Ad industry uses RAB event to air criticisms

Clients and agencies have hit out at price hikes, insufficient post campaign reporting and the poor direct-response capability of commercial radio.

They took full advantage of a Radio Advertising Bureau (RAB) conference held in London last week to air their grievances.

Bradford & Bingley Building Society strategic advertising manager Andrew Robertson attacked the medium for failing to control price inflation. He warned that advertisers could desert radio as quickly as they decided to support it.

Commercial radio has seen revenue from national agencies rise by 106 per cent over the past three years.

Robertson spoke out at the Media Forum, a section of the one-day conference designed to respond to client complaints. “The forum threw up several customer requests that I am sure the commercial radio industry will respond to,” said session chairman Richard Eyre, managing director at Capital Radio Group.

In responding to complaints about post-campaign reporting – information on where and when ads are broadcast and what audiences they achieve – Paul Brown, the Association of Independent Radio Companies chief executive, announced the setting up of an Industry Accountability Group aimed at standardising reports.

RAB managing director Douglas McArthur said: “The bedrock of our growth has been the customer focus of the radio industry.”