Radio advertising

People forget about radio advertising, but it can be effective. It’s an inexpensive way to tell your story, and you can try different strategies without the expense of big-budget TV production. Here are some of my favorite spots from my career.

Exede Internet: Stan Sputnik

After we introduced Brian the Alien, we had a problem: Brian didn’t speak human. I invented Stan Sputnik, astronaut second class, to tell our story over the airwaves. A few months after he began airing, I met a guy at a trade show who, after learning I worked for Exede Internet, quoted Stan’s best lines back to me.

Introducing Stan

Stan’s Mom

Stan and the phone company lineman (my personal fave)

CREDITS: Creative Director Matt Farr | Writers Matt Farr & Alex Miller | Sound Rocky Mountain Recorders

Exede Internet: The Country Astronomers

We did several of these spots, featuring two country gentlemen who dabbled in astronomy but talked about internet service from space.

Meet Hank and Tiny

The Country Astronomers meet Stan Sputnik

CREDITS: Creative Director Matt Farr | Writers Alex Miller & Matt Farr | Sound Rocky Mountain Recorders

Exede Internet: The world’s most annoying alien

These spots were created by Sukle Advertising to kick off our “High Speed Internet for All Mankind” campaign. I was the client here (I didn’t write the spots), but I was very involved in the project. The spots prompted many people to call and purchase the service, but they also complained about how annoying these ads were. Kind of a mixed message.

People of Earth!

Don’t adjust your dial, smarty pants

Instructions from the alien boss

CREDITS: Agency Sukle Advertising & Design | Creative Director Mike Sukle | Writer Jim Glynn | Agency Producer Michon Schmidt | Sound Rocky Mountain Recorders

WildBlue: Songs from the Country

Our original service, WildBlue, was targeted solely to a country audience, and we needed to convince them that it was way better than dial-up (seriously). Our rural lifestyle agency, Paulsen Marketing, came up with these wonderful spots with a singer and a guitar. Again, I was the client here and not the writer.

Claim to fame: We cast Lindsay Ayliffe as our voiceover/singer/guitarist back before he became a big success on the TV show Ozark.

Hurry Up song (one of my favorite radio spots ever)

Critters in my backyard

Hello, I’m Joe

CREDITS: Agency Paulsen Marketing | Writer Katie Levitt