Writing Commercial Continuity.

 

In the American system of broadcasting the commercial sponsor is the angel for the broadcasting station. Without the money he pays for the presentation of his advertising continuity, the commercial broadcasting station could not exist. The sponsor is interested only in the entertainment value and the appeal of his programs to the extent that they will attract and hold a large enough audience to make the delivery of his commercial copy profitable. Consequently it must be written to comply with the general requirements of the psychology of advertising and the rules of grammar. By the term "commercial continuity" I refer to all types of advertising plugs: the 20 -word station break; the 100 -word commercial announcement, which is frequently sold as a 1 -minute announcement; the 5 -minute commercial program; and the advertising portion of longer entertainment features. In writing the commercial it is wise to keep in mind that people do not buy things, they buy uses. They buy the skin you love to touch, not soap. They buy kissable lips, not lipstick. The Simmons Mattress Company doesn't try to sell mattresses; it tries to sell sleep and comfort. 'l'hus it is the result of the purchase that should be spoken of rather than the product itself. Here are some emotional motives that can be played upon in the commercial: 1. Self-preservation from harm or danger. which includes care of health. 2. Satisfaction of appetite; pleasing taste. 3. Romantic instinct. 4. Care of children and family. 5. Ambition and advancement, economic or social; intellectual desire for advancement. 6. Desire for securing comfort, personal comfort or comfort in the home. 7. Desire for entertainment, pleasure. leisure. 8. Cleanliness. This is a deep-seated instinct. 9. Pride-in appearance, in one's home, in one's family, etc. 10. The expression of artistic taste, which takes the form sometimes of the selection of gifts. On the other hand, the rational motives for buying are handiness. efficiency in operation or use, dependability in use, dependability in quality, durability, economy in use, economy in purchase. By comparison, it may easily be seen that the emotional motives far outweigh and outnumber the rational motives. The continuity writer is concerned primarily with writing copy expressly for the purpose of advertising a product. In order that he may write such advertisements well, he should be thoroughly familiar with the product that he is to advertise. It is wise for him to visit the plant where it is made, see the conditions under which it is made, talk with people who have used the product, and sell himself thoroughly before attempting to sell the radio audience. Only when he has had such a thorough working knowledge can he enthusiastically portray the product's worth in words. However, such an investigation should not result in the writer's viewing the product from the manufacturing point of view instead of from the point of appeal to the buyer. An interview with the sales manager or someone who will recommend the product is usually of value. The continuity writer must have all the originality, new ideas, and new methods that are to be found in the capable advertising man. Because of the innumerable commercial programs that are on the air, methods of presenting commercial plugs soon become hackneyed and trite, and the man who conceives new styles becomes a leader in this field. An example of good advertising was that in which the announcer spent at least 1 minute advertising Jello without mentioning the product or any of its slogans. He pretended to have a telephone conversation with his wife and, although they didn't say what they were talking about, every listener knew what was going on. It was amusing. It did not mention the name of the product in an irritating way. The advertising became actually enjoyable for the audience because they had so much fun guessing what was going on and the right answer helped their ego a bit. This is a dangerous practice, for it demands a steady audience, one which listens every week without fail, so that the listeners become familiar enough° with the product, its claims, and its slogans that these need not be mentioned, yet everyone will know what is being talked about. The reading of advertisements is fine training for writing them. The writer must have a sense of both dramatic value and newspaper -writing principles. When the writer lacks these qualities, his commercials will strike the radio public as deficient in grace, tactless, or uninteresting- hence unproductive. It must be remembered that only a small proportion of the commercial continuity that is heard from a broadcasting station is written by the staff of that station. Most of the programs that advertise national products are bought directly from the writers by advertising agencies, who also cast the shows and turn to the broadcasting network only for the purchase of time on the air. Furthermore, many of the advertising agencies prepare the short commercial plugs for their clients. The larger advertising agencies have their own radio departments with continuity writers who are experienced in the writing of advertising copy. In every instance the broadcasting station endeavors to work in harmony with the advertising agency and to suggest changes in style and content in the continuity that is to go out over its facilities. The station advertising department, however, must use great tact in suggesting changes, because the copy may have been written by the sponsor, or the advertising agency may have submitted the copy to the sponsor and would feel that its services were being belittled if the copy were criticized and changed by the station's experienced continuity writer. Ordinarily the work of the continuity writer of the broadcasting station is offered free to the advertiser who purchases radio time. He works directly for the studio, writing copy that is used to bring in revenue to the organization. Great care should be exercised in the placing of commercial credits in the longer type of commercial programs. The best times are shortly after the opening and, if the program is to be a full -hour program, at the halfhour break; if the closing announcement is employed at all, the commercial plug should be brief and to the point and should precede the actual closing of the program. The style and form of these three commercials should be varied, for nothing so annoys the radio audience as unnecessary repetition, especially if it is of a descriptive character.

