TEXTING vs TALKING

Nick Michaels
Copyright 2014 American Voice Corp. All Rights Reserved
First, a man named Samuel Morse developed the single wire telegraph as a means of rapid communication. It was text based, had a code and every letter was used sparingly. Later a man named Alexander Graham Bell invented a way to speak into the telegraph wire. Now you could actually hear the other party, including all the nuances in the human voice.
Texting vs Talking. It looks to me like Morse won the re-match.

Alexander Graham Bell

Samuel F Morse

LESS THAN ZERO

Nick Michaels
Copyright American Voice Corp. 2014 All Rights Reserved

The advertiser's need to sell something is no longer a burden, annoyance or interruption the audience in the over communicated world is willing to take on. Either the advertising becomes much much better or the cost of the ads will revert to their actual value. Less than zero

WHY PRE-ROLL IS A BAD WAY TO POSITION YOUR MESSAGE

Nick Michaels
Copyright American Voice Corp. 2014 All Rights Reserved.

The advertisers need to sell is no longer something the audience is willing to take on. The reason for this is the price of their time in the over communicated world has gone up a lot. So much that  it is much more valuable to them than your message. If your message is only about selling your product it is not worth their newly valued time.

Pre-Roll is a bad placement. It is a subliminal nightmare. it is an imposition and a tool of separation. Most people hate them and find them annoying with only a few exceptions. Those exceptions are stories that are so compelling that the audience is not upset about having their time hi-jacked because what they got was even better than the content they went looking for. You can bet the farm that every single one of those exceptions is a great story. Not one is a sales job.

Instead of forcing the audience to sit through your ad, causing them to dislike you. Why not engage them with a story. A story that they want to watch. Then figure out how to sell your stuff without it looking like you are selling at all.

THEY'RE SMARTER THAN YOU THINK AND THEY KNOW IT WHEN YOU KNOW IT

Nick Michaels
Copyright American Voice Corp. 2014 All Rights Reserved

It has been an axiom of mass media to always play to the lowest common denominator. In the over communicated world I think that sends the wrong message subliminally. When you speak to the audience in an intelligent manner you are sending a message that says "I don't think you are dumb." The audience feels this and is grateful for it. It gets right back to where your focus is. Is it on your product or on your consumer? It's part of how we have to respect the new audience in this new environment. Respect their time, their feelings and their intelligence.

It is the same with the way your message is built. Generally, messages that open with the product get skipped. I read recently where 60% of online advertising is either skipped or ignored. Why? the answer is simple, you are interrupting someone who is looking for, or at, something else. This makes online ads even more ANNOYING than TV or radio ads, which is quite a feat..... unless it is such an interesting story that the interruption is considered an added benefit instead of an annoyance.

All this subliminal is now more important than the overt. The tone is more important than the words, the speed at which it is read is more important than what you are saying. The language you use is connected to the consumer's feelings about the message. Slow is better than fast. Smart is better than dumb. Quiet is better than loud. All of the above should factor into every part of your message.

THE STORY IS EVERYTHING

Nick Michaels
Copyright American Voice Corp. 2014 All Rights Reserved

I was clicking on a video on YouTube when this ad came on. I always skip ads. I didn't skip this one. I watched it for 5 minutes. It's an ad disguised as a story. I bet you won't stop watching.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=54uzEouACYs

BIG AND POWERFUL vs SMALL AND HUMAN

Nick Michaels

Copyright American Voice Corp. 2014 All Rights Reserved

It wasn’t that long ago that computers were thought of as machines whose primary purpose was business. The company that was king of the technology sector for many years had “BUSINESS” as its middle name. IBM, International Business Machines. Only big powerful corporations could afford them or use them. They were all about business, right down to their strict dress code.

Apple, on the other hand, saw the computer as being about human connection and creativity. That spark that ignites something inside of us. Something that becomes a song or a report or a photo or a recipe or a relationship or new enterprise…The world is getting very corporate and that corporate world is less and less people friendly every day. The smart players realize this and make their messages with a great deal of humility. From the way it is written to the way it is narrated. It’s not cool to be big and powerful. It’s cool to be small and agile and quick and emotional and human and connected and caring. Something to keep in mind when you craft your messages either for your client or your station.

