RIP: Slogans

Every clever formula will eventually fail. The more successful they are, the more likely they’ll become poisonous eventually.

Advertising, Branding, Pitfalls, Print, Radio, Tips/Trends, TV, UncategorizedMcGalioMay 26, 2016ads, advertisements, advertising, brand, burger king, car commercial, commercial, effective, enhance, example, examples, free advice, hotels-com, ideas, marketing, marketing tip, nike, radio, radio advertising, slogan, slogans, sorry pilots, tag line, tag lines, wendy's

What to do about "Boaty McBoatface"

“Spin” gets a bad reputation. Spin-doctoring tends to be seen as the domain of only villains or the incredibly rare “3 hit wonder.”

Branding, Crazy Ideas, Social Media, UncategorizedMcGalioMarch 23, 2016Boaty McBoatface, branding, internet, marketing, media, pr, print, public relations, radio, social media, spin, television

Good creative is hard to approve

Often when I play a piece of creative for a client, there is an uncomfortable silence choking the air out of the room when the audio finishes. I relish this moment. It’s in this moment that I realize I’ve achieved what I wanted.

Advertising, Branding, Print, Radio, White NoiseMcGalioJuly 4, 2013ads, advertising, approval, brand, branding, commercial, commercials, creative, demographic, fear, ideas, information, marketing, opportunity, promotion, radio, radio advertising, sales, scripts, spot, strategy, white noise

The One-Two Punch

It can be easy to fall in love with a slick commercial when you’re looking for a campaign for your business. Maybe it makes you laugh, maybe it makes you sound cool, or trendy or any number of other images. But, does it actually say anything solid about your business?

Advertising, Branding, Pitfalls, Print, Radio, TVMcGalioApril 3, 2013ads, advertising, brand, branding, budget, car commercial, commercial, commercials, demographic, ideas, information, internet, judging, marketing, media, medium, online, promotion, punch, radio, radio advertising, sales, script, scripts, spots

Outward Brand VS Inward Brand

Advertising campaigns are designed to bring attention to your company. The point is to get someone to visit a store, visit a website, or simply gain recognition of a brand. It can’t stop there!

Advertising, Branding, Outdoor, Print, Radio, Sale, Social MediaMcGalioMarch 27, 2013ads, advertising, brainstorm, brand, branding, budget, car commercial, commercial, commercials, consistency, demographic, effective, enhance, example, examples, ideas, in store, internet, inward, marketing, media, medium, music, outward, promotion, radio, radio advertising, sales, samples, social media, spots, twitter, uniforms, website, websites

A Call for Advertising Revolution

Honest question. Do we talk about ourselves too much in advertising?

Seriously. We all know that this is why people hate commercials of all types. They’re in your face, they waste your time, and they make you tune out.

Advertising, Branding, Crazy Ideas, Outdoor, Pitfalls, Print, Radio, Social Media, TV, White NoiseMcGalioMarch 20, 2013ads, advertising, brainstorm, brand, branding, budget, change, commercial, commercials, demographic, different, different advertising, effective, example, examples, facebook, idea, ideas, identity, information, internet, marketing, media, medium, personality, promotion, radio, radio advertising, revolution, sales, samples, script, social media, spots, success, twitter, website, websites, white noise

Are Your Commercials Easy to Ignore?

The point of buying advertising time is to make your business stand out. So, why are so many commercials so easy to ignore? How are businesses allowing this to happen? Actually... it’s pretty easy. Don’t fret. Read this article and take the points to heart.

Advertising, Branding, Demographic, Print, Radio, Sale, TVMcGalioMarch 13, 2013ads, advertising, be heard, brainstorm, brand, branding, budget, commercial, commercials, demographic, effective, enhance, example, examples, ideas, ignorable, ignore, information, marketing, media, medium, message, promotion, radio, radio advertising, sales, script, spots, stand out, white noise

Keywords

Keywords are a hugely important element of good marketing in almost every medium. Unfortunately, most businesses haven’t realized the sheer power of strategic wording.

Advertising, Branding, Outdoor, Print, Radio, Social Media, Web ApplicationsMcGalioFebruary 27, 2013ads, advertising, brainstorm, brand, branding, budget, commercial, commercials, demographic, hashtag, ideas, identity, internet, keywords, lexicon, marketing, media, personality, promotion, radio, radio advertising, sales, SEO, spots, twitter, unique, vocabulary, website, websites, words

Horizontal Schedules

Radio advertising is expensive. Unfortunately, you don’t have $30-120K a year to drop on one station immediately. That’s ok. I mean, how many people open a business and have that kind of cash to drop on their new venture.

Advertising, Branding, Budget, Demographic, RadioMcGalioFebruary 20, 2013ads, advertising, audio, brand, branding, budget, budgeting, business, cheap advertising, cheap radio, commercial, commercials, demographic, demos, effective, enhance, example, examples, horizontal schedule, inexpensive advertising, internet, marketing, media, medium, overnights, radio, radio advertising, sales, sample

Mental Anchors

Crappy commercials suck. You hate watching them, listening to them, being bombarded by them at every second of every damn day.

