Two of RAB's primary objectives are to lead efforts to promote the benefits and use of radio in all its forms and inspire and educate the advertising community, locally and nationally.
In an era where the media landscape has become so vast, complex and matrixed with the next generation of marketers and agencies possessing digitally native backgrounds, it's never been more important to come together as an industry to share best practices, data and insights to tell radio's story.
We are better together, so in 2024, an initiative steered by the RAB Board of Directors' Advocacy Committee was born to drive awareness for what radio is today while addressing the misperceptions about the medium.
In 2025, RAB's membership will be offered a new curated content hub under the banner of THIS is Radio - a united message that attributes our collective strengths of commanding attention among consumers, deeply connecting with listeners and driving significant outcome for marketers. Studies and insights authored by broadcast companies, researchers, marketers, RAB and more are all white-labeled for any seller to use to share a singular message.
- Organized by key attributes of the radio medium.
- Addresses key misperceptions.
- Easy to navigate, easy to use, easy to understand.
- Each study includes three easy-to-use, convenient-to-share components:
- One-sheet
- Snackable, instructional video
- Full-study presentation
2024 Partnership Snapshot
RAB Business Development provides support to members and the advertising industry through partnership activity that takes a variety of forms. From inbound marketers and agency requests to direct partnerships with brands, large and small. RAB consistently and continuously provides insights, information and the strength of the radio medium across its platforms to drive increased usage for that medium.
Throughout 2024, RAB has referred clients to relevant radio stations and groups per geographical and other specific needs, addressed misperceptions and has partnered directly with brands and agencies to advocate on behalf of radio, provide consultative, planning and execution guidance and helped them best use the medium to generate results.
A partial list of RAB partnerships in 2024 include:
Partnership with the Ad Industry's Largest Trade Association
The ANA serves 20,000 brand marketer members representing $400 billion in ad spend each year and hosts a database of over 76,000 marketers and marketing service providers that subscribe and follow ANA for content.
Ongoing contextual engagement with ANA's members results in direct touches, advocacy and increased spend for the radio medium. Through original content, contribution of research and content to the ANA Knowledge Center, events, conferences, speaking engagements and networking opportunities, RAB has steered outreach and engagement among over 2,500 brand marketers in 2024.
Activity this year included:
- Original radio-focused editorial pieces pushed to over 76K brand marketers and marketing services partners by the ANA three times per year.
- Radio Works to Drive Business Forward
818 Pageviews, +90% ANA benchmarks
783 Unique Pageview, +100% ANA benchmarks - If You Can Dream It, Radio Can Measure It
1,303 Pageviews, +120% ANA benchmarks
1,225 Article Sessions, +110% ANA benchmarks - Resonating Across Cultures
- Humans Matter
- Integration within two ANA podcast episodes reaching approximately 5,000-7,500 listeners.
- Fruitful attendance at priority ANA events including the Media Conference and the Multicultural Conference.
- Radio, once again, had an exceptional presence at the annual Masters of Marketing conference in 2024 which attracted over 2,500 in-person attendees.
- RAB's activation included a podcast booth where interviews were recorded with over 17 brand marketers, agencies and research providers for a robust Radio on Main Street series.
- Direct connections and advocacy/partnership opportunities because of conference attendance.
The RAB Audio Advisory Board is comprised of marketers and agency leaders who convene quarterly to share interests, concerns and suggestions for the radio industry. RAB steers the focus towards the development of plans and efforts that will help better position radio in the marketplace, to identify test and learn opportunities and to create industry best practices and guidelines.
| AUDIO ADVISORY BOARD MEMBER COMPANIES | |
|---|---|
| Alcon | Macy's Inc. |
| Bimbo Bakeries | MAGNA Global |
| Carat | OMD |
| Dentsu Media US | O'Reilly Auto Parts |
| General Motors | Procter & Gamble |
| Group M | Publicis Media |
| Horizon Media | Zubi |
The overall mission of the Audio Advisory Board is to drive productive evolution and revenue growth for the radio industry through guidance from key advertising agency and marketer stakeholders sharing the most important and impactful trends, an exploration of relevant implications and best practices for positioning the medium.
Active projects of note steered by the Audio Advisory Board include:
- The Attribution White Paper - An exploration of what is currently possible across all radio platforms and what the future may hold - consistently updated to include providers entering the space throughout 2024.
- Media Mix Modeling - Cross-industry research team working together on a phased solution for the data input for national brand Media Mix Model projects.
- RAB Media Planning & Buying Training & Certification - RAB continues to work towards producing a training and certification program for agency planners and marketers. Demo for training has been shared with the committee and plans to begin production and roll-out will continue through Q1 2025.
- Creative Best Practices - Showcasing what is possible in audio creative through development of a Creative Best Practices white paper, the Radio Mercury Awards live online presentation series, the ABX Wearout Study, "Raising the Volume" on RAB.com and thought leadership.
Quotes from industry leaders on the Audio Advisory Board:
"Congratulations, RAB! You've done an amazing job maintaining the momentum this year. Here's to many more successes ahead!"