Considering the need of originality in advertising copy, it is not advisable to lay down any hidebound rules for writing it. In general, however, there are three types of commercial copy: reminder copy, educational copy, and action copy. Reminder copy is that type which endeavors to keep before the purchaser the trade name and slogan of a well-known and widely advertised product, and generally consists merely in giving this slogan, the trade name, or a description of the distinctive wrappings or appearance of the product. This type of copy contains a minimum number of words phrased with skill and subtlety to convey the desired suggestion. Any attempt to make a direct sale with a mention of price is detrimental to this type of copy. It is purely good -will advertising used in connection with national advertising programs. Educational copy is used primarily in the introduction of a new product and gives information about it, stimulates the purchaser's curiosity, and arouses in him a desire to purchase it. This type of continuity should point out the results of the product rather than the ingredients that are used in making the article. Of course, in every instance the name of the product must be emphasized. However, the name of the manufacturer is not always necessary or advisable. One of the more subtle uses of radio is the elimination of a sales resistance that results from the purchaser's fear of appearing foolish by asking for a product whose name he is unable to pronounce. The announcer may make the pronunciation of the name clear. Action copy is the salesman of the air, for it announces price cuts and new models and assumes that the listener is familiar with the product. This type of copy is written to induce immediate action and contains what is known in rhetoric as "the interest of stimulation," which impels the listener to clap on his hat and go out and buy. While the masculine pronoun is used here, surveys seem to show that the housewife is the one to whom radio advertising should be directed, for she is the one who has the most influence upon family purchases and spends the greatest amount of time in the home. Commercial continuity should always attempt to create good will and friends for the product. The copy must have a style that will attract attention and through this attention make its sales appeal. There is a favorable reaction to the type of continuity in which the sponsor makes himself known indirectly, possibly by naming the orchestra after his product. Such names connected with artists create a lasting impression, which is the main objective of the advertiser. While advertising continuity must not be too sweetly appealing, it should be persuasive. There are various methods of making an idea persuasive, which include appeals to patriotism, to the property -owning motive in human nature, to the desire for power and superiority, to health as a means of achieving power, and to the affection instinct. The sex motive looms large in advertising, and an indirect sex motivation can often be found in products. Frequently, if the program is a local one, the injection of a bit of local news or interest will make the appeal more personal. Nearly every subject permits an appeal to some kind of human fear, which is always effective, or an appeal to human desires, which are equally or more important. Primary motives are food, shelter, and ornamentation or luxuries. Over 60 per cent of our national income is expended for things or services under the classification of ornamentation or luxury. Ordinarily, therefore, any advertising appeal should be addressed more to desire than to fear or necessity. False or questionable statements and all other forms of misrepresentation must be eliminated. The Federal Trade Commission acts as the watchdog for accuracy in radio as well as in other forms of advertising It is interesting to note that the percentage of criticism for radio is less than that for other advertising media. It is ill-advised to belittle the product of a competitor. All stories and pictures of an unpleasant or :: disgusting nature should be avoided. Make the copy pleasant because it may be received during a social event or a dinner party and would create a bad impression for the product if it were not in good taste. Human nature does not like to hear or to discuss disagreeable things. Questionable and risqué stories, songs, or jokes should be forbidden; and, of course, general broadcasting principles eliminate profanity, sacrilegious expressions, and all other language of doubtful propriety. Statements or suggestions that are offensive to religious views, racial consciousness, and the like are to be avoided. If testimonials are given, they must reflect the genuine experience or opinion of a competent witness who speaks in an honest, convincing manner. When dramatized commercials are used that involve statements by doctors, dentists, druggists, nurses, or other professional persons, the lines must be read by a member of these professions reciting actual experiences, or explanations must be made by the announcer that the scenes enacted are fictitious. There must be no misleading statements concerning price or claims of the product; and comparison with other products is not diplomatic. The radio public objects frequently to the amount of advertising included in a radio program. The continuity writer should therefore use discretion in determining how much continuity to include in his period. High-powered salesmanship, undue repetition of price, and the excessive use of superlatives are not in good taste. Ordinarily not more than two "price mentions" should be given in a 15 -minute program; good broadcasting principles limit the length of the sales talk to about 2 minutes in a program of this kind. Broadcasting stations recently announced that they advised not more than three "price mentions" in a 30 -minute program, which should include only 3 minutes of commercial copy; and that the full -hour program should not mention the price more than five times or devote more than 6 minutes to straight sales talk. Until recently radio has been an advertising medium available only to big business. However, local stations are today featuring programs called the " Want Ads of the Air," which follow the style and sales practice of the newspaper want ad. It must be recorded that these cautions against the use of questionable claims, superlatives, unpleasant ideas, the imperative tense, and disparagement of competitors-while undoubtedly for the good of commercial radio and its advertisers as a whole-are being conspicuously violated, principally by local stations, for the immediate advantage of individuals. The networks seem to have higher commercial ideals. The continuity writer should see that there is no conflict between the broadcast announcement and the sponsor's advertisements for the same product in other media. All types should coordinate. It is good policy to mention the names of local dealers of a product in order that they may appreciate the value of the radio advertising. 