But… some of them. SOME of them get you. Some of them trick you into listening.

Advertising, Branding, Pitfalls, Print, Radio, Web ApplicationsMcGalioFebruary 13, 2013ads, advertising, anchor, attention, attention span, brainstorm, brand, branding, budget, c ommercials, car commercial, commercial, commercials, demographic, effective, enhance, example, ideas, information, internet, keyword, keywords, marketing, media, medium, mental, mental anchor, online, promotion, radio, radio advertising, sales, sample, script, SEO, spots, trick, url, web, website, websites

A Lesson from the Asylum

A friend of mine last week included me on a very flattering/insulting post on Facebook. Most people would have been somewhat offended. I wore it as a badge of honour. He compared me to a crazy person from an asylum.

Advertising, Branding, Crazy Ideas, RadioMcGalioJanuary 23, 2013ads, advertising, brainstorm, brainstorming, brand, branding, budget, coen, commercial, commercials, creative, demographic, diary, idea generation, ideas, journal, marketing, media, meeting, promotion, radio, radio advertising, sample, samples, spots, wildie

Legendary Condom Lesson

What additional value do you add to your service or product? I had a big laugh when I saw the above picture a week ago. I had no idea that there was no difference between a Magnum condom and a regular one. It really is a brilliant marketing ploy.

Advertising, Branding, Crazy Ideas, Radio, UncategorizedMcGalioJanuary 9, 2013additional value, ads, advertising, brainstorm, brand, branding, budget, commercial, commercials, condom, demographic, emotion, ideas, marketing, media, promotion, radio, radio advertising, spots, stories, storytelling, trojan, value

4 Things to do Before You Advertise

Advertising can be successful and still ultimately fail. Usually, both sides don’t understand why it didn’t result in actual success. The sad thing is it’s often blamed on the campaign or medium when it could have been a number of other disconnects in the execution. So, this week, let’s discuss some of the things you should do before you even consider advertising.

Advertising, Audio Featured, Branding, Podcast, Radio, SaleMcGalioDecember 12, 2012ads, advertising, audio, audio demos, before, brand, branding, budget, business, commercial, commercials, demos, different, education, example, examples, information, internet, marketing, medium, online, preparation, radio, radio advertising, radio podcast, sales, sample, samples, scripts, search engine optimization, SEO, staff, website, websites

When Will My Ads Work?

Good for you! You’re ready to advertise. Now, it’s best to know what to expect. Everybody wants their ads to work from the first time they play. Unfortunately, that’s not always they way it works. Actually, it’s pretty much never the way it works... unless you run this scenario.

Be The Hero

When you can, be the hero.

Advertising, Branding, RadioMcGalioNovember 30, 2012ads, advertising, aid, audio, brand, branding, charity, commercial, commercials, donation, donations, effective, example, examples, help, humanize, marketing, mastercard, radio, radio advertising, salvation army, slave lake, slave lake fire, timely

Fill in the Blanks

So, how do you give your business a personality? Well, I have a little homework to help set you on your way. All you need to do is fill in the blanks.

Advertising, Branding, RadioMcGalioNovember 21, 2012ads, advertising, blanks, brainstorm, brand, branding, budget, commercial, commercials, demographic, effective, fill in the blanks, ideas, identity, lexicon, marketing, media, personality, promotion, radio, radio advertising, sales, social media, spots, unique, vocabulary, words

5 Ways to Inspire Creativity

It’s easy to lose your creative flow, especially when you work in an industry that requires you to have dozens of ideas per day. Here are a few tricks I like to use to keep myself from working on terrible ideas.

Advertising, Branding, RadioMcGalioNovember 7, 2012ads, advertising, audio, brainstorm, brand, branding, budget, commercial, commercials, creative, creativity, demographic, ideas, inspiration, marketing, media, promotion, radio, radio advertising, sales, script, spots, vocal guitar solos, writers block

Dead toes, Singing Dingoes, and a Skydive from Space

I was in a client meeting with a pub last week. We were trying to discover what made them special when something really unfortunate happened. After many questions we discovered that nothing set them apart from their competition. That’s not really all that weird. The only time it becomes an issue is when the business refuses to create something new.

Branding, Crazy Ideas, Radio, StorytellingMcGalioOctober 24, 2012ads, advertising, audio, bar, bar ad, brand, branding, dingo, effective, example, examples, information, marketing, medium, pub, radio, radio advertising, restaurant, restaurant ad, sales, sample, samples, sour toe, stock exchange, stories, storytelling, tradition, yukon

The Best Advertising Form in the World

This is a radio advertising site. So, you probably think I’m going to jump right out and declare radio king. Well, you’d be wrong. Radio is great, and so are countless other advertising forms when used correctly. But, the best advertising you will ever receive is free. What is it?