It’s still looking promising for radio advertising

The advertising fraternity will welcome the recently released TouchPoint survey from the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising. This much appreciated and insightful study of media consumption habits should prove an invaluable planning tool, especially considering the diversity of media available to consumers today.

Among the findings, it was interesting to note that people still use radio more than the internet. This fact underlines the continuing importance of radio as part of a savvy marketing strategy. If used creatively to engage the audience rather than patronise it, radio will always have an important role to play for perceptive advertisers.

Add to that its cost effectiveness, speed of turnaround, immediacy and the fact that it’s seen by consumers as a more companionable medium than most others and it looks like

radio should more than hold its own in the future’s media mix. Given the uptake of DAB and the increased potential for targeting specific audiences, if anything, it’s a more attractive medium than ever.

Hopefully, the planned merger of the Radio Advertising Bureau and the Commercial Radio Companies Association will take advantage of these insights to drive forward one of the oldest of media to an even greater allocation of marketing budgets in the future.

Tally Parr

Founder and managing director Fresh Air Radio Advertising

London W1