The two main faults of advertising writers in preparing copy for radio announcements are (1) that the copy is written to be read, not heard; and (2) that interest -seeking advertisers use unjustified methods of attracting attention. Commercial writers are inclined to use a newspaper headline style instead of the conversational form. Sentences are inverted; words are left out; the advertisement is prepared to be seen, not heard. When a reader sees the same copy in a newspaper or magazine, he unconsciously fills in the missing words, but when this copy is heard over the air the incomplete statements are meaningless. Possibly this style results from the limitation imposed by broadcasting stations on the number of words in certain types of commercial plugs. Conciseness and simplicity are major requisites, but nevertheless clearness is essential. The continuity writer should explain his points in simple, direct language. He should be concrete, not abstract. Large figures are not easily followed and may be misunderstood. Percentages are confusing. The use of similes and vivid figures of speech is desirable. The style of the radio announcement should be simple and personal, for the announcer is talking to an individual, not to thousands. He should never be "high -hat," no matter how expensive the product he is advertising. In writing copy never visualize the radio audience as a tremendous number of people seated together, but rather as a family group or an individual. Material that is presented in a personal way is given more attention than material that is presented objectively. The listener should be made to feel that he is buying a product from a friend, from one who has taken the trouble to entertain and to help him. Talk with the listener in the second person; be chatty, intimate, and persuasive. While the listener may be addressed in the second person, the annoucement should never make the announcer a member of the firm that is advertising. He should not say, "Come down to our store," because his voice is known as that of an announcer connected with the broadcasting station. Such a style would be misleading and, moreover, would constitute an endorsement of the sale or article by the station. Facts and products are most easily popularized through an engaging personality, and the words of the continuity must create this character. The radio listener reacts better to a modest and unobtrusive approach. If the words are shouted at him, there is no opportunity for the speaker to emphasize certain vital words and facts. The writer should examine his copy to see if it is in the same form and has the same content that he would use if he were calling upon and talking to the listener personally. It is very good practice for the continuity writer to test out his copy by putting it onto the office dictaphone and then playing it back to see whether it sounds friendly and convincing. Probably a better practice would be to have someone read the announcement back to the writer, who may be surprised how one who is unfamiliar with the sense intended by the writer may interpret the copy. Write so that only one interpretation can possibly be given to the message. Make the continuity for your sales talks as attractive as you would endeavor to make your application when seeking a position. The tendency of certain advertisers to introduce their commercial announcements with interest -catching devices such as "Important news flash" or "Calling all cars" is bad, because such an introduction is misleading and is inclined to offend the listener rather than appeal to him. Announcements can be interesting without being heralded as "news," so that such introductions are a waste of words. To "soft-soap" the listener is bad, to plead is worse, and to bully is the worst of all. The program should be appealing, but not commanding. Mechanical methods of approach do not make for vital, attractive, or inoffensive continuity. A short announcement, to be effective, should contain not more than one idea. If you wish to make a lasting impression, do not have more than one request for action in a single short announcement and do not arouse conflicting appeals; to describe vividly the gnawing on a chicken leg overshadows the appeal of a tooth paste. Place the name of the product advertised and the point to be impressed early in the announcement; then, if the listener turns off his radio, you have at least introduced your product to him. If the continuity includes an offer, it should be stated simply and clearly without any involved or prolonged explanation. A well -centered climactic sales script is better than one that has many cheap and obvious climaxes. While repetition is used to drive home a point, the same phraseology should not be reiterated to the point of annoyance. Trade names and addresses should be given a number of times, but the form of delivery should be changed. The most productive way to obtain direct -mail response is to have replies sent directly to the broadcasting station, for the call letters of this station will be heard a number of times whereas the address of the sponsor can be heard only upon that immediate announcement. 

