Burkhard Works: Brand Support Radio Testing & Rollout

All Retail Purchases are driven by Emotions
and then rationalized with Price.

The objective of a Real People Radio Brand Support campaign is to give loyal customers a variety of real life from-the-heart Emotional Reasons to stick with a brand and NOT switch to a lower price Chain Store Generic.

"I save my pennies on store brand spinach,
but do you know why I stick with _____?"

The advertising runs during a brand's peak shopping hours when people are on the way to a Chain Store. You track effectiveness in test markets via upticks in UPC data.

Daylight Radio can cost 75% less than prime time TV, that runs at night, when nobody is shopping.

Real People Radio stands out from Generic Urgent Announcer Copy. In Direct Response it is proven to motivate today's shoppers to Act Now, and it achieves high recall among tomorrow's shoppers.

We normally need to achieve half the frequency required by prime time television buyers. TV :30 GRPs cost twice as much as Radio :60 GRPs. Half the media at half the price means a 75% overall savings. We can also set a precise Media Cost per Customer, too - the analog of Media Cost per Sale or CPO in Direct Response.

We should test in one or two reliable test markets on AM and FM stations that reach at least 35% of your Target Audience .

After two or three purchase cycles we can set response rate & Media Cost per Customer. We can pinpoint the best days and day parts for future rollouts in network or satellite radio.

This page summarizes the method. Click the sidebar links for explanations of the math. Then call Peter Burkhard at (407) 895-3092 to get started. You can be on the air in six weeks or less.

Every unit sale you lose today could indicate a Loyal Customer you lose permanently.

Real People Radio is as close to friend-to-friend word of mouth as you can get.

Use UPC data to set baseline sales, peak sales hours, and to track the immediate effects of
Real People Radio.

LOCAL RADIO TESTS

Select Stations.

We use the Cume Ranker method to select the stations whose P1 cumes total 35% to 75% of your defined Target Audience. Ideally those stations include the network programming, news, or music feeds we want to use in a future national rollout.

TA & QA Demos
Cume Rankers

Test for 2 or 3 Purchase Cycles.

A Real People Radio Brand Support or Defense Test should run for two consecutive or three alternating purchase cycles at an Effective Frequency of 1.5 to 1.8 per brand.

Effective Frequency

Track Results with UPC Data.

Brand Managers should set a 60 to 180 day baseline in five to ten major retail store locations. Use UPC data to indentify peak sales hours for each day of the week.

UPC Flighting Tool

Set Retail G.

Retail G is the dynamic relationship between advertising and sales. Retail G = Gross Impressions (in 000's) per unit purchase, or per dollar of incremental revenue.

Set Retail G

Set Media Cost per Customer.

MCPC is a comfortable percentage of the expected annual revenues per average customer. MCPC may as high as 20% to 30% of gross for a new brand but can be as low as 3% to 5% for a well-established brand.

Media Cost per Customer

Set Retail Flighting.

Tracked data or sales staff reports may indicate that certain days or day parts pull better than others. Good data collection yields the Optimum Effective Frequency Range and helps us set rollout schedules.

Set OEF Flighting

NETWORK ROLLOUTS

Gross up Test Results.

Local results translate readily into network buys that achieve target MCPC at lower CPMs. If your highest ROI occurs between 3p and 6p Monday-Friday, consider network programming that runs during those hours only.

Network Rollouts

Set OEF Flighting.

How often a flight of commercials runs on a network vehicle is a primarily a function of purchase cycle. If your average purchase cycle is three weeks, you can spread your OEF spots out over that length of time.

OEF Flighting

Double Check Your Data!

The results of a Brand Support test in one or two markets will be more reliable if you can track UPC data in two to four similar markets in which you do nothing unusual.

You can safely assume that any same-store trends in the sister markets would have occurred in the Real People Radio test markets and adjust results accordingly.

When you do roll out, you'll have data from all markets. Those rational facts may help you overcome internal resistance to a novel way of boosting business at a fraction of the cost of network television and Zero Talent Residuals.

Calls & Clicks, Sales, Rollout = Profits


All Retail Purchases are driven by Emotions and then rationalized with Price. The objective of a Real People Radio Brand Support campaign is to give loyal customers a variety of real life from-the-heart Emotional Reasons to stick with a brand and NOT switch to a lower price Chain Store Generic. "I save my pennies on store brand spinach, but do you know why I stick with _____?" The advertising runs during a brand's peak shopping hours when people are on the way to a Chain Store. You track effectiveness in test markets via upticks in UPC data. Daylight Radio can cost 75% less than prime time TV, that runs at night, when nobody is shopping. Real People Radio stands out from Generic Urgent Announcer Copy. In Direct Response it is proven to motivate today's shoppers to Act Now, and it achieves high recall among tomorrow's shoppers. We normally need to achieve half the frequency required by prime time television buyers. TV :30 GRPs cost twice as much as Radio :60 GRPs. Half the media at half the price means a 75% overall savings. We can also set a precise Media Cost per Customer, too - the analog of Media Cost per Sale or CPO in Direct Response. We should test in one or two reliable test markets on AM and FM stations that reach at least 35% of your Target Audience . After two or three purchase cycles we can set response rate & Media Cost per Customer. We can pinpoint the best days and day parts for future rollouts in network or satellite radio. This page summarizes the method. Click the sidebar links for explanations of the math. Then call Peter Burkhard at (407) 895-3092 to get started. You can be on the air in six weeks or less.
LOCAL RADIO TESTS
Select Stations. We use the Cume Ranker method to select the stations whose P1 cumes total 35% to 75% of your defined Target Audience. Ideally those stations include the network programming, news, or music feeds we want to use in a future national rollout.		TA & QA Demos Cume Rankers
Test for 2 or 3 Purchase Cycles. A Real People Radio Brand Support or Defense Test should run for two consecutive or three alternating purchase cycles at an Effective Frequency of 1.5 to 1.8 per brand.		Effective Frequency
Track Results with UPC Data. Brand Managers should set a 60 to 180 day baseline in five to ten major retail store locations. Use UPC data to indentify peak sales hours for each day of the week.		UPC Flighting Tool
Set Retail G. Retail G is the dynamic relationship between advertising and sales. Retail G = Gross Impressions (in 000's) per unit purchase, or per dollar of incremental revenue.		Set Retail G
Set Media Cost per Customer. MCPC is a comfortable percentage of the expected annual revenues per average customer. MCPC may as high as 20% to 30% of gross for a new brand but can be as low as 3% to 5% for a well-established brand.		Media Cost per Customer
Set Retail Flighting. Tracked data or sales staff reports may indicate that certain days or day parts pull better than others. Good data collection yields the Optimum Effective Frequency Range and helps us set rollout schedules.		Set OEF Flighting
NETWORK ROLLOUTS
Gross up Test Results. Local results translate readily into network buys that achieve target MCPC at lower CPMs. If your highest ROI occurs between 3p and 6p Monday-Friday, consider network programming that runs during those hours only.		Network Rollouts
Set OEF Flighting. How often a flight of commercials runs on a network vehicle is a primarily a function of purchase cycle. If your average purchase cycle is three weeks, you can spread your OEF spots out over that length of time.		OEF Flighting
Double Check Your Data! The results of a Brand Support test in one or two markets will be more reliable if you can track UPC data in two to four similar markets in which you do nothing unusual. You can safely assume that any same-store trends in the sister markets would have occurred in the Real People Radio test markets and adjust results accordingly. When you do roll out, you'll have data from all markets. Those rational facts may help you overcome internal resistance to a novel way of boosting business at a fraction of the cost of network television and Zero Talent Residuals.