Well, the hoopla and hype of the Super Bowl is over now, and as always, it was about the commercials as much as the game. USA Today again ran its Ad Meter poll to see which commercials viewers like best. Commercials were part of the water cooler talk on Monday morning. And web surfers checked out sites devoted to Super Bowl advertising.

TV advertising, that is. I didn’t read or hear anything about the ads on radio coverage of the big game. In fact, I never hear anything about radio ads at all (except when listeners say our clients play too many).

What ever happened to radio advertising? Where is the creativity? Where is the imagination? I’m certainly not hearing any. Today’s radio advertising is pretty much limited to hard sell pitches and trite jingles. If there is humor, it’s pretty much on this level:

WIFE: Honey, why did you buy this big bag of dog food???

HUSBAND: Because it was on sale.

WIFE: But we don’t have a dog.

Ha.

It doesn’t have to be this way. I am a true believer in the power of radio. Radio, it was once said, is the “theater of the mind.” The images it can conjure up are powerful, because the listener constructs those images in his or her head. That’s how listeners can imagine fat, ugly DJs as Brad or Angelina lookalikes (as long as those jocks stay away from public appearances)!

Years ago, the creators of radio ads (often account execs or the traffic person) understood the power of their medium. Creating cool ads was a way for them express their creativity and do a great job for clients. And it wasn’t just happening in big markets…

For example, when I worked in Wichita, I remember hanging out one afternoon, checking out the competition, when a sultry female voice came on:

That thing between your legs isn’t working too well, is it? Maybe that’s because you didn’t use it much over the winter…

It was for a motorcycle repair shop.

OK, maybe that’s not award winning copy, but I still recall it 30 years later. On the other hand, I could not tell you about even one radio ad I heard on the way to work this morning. (And, no, I wasn’t listening to Sirius.)

Over its history, radio has had true advertising geniuses. First among them was Stan Freeberg. Google him and check out his work. The Freeberg ad burned in my memory portrayed a ten-story-high hot fudge sundae being created in the middle of Lake Michigan. I could really visualize that sundae.

Who’s doing that kind of work today?

Sometimes, I fear becoming a curmudgeon, talking or writing about how much better things used to be. No, I’m not ready to move into Andy Rooney territory just yet. But radio advertising really was better — much better — years ago.

It doesn’t have to be this way! Radio advertising can (at least some of the time) add interest and entertainment value to your station. And, given the level of competition you face today, that would be a very good idea.

I admire Mark Ramsey’s blog (for one thing, he’s prolific, where I’m not!), and I agree with his insights more often than not.

So let me “second” one point in his recent post — Don’t Put Research Ahead of Good Sense — and respectfully disagree with another…

First, the agreement. Asking listeners whether they want more, shorter spot breaks or fewer, longer spot breaks (as Edison and Arbitron recently did) is a misuse of research. Check out my May 6th post –Don’t Ask ‘Em What They Don’t Know! — for additional reasons why asking this kind of question is a mistake.

I disagree with the conclusion of Mark’s part two. I think you can and should test station slogans…

He’s right that it’s not a popularity contest. And that’s where testing slogans or any advertising can go terribly wrong (and usually does). Which slogans listeners like best is not important, because, after all, they’re not advertising experts. They tend to approve what’s most comfortable and familiar to them.

That’s why I don’t ask listeners which slogan or ad they “like best.” But listeners can provide very helpful and essential information for determining which slogan or ad really is best. Here’s what we look for when testing a slogan…

IS IT MEMORABLE? Is it interesting? Does it grab your target listeners’ attention? And most importantly, will viewers remember your station’s name and dial position (at minimum) after the spot is over?

DOES IT COMMUNICATE WHAT YOU WANT TO COMMUNICATE? Does it reinforce your station’s positioning objectives? Is the message on target and part of your strategic plan? If not, pass.

IS IT BELIEVABLE? A commercial that conflicts with listeners’ strongly-held beliefs will simply be discounted and ignored. For example, if they perceive your station to play lots of commercials but little music, a simple claim of “More Music” will not change their minds!

DOES IT FIT YOUR STATION? In terms of its style and feel, do listeners find it appropriate for your station? If a TV spot does not fit your station, it faces listener rejection and you should reject it.

I’m amazed at how much time and money goes into delivering a slogan or ad merely because someone thought was clever or cute. Research can answer these crucial questions to help you invest in an effective slogan or ad and avoid wasting time and money on a “loser.”

“What happens here, stays here.” This campaign for Las Vegas, launched in 2003, has become part of American pop culture. Even Laura Bush, when asked by Jay Leno about a recent Las Vegas trip said: “Jay, what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.”

Why has this line cut through to the consciousness of message-saturated Americans?

Because it rings true. Most of us see Vegas as a place to escape from our everyday, respectable lives, drop our inhibitions and indulge whatever vices we’re into! (I especially like the ad where a sexy woman hops into a limo, flirts with the driver and emerges from the car at the airport for her trip home as a conservative businesswoman.)

Now, do you remember the previous Las Vegas advertising? Neither do I. Apparently, it attempted to reposition Vegas as a family vacation destination.

Now, I’ve been told by more than one person that Vegas actually is a good place to take a family vacation. But honestly, when you think of Las Vegas, is “family” the first think that pops into your mind???

Didn’t think so.

However you phrase it, “adult fun” is the essence of Las Vegas’s identity. And getting to the essence is the key to marketing success, whatever you are marketing…

“Restaurant sales climb with bad-for-you food,” reported USA Today last Friday. Sales are up, thanks to products like Hardee’s Monster Thickburger — a 1,420 calorie behemoth loaded with two 1/3-pound beef patties, four strips of bacon and three slices of cheese, Burger King’s Enormous Omelet Sandwich — with two slices of cheese, two eggs, three strips of bacon, and a sausage patty, and Pizza Hut’s new triple-cheese 3Cheese Stuffed Crust Pizza.

Pizza Huts sells 100 pan pizzas for every lower-calorie Fit N’ Delicious pizza it sells. BK sells 100 Whoppers for every Veggie Burger. And McDonald’s McLean Deluxe — the low-fat burger made with seaweed (ugh!) — is now in the “trash bin” of fast food history, a tribute to the futility of trying to be something that you’re not.

High fat, high salt, high sugar food is the essence of fast food outlets. Healthy food is not. When these companies try to push healthier food, they lose; when they pile on the grease, they win. It’s simple (though not nutritious).

Now, KFC is considering going back to its essence, becoming Kentucky Fried Chicken again. Smart move.

Marketing history is rife with examples of brands that faltered when they abandoned their essence and prospered when they embraced it…

Subaru faltered when tried to be a mainstream Japanese car like Toyota or Honda. It bounced back when it focused on what makes it special — all-wheel drive.

Coca-Cola flopped when it tried to taste more like Pepsi (a.k.a. New Coke). It recovered by relaunching The Real Thing (a.k.a. Coca-Cola Classic).

Campbell’s bombed when it tried to convince us that “soup is good food.” It rebounded when it reminded us that it’s “Mmmm, Mmmm Good.”

What does this mean for us in radio? It means that we first have to understand what the essence of our station is — that is, what it stands for in the minds of listeners. . Then, everything our station does — both on the air and off it — must be true to that essence.

Of course, we sometimes find that the essence of our station doesn’t appeal to enough listeners to be successful, or is strategically unsound, or even a negative! If so, we in radio have an option that our counterparts in other industries don’t. We can do something that McDonald’s or Coca-Cola or Las Vegas can’t do…

We can blow it up!