Speech004

The other day I was driving in my car and one of those annoying American Equity Mortgage commercials came on the radio. You know, "878-9999" Now we know where Ross Perot has been. Ray Vincent, a.k.a. Ross Perot, was telling me I had better act now because interest rates are definitely going up. He's been saying that for two years now. Why would I do business with someone who has been consistently wrong for two years?

This got me to start wondering how effective radio advertising really is. There are many forms of advertising, TV, Print, billboards, the Internet but I chose to focus on radio.

I needed a study group. I thought about putting a group together but that would be too much trouble. In the end I decided on one person, me. You might say ""Well Steve, what does that prove?" But wait a minute; the Nielsen organization says the viewing habits of one home represent 20,000 homes. So according to Nielsen I represent 20,000 radio listeners. Everything I do 20K people are doing simultaneously. Well there probably aren't 19,999 other people giving speeches tonight but apparently their purchasing habits are the same as mine.

For this study I wrote down all the ads I heard on the radio over the past few days. Then I examined the list to see if have ever patronized any of these advertisers. Or if I am now motivated to use that product or service. In the interest of time I won't list all the advertisers, just the highlights.

Ameristar Casino advised me that the band John Kay & Steppenwolf would be appearing at the Bottleneck Blues Bar. Now that was something I was interested in. I started to write down the info when the local radio announcer came on and said; well that concert is sold out. Now there's money well spent, advertising a concert that me and 19,999 others can't go to even if we wanted to.

I have a friend in the diamond business. The Shane Co. That's nice, you can never have too many friends. But how is this going to help me. So maybe I could buy a 5K diamond for $4500. If I could get it for $50 bucks, now you're talking. I might as well have a friend in the Mercedes business. Maybe my friend would let me sit in one?

I could release the energy in my fat cells with the T-burn combo diet. They cited the International Journal of Obesity as a respected publication that backs their claims. I figured the International Journal of Obesity was fake so I looked it up on the Internet. Sure enough there is such a publication. I'm still not inspired to purchase this product. This is just the latest fad diet. Remember nutri systems, and metabalife? It seems as soon as one fades out another fad diet takes its place. What's next, the Calorie melt sandwich diet, or how about the Stop eating start exercising diet. What a concept.

Everyone knows the Feds have lowered interest rates again but what you don't know is it could be for the last time. Unlike Ray Vincent who knows for sure interest rates are going back up, Frontier Mortgage gives themselves a little wiggle room, interest rates could be lowered for the last time.

There must be hundreds of lending institutions out there. American Equity, Frontier Mortgage, Country Wide, National Mortgage Company, Golden Oak Lending to name just a few and there are still new ones starting up. When I bought my condo last year I just went to my local Credit union for my loan.

Here's a quick run down of some of the other advertisers I heard on the radio the past few days:

VO Whiskey - don't drink it
Sedation Dentistry - I'd rather be awake
Suntrop West Co. Volvo - can't afford it
Sleep no. bed - too complicated
Alton Belle Casino - too far
Avacor - Hair Regrowth and replacement - don't need it
Hair Advantage - don't need it
Hans Wyman - don't need it
Viagra - Same thing

The conclusion of my study is that there is a lot of money being spent on radio advertising

I don't know about you but me and my 19,999 fellow consumers aren't buying it.