoxious. I don’t know who to blame for this (although I have my theories*) but for most of us, listening to radio commercials has become a cue to change the station.
When I write for radio, and it’s not an easy task, I try to paint a scene that will give my audience pause and reason to stay along for the ride. That “painting of a scene” is often done with sound-design: the music, sound effects, voice-over and sound cues structured so as to build a unique experience. (And I think that’s ultimately the key, fancy sound effects or strict monologue: deliver a memorable experience.)
When writing radio for Del Sol Medical Center’s new ER campaign, I wanted the experience to be: hero saves the day … and I really wanted that to be something you felt. Well, heroes need a crisis, an event of such magnitude that it takes a special quality to overcome it. So my thinking went like this: If the hero is going to be believed to be a hero, the crisis needs to be believed to be a crisis … and what better way to do that than experience the crisis unraveling in our very presence? Here is that crisis, along with the rest of the spot:
Things to notice: I matched each word from the campaign’s “negative slogan” — Unexpected. Unplanned. Unthinkable. — with sound effects that built-up the tension of the scene.
Things you can’t see: Finding prerecorded music that fits the mood and cues you want to hit can be a daunting task. Big props to M. Brewer for combing through hundreds of tracks to find me ten very usable ones.
Copywriter: R. Vega
Director: R. Vega
Creative Director: M. Correa
Agency: Sanders\Wingo
* Some reasons why people might hate radio spots: 1. Boring, 2. Fake … you don’t believe it, 3. Obnoxious voice talent ≠ funny (although, I suppose being obnoxious can be an asset for certain companies; see: Robbins Brothers), 4. Traffic department schedules ridiculously long commercial breaks, 5. Radio spots written and produced by no-talent radio stations (“If you buy air-time, we’ll make your [suck-ass] commercial for you.”), 6. Not relevant (Bad media placement), 7. Unimaginative, 8. Jingles