RADIO, TAKE A LESSON FROM DETROIT

Nick Michaels
Copyright AVC 2014 All Rights Reserved

Have you noticed something lately? American cars are now competing for the buyer’s attention again. GM, Ford and Chrysler are all scrambling to deliver the best product at the best prices.  Suddenly those buyers who were were only looking at imports are looking at domestic cars and buying them. 

Detroit realized that it was time to change their mindset. The automobile is no longer a “means of getting from here to there.” It has become a mobile connected transportation device. Give the customer what they want. It’s working. Radio can take a lesson here. For the last 20 years radio has forgotten about its customer. The listener is the customer not the advertiser. Unless and until radio goes back to richer programming and personalities the future does not bode well for it. Be creative in your programming. Give those listeners, with so many choices, a reason to choose you. If GM, Ford and Chrysler can do it so can corporate radio, it takes the commitment to change your mindset and give the customer what they want.

MAKE NO DEMANDS

Nick Michaels

Copyright AVC 2014 All Rights Reserved

Due to A recent illness I was hospitalized and forced to watch commercial television. At home I never watch commercial television. However I had no choice. Some of the commercials were extremely annoying. The ones that were most annoying were the ones where someone was telling me to do something or buy something or get this type of insurance. They were very strident in their approach. Too much energy. Too much in my face. They though it was a call to action but they were making too many demands...ARRRRRGGGHH! And I couldn't take it anymore. 

Then this commercial came on and no matter how many times they played it, I was never annoyed. It's a commercial for Budweiser beer about a young man and his dog and how the dog is waiting at home while the young man decides to spend the night at a friend’s place. When he gets home the following morning the dog is waiting and they share a moment of bonding and love that feels as good as ice cream on a hot day.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eubWYPhcEEo

This commercial is proof that in order for advertising to be accepted in the over communicated world it should detach from selling and become about emotional engagement. This commercial is completely and utterly emotionally engaging. It has a very low psychic entry fee. Everything about it, from the music, to the way it is photographed is easy. It makes no demands! Think twice about that next call to action. Anything that could be interpreted as a demand is a mistake in this environment.

RADIO'S WAR ON CREATIVITY

Nick Michaels
Copyright 2014 American Voice Corp. All Rights Reserved

Why is radio advertising and promotion today the least audience friendly and most annoying? The chickens have come home to roost. For 20 years radio has waged war on the cost of creativity. The messages have become more product centric and retail in nature at a time when all other advertising is going in the opposite direction. The over communicated world causes the audience to put a much higher value on their time. The result is they shun any message that doesn't resonate with them, perceiving it to be a waste of time. To them it is the audio equivalent of spam email. Try connecting with the audience about their feelings and their needs, wants and fears instead. 

WHO REALLY CONTROLS YOUR BRAND'S IMAGE

Nick Michaels
Copyright 2014 American Voice Corp. All Rights Reserved

Do you think you are in control of your brand image? Think again! Below are two examples from THIS WEEK. One of the things social media has done is give the consumer a much bigger megaphone than the ad budget of the advertiser.

How one bad phone call can wipe out a multi million dollar ad budget


How one act of kindness can be worth a multi million dollar ad budget

ENHANCING THE AUDIENCE'S RELATIONSHIP WITH THE MUSIC.

Nick Michaels
Copyright 2014 American Voice Corp. All Rights Reserved

 Does your presentation enhance the listener's relationship with the music?  If all you do is play the music and say your call letters and some cheesy slogan you have already given up the fight. The audience has a deep relationship with the music.  How are you enhancing that relationship? Are you helping the audience understand it better? Is your presentation allowing them to get closer to it? Are you focusing on those important feelings, which is the reason they listen in the first place?

In the over communicated world, time becomes the most valuable currency. As the audience puts more and more value on their precious time, they become much more discriminating about where they spend it. If you offer nothing more than the music, you are no different (or better) than all the other places where they can get the music. In the over communicated world, different is better.

