CAD Shipping Radio Ad – Trying My Hand at Writing Effective Copy

CAD Shipping is a (fictitious) company trying to change its image. Their presence in the U.S. is somewhat overshadowed by larger shipping companies, and they’ve gained something of a reputation for inaccuracy and lateness. To remedy these faults, they’ve upgraded their shipping systems and technology to match the performance of their competitors, but the old image remains, especially with regards to 48-hour shipping.

To create a new image for them, I wrote a radio ad detailing the morning habits of the “new wave of CAD Shipping employees.” This ad is designed to show that the employees of CAD Shipping are dedicated to getting packages delivered within 48 hours, and will go to whatever lengths necessary to make that happen. It is designed to appeal to a younger generation, ages 18-35, particularly the hard-working, Internet-savvy, and probably somewhat impatient and busy individuals within those ages. The ad is humorous, but avoids being overtly goofy or silly, and the company remains a faceless corporation, with no specific spokesman with which to label them.

Here’s the ad copy. I’d love to hear what you think in the comments.

Interviewer: (Background: Director: “3-2-1, action!” and other on-set sounds) So, you’re part of the new wave of CAD Shipping employees?

CAD Employee: That’s right!

Interviewer: All right. Tell me a little about how you prepare for work every morning.

CAD Employee: Well, I start out with a cup of “wake-up juice.”

Interviewer: Wake-up juice?

CAD Employee: It’s a blend of orange juice, protein powder, and nitrous oxide.

Interviewer: I see. What else do you do?

CAD Employee: My morning workout.

Interviewer: Which is?

CAD Employee: Pushups, squats, and some tiger-wrestling for cardio.

Interviewer: With live tigers?

CAD Employee: Of course! (tiger roar) If I have time, I throw in a 3-minute mile for good measure.

Interviewer: This seems extravagant. Why do you go to such extremes to get ready?

CAD Employee: I can’t afford not to; I’m the new wave of CAD employees, committed to delivering your packages in 48 hours or less.

Announcer: Does this guy seem extreme? If so, that’s just the dedication of our employees toward 48-hour shipping, available in-store or online at cadshipping.com. Dependable. Accurate. Fast. CAD Shipping.

Media Observations – Radio

You know that one kid who doesn’t try to be the center of attention at parties, but stands next to the popular kids and laughs good-naturedly at their jokes while sipping his root beer?

That kid is basically radio.

Radio began its time as a mass medium long before television, revolutionizing the world as the first non-print mass medium. It was cheap and easy to get, and the world started to figure out what kinds of content could go through it effectively. News could be more efficiently conveyed through newspapers; magazines were still better for deeper content-related articles; books were still the best storytelling medium.

Radio just didn’t have to fight with anybody, or outdo anyone. It could essentially just do its own thing and be perfectly happy doing it.

As it turned out, music and spoken-word programs (Ye Olde Mystery Hour, anyone?), were the most successful genres of radio broadcast, and have remained so since its inception. That’s why radio has persevered in the face of television and the Internet. The first radios were included in cars, and cars are still their prime location, as driving limits us to only the most passive of media, such as music. We don’t have time to manage a computer’s streaming audio while driving, so radio and satellite radio have become the norms for music listening in cars (unless you have an MP3 player…as most people do).

What do you use radio for? What do you listen to on it?

Media Observations – Passive Versus Aggressive Entertainment

From my limited weeks of sojourning in the world of mass media, I have noticed a pattern in the types of entertainment available.  There are passive media sources, content to simply sit in the background and play, and if you watch them, fine.  Then there are more aggressive media sources, designed to draw in your focus and demand your participation.

Examples of passive media sources are as simple as television,  radio, and music.  They can be turned on and forgotten about, blending into the background.  They simply continue to present what their programming demands, doing what they want and letting you do what you want.  Unless you find the program relevant or interesting (or the rhythm particularly entrancing), you can come and go freely and it will progress on its own.

Aggressive media is different in that it demands your full mental capacity to yield you any information.  These media sources have a greatly varied range; books, magazines, and the dying newspaper, which all require you to focus both your mental and physical attention on reading the material in order to fully comprehend it; webpages full of articles and images, similarly attention-intensive; video games and other interactive entertainment, actually pulling you in by causing you to actively think and react to virtual stimuli;  All of these things are aggressive media.

Herbert Marshall McLuhan, whose work is viewed as foundational in communication theory has, as expected, theorized on this.
His analogy for this media dichotomy is as simple as a thermometer: The more aggressive a type of media is, the hotter it is on the thermometer.  Television is relatively cool compared to a book, regarding the energy (or “heat”) involved in taking it in.

In our modern, media-saturated social environment, we often take in more than one media source at a time.  The ability to do this depends on our choosing the correct combination: we can’t take in more than one aggressive media at a time, but passive medias will blend well into the lulls between our aggressive media consumption.  A youth may play his videogame with the television or his favorite music playing in the background.  A manager may listen to radio while reading his daily emails.
A student, interestingly, may  often break this rule, trying to take in more than one aggressive media source at once.  Trying to memorize a literary media assignment and practice a musical one, however, can lead to academically disastrous results.
We should, in other words, learn to coordinate our media consumption.  The key, in short, is to keep things hot and cold.  Your brain will spit a lukewarm combo out.

What is your favorite media combo?  Why do you take your media that way, and how does it help you?