In September 2024, Swiss Radioworld and CH Media, in collaboration with the Verband Schweizer Privatradios (VSP) and Radios Régionales Romandes (RRR), launched a comprehensive marketing campaign titled “Real Talk” to promote the advantages of radio advertising in Switzerland. The primary goal of the campaign is to elevate radio’s share of the Swiss advertising market which is currently around 5% of total adspend.
Clear messages with a wink show what radio has to offer
Developed by the agency Family, the “Real Talk” campaign adopts a direct and slightly provocative and humorous communication style to highlight radio’s strengths.
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Why you should book radio:
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TV: ‘With this budget, we can’t run a national campaign.’ Radio: ‘Hold my beer.’
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Insight for CMOs: Take that, online banners |
A landing page that presents the know-how of radio advertising
The advertising materials used lead to the new bilingual landing page radiobuchen.ch, publicite-radio.ch or pubblicita-radio.ch, where advertisers can access around 50 Swiss private radio stations and marketers to book radio advertising directly. The website also shows the most important USPs, offers current study results, customer cases and practical tips on radio advertising.
The campaign launched in September 2024 via online ads, print ads, posters and, of course, radio spots in German- and French-speaking Switzerland. It was later extended to DOOH and soon will appear on linear TV.
Challenges in the Swiss Market
Despite radio’s extensive reach—approximately five million people in Switzerland listen to music streams or radio daily—the medium accounts for only about 5% of the total advertising market.
The challenge for radio in Switzerland is getting the big brands that mostly aim for national campaigns. Radio is viewed more as a local and regional medium and often is not considered in the media plans of agencies.
The promotional campaign is therefore especially aimed at large, nationally oriented corporations. In Switzerland, the public broadcaster SRG’s national or language-regional programs are only allowed to offer sponsorship, not advertising. National coverage cannot therefore be achieved with one station alone.
For many advertisers, radio does not yet have the importance it deserves. Yet radio offers an excellent price-performance ratio, especially as a sales medium, and reaches a wide range of target groups. We want to raise awareness of this potential again.
Conclusion
The “Real Talk” campaign represents a concerted effort by Swiss radio industry stakeholders to enhance the medium’s prominence in the national advertising landscape. By leveraging radio’s inherent strengths and addressing existing market challenges, the campaign aims to secure a more substantial share of advertising budgets, thereby revitalising the role of radio in Switzerland’s media mix.
Campaign materials available here: https://radio-buchen.ch/kampagnensujets/