NO MARKET IS TOO SMALL FOR GREAT IMAGING

Nick Michaels
Copyright 2014 American Voice Corp. All Rights Reserved

I have learned that market size has nothing to do with quality. Some of the best radio stations I have ever heard are in smaller markets. Radio is about human connection. An art that is vanishing at a time when we need it most. The audience is realizing how valuable their time is and how much EVERYBODY wants a piece of it.

For me it is all about working with those that want to connect with their audience at the deepest level. A radio station needs a soul. A human voice that the audience can relate to and connect to. Its imaging should be about how the audience's feelings are being enhanced by the listening experience. In short it's all about the audience not about the radio station.

Does it work? It sure does. We have a decades long track record in Los Angeles, Chicago and San Francisco as well as Green Bay, Springfield Missouri, Santa Barbara, San Diego, and markets of varying sizes from the smallest to the largest. Give your station a competitive edge by giving it a sound that is totally unique and very human. We will make you sound different and stand out immediately and do it within your budget requirements. 

NickMichaelsStudio@gmail.com 

STOP SELLING START STORY-TELLING

Nick Michaels
Copyright 2014 American Voice Corp. All Rights Reserved

In the over communicated world in order for advertising to be accepted it must detach from selling and become about emotional engagement.

The demand on the audience’s time is increasing exponentially while the supply of their time is fixed at 24 hours a day, to which not one second can be added. This realization is hitting the audience like a ton of bricks. They are no longer willing to spend their precious time on an advertiser’s message unless that message has something in it for them, and I don’t mean 25% off on Thursday. The facts in the message are a burden to the audience. Something they must carry on their back. Every phone number, address, price, date, time etc is something for which they no longer have time. 

Stop selling them and start telling them a story. 

Click this for an example

THEATER OF YOUR MIND

Nick Michaels
Copyright  2014 American Voice Corp. All Rights Reserved

No other mass media can compare to radio when it comes to audience engagement. This is because, when radio is done properly, it plays in the theater of your mind. You are participating in the creation of the message. If you hear: "Tom approached the car quickly." You are in charge of what Tom looks like, what the car looks like, etc. You are casting and directing the movie in your head.  There is no screen as big or clear as the one in your mind. There is no sound system as perfect as the one in your mind. When radio is done properly the curtain comes up the lights go down and the movie begins in the theater of your mind.

FACTS VS FEELINGS, STRATEGY VS INTIMACY AND EMOTION

Nick Michaels
Copyright 2014 American Voice Corp. All Rights Reserved

How do you craft your message for the over communicated world? Make it intimate and emotional. Below is a commercial for Dodge that is a perfect example of that. First look at the way it is photographed. The tight shots are very up close and personal. You are physically "close" to the subject. Then listen to what these people are saying. They are not selling anything. They are sharing "life's lessons." Now take a look at their attitude when they are speaking, they are so quietly confident about what they are saying that you cannot help but believe it. They are playful in their delivery, smiling like they know something you don't. Which they do. There are no car facts in this spot, because it is not about the product. It is about the viewer. Slam Dunk!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ncjRfmYFu4

THE NEW NEIGHBORHOOD

Nick Michaels
Copyright 2014 American Voice Corp. All Rights Reserved

The internet has changed the way we live, work and play in many ways.  The internet shattered the concept of neighborhood as physical geography and turned it into one of shared interests. It shattered the concept of friendship as people you actually know and have met and turned it into a group with shared interests. The same thing applies to listener demographics. The internet has shattered the concept of listener demographics as an age group and turned it into a group with shared interests. The web's ever increasing amount of information and content, including the massive new audience generated content, changes the concept of the listener demo just as it changed neighborhoods and friendships.

My program, The Deep End With Nick Michaels has shown me that our demographic is not based on age. It is a niche demo based on a shared interest.  Our demo is music lovers. People who listen to music a little more than most. Feel it a little more than most. Need it a little more than most. Love it a little more than most. Their ages range from 20 somethings, for whom Jimi Hendrix is new music, to 65 year olds who saw Jimi at Woodstock. A niche demo that radio and television could not afford to serve up to now because its size was limited by transmitter or satellite footprint. The internet changes that to a global footprint and that makes the niche much bigger, while, at the same time, the cost of reaching that niche  has been reduced to almost nothing.  In the case of The Deep End, the demo is interested in a richer listening experience.

