MILAN — According to the late advertising wizard David Ogilvy, “The trouble with market research is that people don’t think how they feel, they don’t say what they think and they don’t do what they say.”
Radio presenters participate in Radiocompass 2017 Milan. Pictured from left to right are Matteo Caccia, RAI Radio 2; Daniele Bossari, Radio Italia; Rossella Brescia, RDS; Ringo, Virgin Radio; Giuseppe Cruciani, Radio 24; Luca Viscardi, Radio Number One; Linus, Radio Deejay; and Nicoletta De Ponti, RTL 102.5).
This is why Italian advertising association, FCP Assoradio, decided to carry out a market study on audience data, which included a “neuro”-marketing study and a “Big Data” analysis of internet radio listeners. The study allowed marketers to understand much of the consumer’s “unsaid” and identify radio’s various strengths regarding this segment.
Radiocompass 2017, an event dedicated to radio analysis and organized by FCP Assoradio along with media management agency Mindshare, was held in Milan (May 23) and Rome (May 25) to share these findings.
During the gathering, Roberto Binaghi, chairman and CEO of Mindshare, reinforced the message that radio is a “healthy medium” and that it is the strongest vehicle in terms of being able to influence people’s purchasing habits.
From 2014 to 2016, radio in Italy marked a 3.5 percent increase in listening rates, while advertising revenue increased by 12.8 percent. The study found that 53 percent of people chose their new car through a radio advertisement, while 70 percent chose how and where to travel.
Professor Vincenzo Russo, head of the “Behavior and Brain Lab” Neuro-Marketing Research Center at Milan’s IULM University presents his findings at Radiocompass 2017.
As part of the FCP Assoradio study, Prof. Vincenzo Russo, head of the “Behavior and Brain Lab” Neuro-Marketing Research Center at Milan’s IULM University, analyzed data collected by more than 600 individuals and subdivided it according to the use of the different media. The results demonstrated that radio is the strongest platform in terms of establishing deep relationships with its listeners and is able to create high emotional involvement as well as the capacity to retain messages.
The findings point out that when a person listens to a radio commercial, before seeing it on television, he or she generally remembers much more of the information provided. This is because listening to the sound of the radio stimulates the release of dopamine, a substance that generates a sense of pleasure and reinforces the memory of advertising, according to Russo.
The Radiocompass 2017 day in Milan culminated with a special session, which featured today’s “leading” voices on radio in Italy.
They discussed the progressively closer relationship between radio and the social media ecosystem — a world that allows radio professionals to receive quick feedback from their listeners, who are in turn increasingly influencing what content is broadcast.