This week’s egtabite highlights how radio sales houses can come together to support advertising creativity on their market: The Radio Forever Award in Belgium.
 Cooperation and a strong focus on excellence in creativity are two of the pillars that have helped to maintain an exceptionally high market share of 13%* for radio advertising in Belgium. As the industry celebrates the 100th anniversary of Europe’s first ever radio broadcast, which was transmitted from the Royal Palace in Brussels on 28 March 1914, Belgium’s four leading sales houses – MEDIALAAN RADIO ADVERTISING, VAR, RMB and IP, under the umbrella of The Radio Group – have launched a new prize to award creative work in the medium.
The challenge
Doing radio well is not easy: well-crafted advertising relies on having a great idea, excellent script writing and the effective use of sound, and the creative cannot rely on the visual elements of a brand. A spokesperson for The Radio Group explains:
“Radio is the most difficult medium for a creative. As a young digital native generation takes over in the creative agencies, it’s more than ever useful to make them consider how great new school radio ads can be. And what the effort can lead to. Craftsmanship leads to great radio, and great radio leads to great ROI.”
The prize
 To recognise, reward and motivate creatives to invest their energies in radio, The Radio Group will judge, based on a set of objective criteria, the Belgian advertising agency that has performed the strongest at this year’s Cannes Lions and the Creative Club of Belgium (CCB) Awards. Points are awarded on the basis of Grand Prix, Gold, Silver, Bronze awards and (in the case of Cannes) Shortlisted entries, with the winning agency performing best across both events.
Ten employees of the top agency will win flights and accommodation in a luxury villa during the Cannes Lions festival in 2015. In the words of The Radio Group:
“We think a highly attractive prize for the agency team that tops the charts of the Radio Lions and the Creative Club of Belgium supports a passion for copywriting, sound and a great story as a basic part of the mediamix.”
The results of the contest will be announced on 26 June at an event hosted by the ACC in Antwerp at St Canneke, the equivalent of the Cannes Croisette in Antwerp.
News from this year’s festival
In a field that commentators have called particularly competitive, European agencies are under-represented in comparison to previous years, highlighting how important it remains to incentivise creatives to focus on radio.
Highlights from this year’s show include a Bronze Lion for the VRT’s Studio Brussel corporate image campaign by the agency Mortierbrigade, whilst the Grand Prix was awarded to Ogilvy & Mather Johannesburg’s spots for Lucozade.
Why this matters for egta members?
The strength of the Belgian radio market, which overall posted a 13%* market share for radio in 2013 (*Zenith Optimedia, 2014), is often examined to find the reasons behind its success. Clearly, a long history of cooperation between sales houses in promoting the industry and supporting creativity is one of the characteristics of the market that can be identified as contributing to radio’s high level of respect in the eyes of advertisers and media agencies.
If your market has worked together to promote the medium, please do get in touch with egta to share your initiatives! |