How we market and advertise to these new demos, in the over communicated world, requires a new way of thinking. One that is based on the new neighborhood.

THE NEW GOLDEN AGE. THE BEGINNING OF FIERCE CREATIVITY

Nick Michaels
Copyright 2014 American Voice Corp. All Rights Reserved

The opportunity is endless. Those that can hear what’s coming can barely contain their excitement. As advertising messages become forced to detach from overt, recognizable selling, a new highly creative form of advertising will begin to take over. Gone will be the pitchmen, and hucksters. Replaced by a new emotional engagement that will make the commercials far more interesting and better than the programming. 

Instead of the commercials being camouflaged in the programs.  The programs will be camouflaged in the commercials. The commercials are the reason the programs exist. Making them  annoying or disturbing or making them about the advertiser's need is no longer an option in this new environment. 

These new commercials will not sound, look or feel like the advertising we are used to. They will not be restricted to arbitrary lengths like 15 seconds or 30 seconds. Some will be stories of varying lengths. Others will be like games with a high degree of interactivity. Some will allow the audience a degree of participation that actually lets them control the outcome of the message.

As the audience’s time becomes more and more valuable to them, they will become very selective about where and how it is spent. It will be too valuable to be spent absorbing a message that is merely the advertiser’s need to sell something.  Messages that are not about the audience’s deepest needs wants and fears will not be welcomed or received.

Audio has a huge advantage in this area. It is an old concept about to be applied in a new way. Theater of the mind. It is what makes radio the most intimate and emotional of all mass media and if used to its fullest potential, will be the reason that audio messages will be sold at a premium to all other types.

WHY AUDIO IS MUCH MORE POWERFUL THAN VIDEO

Nick Michaels
Copyright 2014 American Voice Corp. All Rights Reserved

I was watching TV and this annoying commercial came on. You know the kind. Selling too hard. Trying to get me to do something instead of feel something. Filled with calls to action.  I didn't want to change the channel so I hit the mute button. Ahh silence...I was back in my own world. Then it hit me like a ton of bricks. Even though the video was just as obnoxious and self serving as the audio, when the audio was off I didn't mind it as much.

Well, if the audio was the part that was hurting me the most, it must be the most powerful part of the message. Then I realized, while it was relatively easy to avert my eyes it was not that easy to avert my ears. It reminded me of something I had read by McLuhan ages ago. Audio comes from all around you. The visual element happens mostly in front of you. The real power to create emotion is in the audio. So to make the most powerful message, start with the audio and then pick the visuals to support the audio.

THE AWESOME POWER OF RADIO

Nick Michaels
Copyright 2014 American Voice Corp. All Rights Reserved.

What you are about to read is a true story. A couple of years ago I got an e-mail from a female listener who had recently been released from prison. The e-mail was so moving, so powerful that I was almost shaking when I finished reading it. 

She wrote about how she and some of her fellow inmates would listen to the Deep End on Sunday evenings. I'm going to try to use her words as best I remember them. She said the following: “Women who never cried, cried when they heard White Bird by It's A Beautiful Day. She went on to say that there was no race or color when Otis Redding sang I've Been Loving You Too Long and how moved they were when I told the stories that took them back in time.  Toward the end of the e-mail she wrote, “even though we were prisoners, for a couple of hours every week, while listening to your show, we were free. Although I am now free, I'm always a little freer when listening to the Deep End.” 

The tears were falling heavily and my hands shook a little as I realized the awesome power of radio and the awesome responsibility that comes with that power. It took me back to my beginning. To a bedroom where a 14 year old boy would listen to the magic coming out of that transistor radio and be transported far away by that magic.

 Every time you pick a song or open that microphone remember this, what your job is all about is human connection. The kind that can make a prisoner feel free. 

RADIO HAS LOST ITS ART

Nick Michaels
Copyright 2014 American Voice Corp. All Rights Reserved

I recently attended a great art exhibition. It was filled with cutting edge art and extremely talented and creative artists. Some were making political statements through their art. Others were creating objects that make us feel things. All of it was filled with human connection. It was inspiring and gave me a boost of creative energy. It was, however, at the same time, a little sad because it reminded  me in a glaring manner how radio has lost its art.  Art is the ability to transfer emotion through time and space.  It is created by humans for humans. When radio lost its art it also lost its heart and soul.

