Shout It Loud

As a radio advertising expert whose job is to teach radio advertising professionals how to write effective radio commercials, I run into lots of copywriters who want to write “funny commercials.”

The goal of a radio commercial never should be to “be funny.” It should be to cause the targeted listener to act on the sales message.

But if you are going to write a funny commercial, here are 10 questions to ask before you begin.

1. Is it funny?

2. Do you know for certain that it’s funny the 10th time the audience hears it?

3. Do you know for certain that it’s funny the 25th time?

4. Does the comedy relate to a human need?

5. Does the commercial have its own internal logic? (Within the reality created within the commercial story, do the characters’ actions make sense?)

6. When the audiences recalls the comical story, will they also recall the product or service that was advertised?

7. Does the humor come from human behavior…or does it derive merely from jokes?

8. Do the performers respect their characters….or do they throw off their lines without regard for believability?

9. Is there a “Key Moment” that encourages listeners to tune in to the commercial again and again?

10. Does the key moment appear at or close to the end of the radio commercial? (It should come at or close to the end of the commercial.)

11. Are its characters and situations predictable?

12. Is there a “delightful surprise”?

13. Is there genuine comic tension?

14. Is there some sort of conflict to drive the story?

15. Does it rely on some other media message’s catch phrase.g., print ad, commercial, television show, film)? (If so, it’s likely to reinforce the original media message, not your commercial message.)

16. Do your characters sound like actors, or do they sound like real people?

17. Do your characters listen and react to each other….or do they just wait for the chance to deliver their lines?

18. Does the humor accurately reflect the image the advertiser wants to project?

19. Is the humor the result of production tricks or of human behavior? (Production tricks don’t entertain listeners; they entertain producers.)

20. Is the commercial trying to be funny….or is it trying to sell the service or product?