Emotional ‘positivity’ is vital to audio advertising effectiveness

Audio ads that make listeners feel more positive can “dramatically” impact consumer behaviour and deliver longer-lasting brand effects, a new study has found. 

Radiocentre, the trade body for UK commercial radio, partnered with System1 to further the latter’s research into hemispheric specialisation – and the subsequent impact on advertising effectiveness.

Specifically, researchers took the findings in Lemon (2019) and Look Out (2021), written by Orlando Wood, System1’s chief innovation officer, and adapted them for an audio media context. 

Hark, what a sound

Rather than focus on TV and video qualities, System1 focused instead on the creative devices that may be used in an audio ad. 

Qualities appealing to the right hemisphere (associated with ‘broad-beam’ attention) include characters with vitality, ‘dramatic intimacy’, distinctive accents and music with discernible melody. Conversely, devices appealing to the left hemisphere (associated with ‘narrow-beam’ attention’) include commanded action, comparisons and claims, technical language and highly rhythmic music. 

System1 analysed Radiocentre’s bank of more than 1,000 radio ad case studies, using its Star Rating, Spike Rating and Fluency Rating methodology to identify trends in effective radio campaigns.

Feel-good effect

Presenting the results of the study (called Listen Up!) at Radiocentre’s Tuning In event in London, the researcher revealed findings including:

• Audio ads that make listeners feel more positive dramatically change consumer behaviour (+8.2% more consumer action) and deliver longer-lasting brand effects.
• Radio campaigns that create more positive and less negative emotion saw large increases in word-of-mouth and uplifts in social sharing.
• Optimised audio adverts are effective at attracting attention and forming strong memories, increasing short-term effects.
• Audio ads with more right-brain features are more likely to cause longer-lasting brand effects.

Sourced from System1, Radiocentre

[Image: System1, Radiocentre]