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.

NAVIGATING THE DIGITAL RAPIDS

Nick Michaels
Copyright American Voice Corp. 2013 All Rights Reserved

In a river, too much water flowing through too little space creates rapids. The same thing applies to the digital river. Too much information flowing through too little time creates mental rapids. As long as you are able to control the boat, a ride through the rapids can be exhilarating and fun. When the speed of the rapids causes you to lose control, that fun ride becomes uncomfortable and you want to get out of the boat.

We are about the leave the over communicated world and enter the hyper communicated world. A place with rapids so intense the ride is terrifying. The audience /consumer will be drawn to messages which allow them to slow down and temporarily lose the out of control feeling.

The messages that stand out and attract will be longer and slower, not shorter and faster. They will be easy to digest because they will have more emotion than facts as their content. Tell a story, in a low key human voice using less flash and more depth of  feeling.