Radio: We Create Demand

Another week, another announcement of the record number of ears reached by radio.

To advertisers, this sounds like old news.  The shiny baubles generally include ".com" in the name, regardless of how universal radio listenership might be.

It makes me wonder why we, as an industry, focus so relentlessly on how many folks we reach instead of why it matters that we reach them.

Contrast what radio does with what Google ads do, for example.

Google places those ads in oder to give people looking for something specific that specific something they seek.  They are, in other words, in the business of satisfying existing demand.

Radio, by contrast, runs ads to people who are not necessarily looking for something specific about specific things they may be interested in, even if they're not already.  Radio is, in other words, in the business of creating demand.

Any advertiser worth their salt wants to do both satisfy demand that exists and "fill the funnel" by creating new demand among new consumers.

Shouldn't the radio industry be pitching our effectiveness not by boasting about our universality but by illustrating the unique benefit that radio can provide?

We create demand.