Brief news items and worthy reads from around the web:
Audio is the new video: So says Ed Keohane, Director of Audio at the U.K.’s Bauer Media, and featured speaker at RAIN’s recent European Summit. Keohane was quoted in a Digiday article about the rising prestige of digital audio advertising. The piece notes that Nadia Holmes has recently been appointed to Head of Digital Audio at Bauer. The contrast to video counts it an advantage that audio doesn’t have visuals: “This makes it highly emotive; listeners conjure pictures themselves,” says Flossie Draper of the IAB U.K. (who also spoke at RAIN’s London event). Programmatic is part of the article scope, while noting that audio programmatic is in its infancy still.
What’s the best way to create compelling audio advertising?
Audio ad creative: Leave it to the professionals: The answer, according to this piece by E.B. Moss in Media Village, is to depend on creative agencies that have crafted original radio spots for years. Experts quoted in this article compare bespoke audio advertising with the practice of stripping audio from TV/video ads — the comparison is not flattering to video-stripping practice. Can strategies of high-quality radio advertising migrate to podcasting? Leaders from ESPN and National Public Media (the sales arm of NPR) say Yes to that, but with different creative tactics.
And here’s one creative agency celebrating a legacy milestone, with audio clips:
Oink Ink Radio celebrates 25 years: Oink Ink Radio is an audio creative agency with a long history of highly original spot creation for radio. To celebrate its 25-year history, the company founder, brothers Dan and Jim Price, produced nine short podcasts, each documenting a favorite radio ad, including the history of it, buying agencies involved, and other interesting behind-the-scenes info.