The inclusion of the commercials in the continuity of the variety show is desirable, for programs should be knit closely together. The director must bind the program into a unified production instead of shoveling it out to the audience in unrelated parts. There is no excuse for a break of movement or a shift in the tone of the broadcast. The most successful programs on the air today build the announcers into the structure of the show and make them human and appealing characters who carry weight in their own right. This simplifies the task of putting human interest into the selling, and often the commercial hardly seems to be a selling announcement. If the show has been properly constructed, it will hold the listeners' interest throughout and they will listen right through the commercial without knowing that they have invited a salesman into their homes. The best announcement is that which becomes part of the entertainment and follows the spirit and the tempo of the show. The straight commercial announcement no longer is so effective as the dramatized commercial. More and more advertisers are realizing the wisdom of dramatizing their announcements as part of the entire show. A radio show cannot be allowed to lag or it will lose the listener. Careful attention is paid to this requirement during the entertainment part of the show, and there is no reason why all this effort should be nullified by permitting the commercial to change the tempo. After all, this is the most important part of the show to the sponsor, and he should take care not to lose the listener to some other program because of dull announcements. When the announcement is given, it should be right in step with the rest of the show. The product, however, should not be dramatized. A dramatic situation should be created, and the solution achieved through the agency of the product. The more natural the solution, the more believable the dramatic situation. A great variety of forms are used today in radio advertising, which may be traced back to an early phase in the history of broadcasting. The commercial theme song came first for promoting the sales message. In 1910 it was used as the main selling factor in many advertising campaigns, and no sponsor in those days was too dignified to make use of the theme song. It did have a valuable purpose, too that of associating a product with a hummable tune, creating a melodious slogan. The Ford Motor Company recently put on a used -car campaign using only a series of 3 -minute discs, which started with a catchy theme, went into a rhyming conversation and a short dramatic skit, and then ended with the theme: See your Ford Dealer, The price is low. Baby, can those used cars go! The word is getting all around Ford used cars are the best in town. During the twenties the continuity writer wrote his product into the introduction of the musical numbers. This practice has developed into the incorporation of advertising with the regular script of the show and now is used in most comedy shows. The product is usually worked into a gag and draws a laugh and oftentimes applause. The listener does not object to such advertising and yet the sales talk is being put across. A further modification of the use of dramatics in advertising is the personification of products, with all the emotions of humans. Such stunts as a vacuum cleaner humming and singing as it cleans and the almighty dollar shouting that it is being stretched too far are of this type. It is a vulgarization of dramatics, a burlesque, but it nevertheless is an example of radio advertising in forms other than straight announcing. In the limited dramatic skit used in dramatized commercials, sound saves time without depriving the ad of any of its desired effects. The  sound of a car saves the wordage a straight commercial would use in setting the scene. The same sound can give the impression of speed, progress, or other similar effects without using a word. Sound effects will catch the listener's ear more quickly than an announcement. A shrieking siren or clanging bell will take the listener's mind off whatever he is doing more quickly than will a human voice. Wherever possible, sound effects should be used in the dramatized commercial in order to obtain the most effectiveness in the least time.

The advertising man áppreciates the value of white space in the layout of a magazine or a newspaper advertisement, but inconsistently he endeavors to fill every second of a radio announcement with copy. This is a mistake. White space in entertainment-in the form of brief pauses-has just as much value in radio copy. Nearly all advertising continuity is too long, and the principal reason for this is that the writer does not seek vivid words to take the place of groups of words. Verbs and adverbs are neglected for adjectives. The advertising story should be told quickly. Condense and intensify. Give the salient qualities of a product, its trade name and slogan, its price, and where it can be purchased. The apparent length of a commercial depends a great deal upon the interest it can arouse. Many an interesting announcement has taken up twice as much time and seemed only half as long as most uninteresting ads. When the advertising message has been completed, stop before you become an obnoxious salesman. 

