MANILA, APRIL 12, 2013 – “Does radio have a creative problem? Looks that way!” said radio guru and Hertz:Radio founder Tony Hertz.
In only two months, creatives have heard Hertz bemoan the fact that there is very little creativity in radio today than there were 10 years ago. Fresh from Adfest 2013 in Pattaya, Thailand, where no radio entry was awarded a grand prix, Hertz comes to Manila to judge radio entries in the Kidlat Awards 2013 and says pretty much the same. “There were some stuff that was okay but there wasn’t anything I wish I’d done. There were a couple of things I wish people had done. This is a medium where there’s a good deal to be learned but there’s potential,” he said.
It is this potential that Hertz addressed when he stood onstage in front of the Kidlat delegates in his talk entitled: “Hunger, Possibilities, Insanity”.
In the Philippines, like almost every other country, advertising is 100 percent visual. “Our visual support system is awesome but it is a huge comfort zone.” And it is that comfort zone that Hertz exhorted the Kidlat attendees to get out of.
Hunger
The Philippines’ radio creativity stock is very lean. If the number of Kidlat Awards entries is an indication, 20 individual spots, hunger for radio creativity must be sparked.
“Enlarge your comfort zone. Start by leaving it and doing something different,” Hertz said.
One of Hertz’s favorite campaigns is a 1966 radio campaign for the Fuller Paint Company, which aimed to paint colors using music.
Possibilities
“Be comfortable with silence,” Hertz said. More often than not, most radio ads try to fill every space with sound. “The few seconds of silence in between dialogue can make all the difference.”
As for the voices, Hertz said that there are a lot of Filipinos who can be good voice actors but most people think that sending in a voice sample will clinch a radio gig. “There are a lot of good acting talent here but most of them sound like they’re doing a commercial for Jollibee,” he said. “A voice is what a person is but someone who can play a character is better.”
At the end of his talk, Hertz encouraged attendees to leave their comfort zone, be a radio art director and build a support system.
After all, “comfortable does not equal hunger. Are you a creative to be comfortable?”