The corporate mentality of control and top down decision making inhibits creativity. The overwhelming debt brought on by consolidation means programming by fear. Fear of losing a single listener means taking no chances. Corporate mentality is all about formulas. That is why the french fries at McDonalds taste the same in Detroit, Seattle and Dallas. Add to that a lack of respect and funding for creativity and writing and you have a recipe for disaster. The art of radio is a very human art. Disc-jockeys and program hosts who were wonderful story tellers and communicators. Their engaging personalities were a magnet for listeners. The business of radio is killing it. Too much science and math and not enough art.  Algorithms and software programs cannot make art. They can analyze listener's choices and try to figure out what to play next but that is not art, it is just more analysis.

The internet has opened the door to some new creativity, but it is not found at the corporate internet sites. They are stifled by their methods and the way they see an audience. The cost of entry has been lowered tremendously and that is bringing about some very interesting and artful entertainment from a new group of individuals willing to take the risk and make the connection. It is coming out of bedrooms and basements and notebook computers. It is listened to on computers and smartphones and tablets.The people making it are making statements and connections and do not see the line that separates them from their audience. They are one with the audience and the audience is one with them. Their humanity is creating art.

WRITE POWERFULLY, READ HUMBLY

Nick Michaels

Copyright American Voice Corp. 2014 All Rights Reserved

When you make one of the worlds most powerful cars you advertise it with a very small voice. This commercial is a perfect example of how in the over communicated world a whisper becomes a scream. It also does not reveal itself too early. In this environment the worst thing you can do is to be obvious. If you are obvious, people know that they're watching a commercial. You have just given them permission to go make a sandwich or use the rest room. Successful advertising today causes the viewer or listener to ask  this question," what is this, and who is bringing me this message?” That soft vulnerable voice is magnetic and the writing is powerful. It stands out, it is unexpected, it is different and that makes it interesting and harder to resist. 

TURN THE CAMERA AROUND

Nick Michaels
Copyright American Voice Corp. 2014 All Rights Reserved

I have been looking at a lot of advertising lately and there's something that is jumping out at me. Have you noticed that the focus of most commercials now is not on the product but on the user of the product? This is directly tied to the environment caused by the over communicated world. Along with turning the camera around, taking it off the product and pointing it toward the user comes a new look and sound. Instead of those very quick jump cuts that were very popular in the days of MTV's music videos, the visual pace appears to be slowing down and the tone in which the message is spoken is lower and slower. There are still a few holdouts, mainly retail local car ads and advertising for one-day sales in some retail stores. Those exceptions now stand out like a sore thumb and not in a positive way. They are a tune out factor. They are uncomfortable to watch, too loud, too fast and do not take into consideration the audiences feelings. They are packed with too much information, too many facts that the audience cannot absorb and do not engage the audience with emotion. Want your messages to work? Turn the camera around and tell a story.

IS YOUR SELLING SHOWING?

Nick Michaels
Copyright American Voice Corp. 2014 All Rights Reserved

I was looking for something on YouTube the other day and, as is often the case, a commercial started with that little timer in the lower right corner that says “you can skip this ad in 5..4..3..2..1.”  I normally skip ads as soon as I can but I didn't skip this one. While looking through the comments after watching the story, I noticed that Guy Kawasaki commented saying that he “watched the whole thing.”  It was two minutes and fifty-six seconds long and I wished it was longer.

It was an interesting story about a man named Ken Delmar who paints on Bounty paper towels. It reminded me of a similar thing I did for a client of The Drive in Chicago a few years ago. Here was proof that in the over communicated world in order for advertising to be accepted, it must detach from overt selling and become about emotional engagement.

This story managed to reinforce all the unique attributes of Bounty without ever appearing to be selling anything. Even though the overwhelming majority of Bounty users are never going to use it as a means for artistic expression, the story engages and entertains them, while getting the message across that Bounty was very absorbent. Is your message doing that or is your selling showing? You can view it by clicking on the link below.
The Man Who Paints on Bounty Paper Towels.