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Radio advert evaluation

Hannah Cochrane

Me and my partner decided that we wanted sound effect (SFX) to break up the dialogue to keep people interested. For example, when the kid says “My beach ball has popped”, we wanted to insert a popping sound. Instead of finding an effect on the computer or the internet, we decided to be more creative by generating the sounds ourselves.

Originally we had a rough outline for our script, however, when it came to editing the advert we had to cut back a lot of the dialogue and make it much tighter so there wasn’t any dead silences. To begin with it was 50 minutes long but when we had finished editing it was just under 30 seconds.

What creative decisions did I have to make and how did this depart from the original plan?

Me and my partner worked well together and we both had some good ideas which we merged together.

We didn’t face many challenges but there was a major problem with the original length of the advert. It was 50 seconds but had to be cut down in various places to get it down to 30 seconds. This included cutting the sound effects that we created ourselves and cutting out the jingle altogether. This was a shame as these were the most creative parts of the script and made our advert original and unique.

If I were to do the project again I would make the dialogue shorter and include the conventions of a radio advert, eg. Contact details, jingle etc.

Both individually and working with others how did you work and what challenges did you face?

The shop sells men’s, women’s and kid’s clothing so we created a storyline with a family of a dad, mum and child so it would appeal to this wide target audience.

We included that the shop sells more than just surfing clothing so it would appeal to all members of a family even if they don’t like surfing, e.g. stickers, shoes and inflatables.

There is also an element of humour which will immediately attract the attention of listeners, especially children.

The name of the shop, “Waves” is repeated several times so that the audience will remember the name. Once they have listened to the advert once, when they hear it again they would immediately associate it with Waves.

What advertising techniques did you use to hook your intended target audience?

The technology we used to edit the advert was Audacity and the programme we used to write the script was Celtx.

Before the project I had never used Audacity before and this process has allowed me to experiment with the software and become accustomed to how it works.

Also on Audacity I was able to edit and add vocal distortion, this helped when it came to getting the advert down to the right time. It also adds humour to the advert which would appeal to listeners, mainly young children.

To start off with I struggled using Audacity but when I understood the basics I could easily do what I wanted to do. The voice recorders and Celtx were very easy to use.

How did technology enable the creative process? Was it difficult to use any of the equipment and did you learn any skills?

The average length of a radio advert is 30 seconds, our radio advert was just under this time.

We did not use a narrator as a voice over. Instead we created a storyline of a family on a beach, I think this works better because it is more appealing and keeps the listener interested.

I think there is an element of humour in the advert because of the vocal effect on the voices we used in the advert.

We also didn’t bed music in the advert. If I did the advert again I would use some music in the background to give it something more but I wouldn’t want it to detract from the story line. I would probably bed the sound of waves because of the name of the shop.

We created a jingle but were unable to use it due to the fact that the advert overrun by 20 seconds and we wanted to use all of the script.

We repeated the name of the shop, “Waves” several times, this is common in many other radio adverts. When the audience have heard the advert once, they will hear it again and even without “Waves” being said they would immediately associate it with “Waves”.

What conventions of a radio advert have you used or not used and why?

We have represented a family in our advert (Mum, Dad, and Child) and this shows the diverse range of products that the shop sells (Men’s, Women’s and Kid’s clothing).

This shows that the shop would appeal to young children (male and female) from age 8, to adults (male and female) to 40 or 50 years old.

It could encourage families to get out and do activities which all of them can enjoy.

It mainly appeals to surfers It may also appeal to people who don’t like surfing

because the shop sells inflatables and stickers.

What and who are you representing in your advert and why?

The feedback we got was generally positive. Quite a few people said they enjoyed the concept of the storyline and the conversation-like feel of the advert.

People said that we should have bedded music in the advert or used sound effects because it would make the advert more versatile and listener-friendly. Both of which we had arranged to do but the time limit restricted us from using these conventions.

Someone said that we should have included a telephone number as well as the website we mentioned.

All of the feedback we received made me realise that there is a lot to fit into an advert that lasts only 30 seconds, it also made me think that we should have made the script shorter so we could use other conventions of radio adverts.

What feedback did you get and what did it make you realise about your product?