Words used in radio commercial copy should be simple, dignified, and in good taste. The announcer does not make friends if he attempts to use high-flown words or to display an extensive vocabulary. If it is necessary to use a technical phrase, define it. It is a well -recognized fact that words of Anglo-Saxon origin are stronger than those with foreign base. Do not use any words that may have a double meaning. Because his entire impression on the audience is made through the sense of hearing, the radio writer must be even more careful than others to write in words understandable to the audience. The person listening to a speech cannot stop to look up unfamiliar words without losing a part of the message. Furthermore, a startling or unusual word will attract attention to itself, rather than to the commercial message. Choose language that expresses big ideas rather than that which displays big words. Advertising copy should be addressed to the level of those people to whom the sponsor expects to sell his product and to the audience expetted to listen at the particular time-juvenile, adult, feminine, masculine. The writer of copy addressed to adults must adjust his vocabulary so that all his listeners, who, of course, have varying degrees of education, may be reached. His speech must be understandable to the least learned as well as to the most learned. The successful writer always selects words that will be within the scope of his prospective listeners. While good usage is considered essential, certain programs allow some liberty. Slang and sport phraseology have a place only on certain types of programs. Trite and hackneyed expressions are offensive; foreign derivatives should never be used; figures of speech should be carefully chosen. In the preparation of copy a thesaurus (Boget), a book differentiating between synonyms (Crabb), and a good dictionary are most useful. Do not use words that don't add color or motion. Don't even write "the" unless you mean "the." Edit all words that gray (the) color or clog (the) motion. Don't use (the word) "and" unless you (actually) need to emphasize the impression of adding (something).

The structure of the sentence plays a great part in the clearness of the material presented. If the thought is obscured by complicated and involved sentence structure, the audience can do nothing to rescue itself from wandering. The best way to be sure of sentence clarity is to use simple and compound sentences and to avoid complex forms. If the listener does not understand every sentence as the speaker utters it, he immediately loses interest. Avoid the use of adversative and coordinate conjunctions. Break your sentences in two, but, on the other hand, do not let them be of the same length, for in that case the delivery will have a monotonous melody. It is not always easy to make short sentences beautiful, .but they will have force and drive home the idea. Do not fail to read aloud each sentence to see whether it clearly states the idea, and be sure that it cannot give any other than the desired idea; you cannot rely upon your announcer's delivery. While short, glowing sentences are most successful, certain statements demand longer sentence structure; but where this is the case, the sentence should not be involved. Each successive phrase and clause must clearly unfold the thought. Sentences should be built up to an important word or idea. They must not flow downward. Of course, in general, grammatical rules must be obeyed; nevertheless speech permits some liberties. The chief concern is, Does the copy read well? Is it easily understood when heard?

Correct grammatical rules are not always followed in this type of writing. Occasionally it becomes suitable to change and deviate from rules in order to give the copy a unique and forceful style. However, strict attention should be given to accurate grammatical relationships, such as the agreement of verbs with their subjects, pronouns with their antecedents, and pronominal adjectives with substantives, and the agreement of tenses. A grammatical error in any of these catches and holds the attention of the listener whom you wish to impress by your sales talk. The use of the imperative is rather irritating to the listener, who would prefer to be permitted to arrive at his own decision rather than to be dictated to by the announcer. The use of questions is an old device for demanding attention, but the writer must be very positive that no humorous answer or no antagonistic answer can possibly be given. He must be certain that the only answer possible is the one that he desires. One of the oldest axioms of successful advertising is to pursue a positive lead of the listener's or reader's thought; this is immediately defeated when the writer asks a question. Therefore it is obvious that the safer course to pursue is to omit the question element entirely. Tongue twisters should be avoided, for the most experienced radio announcer may become nervous and make a slip, regardless of how well he knows the material. Certain methods of arrangement and phrasing of material help to secure effectiveness in a radio message. Suspense may be created by allowing the listener to be conscious that you are working toward an objective, an interesting objective. The placing of emphasis upon certain words by the announcer may be assured by placing these words following pauses indicated by marks of punctuation. In many instances the copywriter is so intent upon making a point that he fails to see that what he has written will make a different impression than that which is in his mind. This is often caused by misplaced modifying clauses, stringiness, or poor construction. A few illustrations of careless writing heard over the networks and stations in 1940 are: "See Harry Applebaum for that new pair of Sunday. pants, open evenings and Sundays for your convenience"; "Don't wait until you have a headache; ask for it today"; "Thank you for feeding your dogs and cats Thrivuu and we want you to recommend it to all your friends and relatives"; "Thousands of people who have listened to this program have headaches right now"; and "When I see a lady who does her own housework and dishwashing and who has soft, pretty hands I know she has been using her head." How would you retain the intended ideas and correct these announcements so that the announcer could not go wrong? You must not rely upon an announcer to say what you want him to say unless you write the announcement so that he cannot possibly give a misinterpretation.