BRUSSELS — Flemish audiovisual media management firm Vlaamse Audiovisuele Regie highlighted the power of radio advertising with a four-week nationwide campaign.
The radio, print and digital campaign targeted national advertisers, creatives and media-planners nationwide.
Public broadcaster VRT launched Var 30 years ago. It began as an advertising sales house for its radio, TV and digital media channels. Even though VRT is a public institution, Var provides one-third of the broadcaster’s funds through radio advertising.
According to Nielsen MDB, radio ad revenues in Belgium ranked third place in 2019, behind TV and print publications. For that year, ETGA findings show radio advertisements making up 20% of total media ad spend in the south and 13% in the north of the country.
Radio’s Strength
“It had been quite a while since Var organized a similar campaign,” explained Marit Ginevro, marketing manager with Var. “We want to focus on the power and strength of radio, and other audio platforms, like podcasting, streaming and DAB+,” she continued.
“With 8.7 million, or 88% of all Belgians tuning in, radio consumption is extremely high. We illustrate four different aspects of radio advertising in our campaign. These include radio’s credibility, radio as an influencer, radio’s creativity.”
Var booked ad space with VRT’s radio channels Studio Brussel, Radio 1, Radio 2 and MNM. In total it aired 291 commercial spots in the last week of August, two weeks in September and one week in October.
“With the Spotalytics dashboard (developed by Mediasynced), we are able to measure the impact of radio commercials. In many cases it turns out to be very effective,” said Ginevro. “For instance, with real-estate company Immoweb’s radio ads, we noted an increase of 46% traffic on the company’s website, within just seven minutes after VRT radio aired the commercial.”
Successful Campaigns
Ginevro also points to Kia Motors. In Belgium, the firm experienced a boost in brand recognition increase by 136% in one month after placing its radio commercials.
“Another success story is Campaway. This relatively unknown initiative where the Belgian Caravan-Camping and Motorhome Association encourages travel by motor home, caravan or trailer tent. The company saw its online traffic skyrocket by 191% after promoting its services through radio commercials. This last example proves that small companies too, benefit from radio commercials,” Ginevro added.
In addition to VRT’s radio channels, Var also ran a print campaign with specialized press publications and digital platforms like LinkedIn. “In the country’s French-speaking southern region we set up a campaign in print media and banners on the websites of selected publications,” said Ginevro.