"So much progress has been made this year. Congratulations to all!! Looking forward to keeping the momentum going in 2025!"
"Love being a part of this team and am always amazed at how much we get done. Tammy ... you're a GREAT leader!"
Throughout 2024, RAB has continued to develop and nourish partnerships with industry trade associations and research organizations. Partnerships have resulted in both collaborative content, promotional and learning partnerships as well as unearthing business development opportunities. Partnerships in 2024 have included:
- RAB created and promoted an online destination complete with sponsorable on-air and digital assets, a client-facing presentation deck, guidelines and more, which may be found here.
RAB hosted a delegation of 35 CEOs and senior executives from egta's radio/audio members representing radio companies and their advertising sales houses across Europe and beyond.
Radio Mercury Awards
- #TouchThatDial was the 2024 theme as we began the 33rd annual Radio Mercury Awards season with a Call for Entry campaign created by chief judge Mitch Bennett, executive creative director, Guesthouse Audio. On June 6, the Radio Mercury Awards brought together radio and advertising creatives along with agency partners and sponsors for another exciting live event at Sony Hall in New York City. With over 125 attendees at the event, viewers across the country were able to tune in simultaneously courtesy of our livestream partner Hubbard Radio. This was the third consecutive year RAB streamed the event on the Radio Mercury Awards website as well as RAB.com.
- Livestreaming stats:
- 424 live views, 234% over 2023.
- 474 on-demand views; 127% over 2023.
Social media continued to be a great place for winners and finalists to share their excitement with nearly 130 new followers across all platforms. Winners joined us for the in-person event shared on social media throughout the show.
The year's Best of Show award was presented to Highdive for their "Got Your Nose" radio commercial for their client, Airheads, and as Chief Judge Mitch Bennett shared at the event, "No surprise, the Radio Mercury Awards continues to be where the best in radio and audio creativity is discovered. As a long-time entrant, sometimes winner and forever fan, it's been an honor to serve as chief judge. And as final-round judges, we laughed, debated and were inspired that 129 years after Marconi invented this thing, radio can still delight and surprise us."
O'Reilly Auto Parts, a longtime and committed partner of the radio industry, was honored with this year's Radio Marketer of the Year Award. New York's WOR on-air talent Mark Simone bestowed the award to Hugo Sanchez, vice president, marketing & advertising, O'Reilly Auto Parts. We we were delighted to honor them with this fitting recognition, especially as they celebrated 25 years of their iconic 'OH OH OH O'REIIIILYYYY AUTO PARTS - OWW' jingle."
The ceremony included the following on-air personalities as the event's presenters: Mike Adam from NEW 102.7 in New York City, Errol Barnett from CBS News, Maxwell from 100.3 Z100, iHeartMedia, Mark Simone from WOR 710, iHeartMedia and Shelley Wade, NEW 102.7, Audacy.
You can watch a recap of the awards show here and listen to all the inspiring creative. Click VISIT below.
We continue to foster and nurture engagement with the creative community throughout the calendar year including:
- The monthly newsletter launched in Fall 2023, "What We're Hearing", continues to be well received along with the re-imagined 'creative workshop series' as live presentations called the Radio Mercury Awards Creative Webinar Series. Following the initial success of the December 2023 webinar, we produced three live presentations in 2024. The series includes:
- November 2024: 10 Creative Tips to Make Radio Ads That Work Harder
- June 2024: Takeaways From the 2024 Radio Mercury Awards
- March 2024: How to Write and Produce Radio Creative that Works
- The creative series is open to friends of the Radio Mercury Awards including creatives, media agencies and advertisers, as well as RAB members.
- Attendee survey responses from agency production company and advertiser attendees were very positive, with an average 90%+ approval rating for presentations being: Worth the time and energy. It was enjoyable as well as educational, and I'm likely to recommend the live presentations to a colleague or friend.
RAB's database of subscribers currently includes nearly 5,000 marketers and agency professionals. A minimum of four (quarterly) email blasts are sent to this audience to direct them to priority marketer-driven thought leader content and to engage with events and other activities.
In 2024, RAB delivered content and promotion for events that are designed to inform, inspire and share the wealth of possibilities for the radio medium.
Topics included:
- Email blasts to drive ad community participation for live online webinars and the Radio Mercury Awards:
- How to Write and Produce Radio Creative that Works
- Takeaways From the 2024 Radio Mercury Awards
- 2024 Radio Mercury Awards
- Is Creative Wearout a Thing?
- 10 Creative Tips to Make Radio Ads That Work Harder
- If You Can Dream It, Radio Can Measure It dispels the myth that an audio ad's influence on a consumer's purchase journey can't be measured to the same degree as ads that run on digital media.
- Resonating Across Cultures conveys why radio should always play a central role in multicultural campaigns.
- Humans Matter focuses on how in the age of AI,audio's ability to forge deeply personal and trusted relationships with listeners is an opportunity for brands.