Radio: It’s a love thing

The commercial radio industry in Australia have launched a unified marketing campaign called “Radio : It’s a love thing” designed to position commercial radio as the must have medium for advertising.

Chairman of the Commercial Radio Austrlia Brand Committee and Australian Radio Network, chief executive officer, Ciaran Davis and Eardrum creative director, Ralph van Dijk presented the campaign to the nearly 600 attendees at an industry conference and described it as one of the most integrated and impactful brand campaigns that the industry had rolled out.

The campaign is anchored by a song written exclusively for the campaign called “Love Thing” co-written by Eardrum and Australian band No Pictures. It’s a Love Thing theme is underpinned by multi-phased research that investigated the correlation between radio and happiness levels, openness to advertising and search and purchase behaviour.

You can find out more about the research here.

The Radio. It’s a Love Thing campaign highlights the relationship between radio listeners and radio and will be used as the umbrella theme for future brand campaigns.

The six week campaign centres around a central online microsite – http://radioitsalovething.com – a one-stop shop for all materials relating to Australian radio advertising. It will showcase resources that advertisers, agencies and members can use to understand advertising on radio.

The campaign begins with a series of four radio ads that will air across 260 commercial radio stations. The ads have been recorded by the new industry brand voice, Andrew Hansen (from Austrlian TV programme The Chaser) but with the same sense of fun and humour as previous campaigns.

The Radio. It’s a Love Thing campaign will be supported by station and trade banners, and for the first time will include video content of personal anecdotes and insights from high profile talent and commercial radio listeners.

Phase two of the campaign will be launched in early 2015 and will provide insights into the strong impact that radio has in driving brand purchase in both metropolitan and regional markets.

The brand campaign has been spearheaded by award winning radio specialist agency, Eardrum. Founding creative director of Eardrum, Ralph van Dijk, who has worked closely with the commercial radio industry for a decade.

“We wanted to capture the essence of what listeners love about radio and communicate how advertisers can benefit from that relationship. It’s such a feel good campaign and the track really grows on you.”

Take a listen and let us know what you think?

Jonathan Jacob is currently Content Solutions Manager at Global Radio with varied experience across commercial radio S&P, events, marketing and PR. He was listed in the inaugural Radio Academy 30 under 30, is a Student Radio Awards judge and sits on the Events Committee for The Radio Academy. Views are personal.