One of the most frequently asked questions the Radio Advertising Bureau receives on audio creative involves wear-out. Wear-out is defined as the point where creative testing declines from its peak due to message frequency fatigue. To explore whether wear-out is an issue, the Radio Advertising Bureau commissioned a study from ABX Advertising Benchmark Index, a global leader in creative testing. This week’s Cumulus Media | Westwood One Audio Active Group® blog examines the findings.
Consumers don’t get tired of ads, only marketers do: The ABX AM/FM radio creative study for RAB proves legendary marketing professor Mark Ritson was right.
Wear-out of AM/FM radio ads is virtually non-existent: Only two of 25,000 ads showed a decline in some creative effectiveness metrics. Two major creative effectiveness measures, branding and messaging, showed no wear-out.
The two ads showing differences were at the top end of cumulative spending and time in market: Two years in market and $8M+ of spend is where creativeness effectiveness might start to wane.
Repeat testing of ten of the twelve longest running AM/FM radio ads reveals no statistically significant erosion.
The giants of marketing effectiveness and creative testing conclude wear-out is non-existent: Take it from Les Binet/Sarah Carter, ABX, Kantar, System1, and Analytic Partners.
