Ace McKay “Winning Promos”
Engaging our audience with words, it’s what we do! It’s what I love most about radio. To paint the canvas every day to share a story whether its live content or written, it’s evoked emotions that keep bringing people back to our stations. (The music is good too but content is KING.)
As a movie fan, I love it for the same reason. Movies draw the adrenaline of the car chase; the tears we identify in someone’s struggle or the romance of a kiss as someone finds true love. Movies are eye candy for me so I’m there at least once a week with popcorn and Cherry ICEE in hand. For those of us that have an AMC in our community, you may have seen the trailer they began to run as people went back to the movies after everything had opened back up from the lock down starring the one and only Nicole Kidman.
It still runs to this day and it speaks truth to what the movies really can do for us. For those who haven’t seen it, the promo starts with Nicole entering an AMC theater on a rainy day. As she watches clips of movies inside the theater, she speaks to us:
WE COME TO THIS PLACE FOR MAGIC. WE COME TO AMC THEATERS TO LAUGH, TO CRY, TO CARE. BECAUSE WE NEED THAT, ALL OF US. THAT INDESCRIBABLE FEELING WE GET WHEN THE LIGHTS BEGIN TO DIM AND WE GO SOMEWHERE WE’VE NEVER BEEN BEFORE. NOT JUST ENTERTAINED, BUT SOMEHOW REBORN TOGETHER. DAZZLING IMAGES ON A HUGE SILVER SCREEN. SOUND THAT I CAN FEEL. SOMEHOW, HEARTBREAK FEELS GOOD IN A PLACE LIKE THIS. OUR HEROES FEEL LIKE THE BEST PARTS OF US, AND STORIES FEEL PERFECT AND POWERFUL…BECAUSE HERE… THEY ARE.
If there was an equation formula to the perfect promo, this would be it.
Inviting + compassion x transparency =Winning Promo
We hit a wall with all the hats we wear and need inspiration to spark that dried up well. I know after the Super Bowl there is always that 1 or 2 commercials that use this kind of formula to make you stop caring about the game or the buffalo dip and think and feel something real.
I mean in a day and age where you could ask A.I. to write you a promo and it be close to spot on, we can be challenged by this as we look for creative sparks to ignite our next piece of brilliance. We can learn from brands like AMC, that don’t beg us to come see a movie, but invite us into the comfort of where we can escape. Radio is an escape for our audience; especially Christian radio. Someone is escaping their day by listening to your station right now and their heart is being transformed. It’s Beautiful!
What message can we say to make them feel welcome or not say that would make them feel isolated. What can we do that they escape into your station again and again? Feeling better about who they are, to be comfortable in their own skin because of the difference you made in their lives.
Ace is a producer/voiceover for EWTN & co-host of the podcast Roxanne & Ace UNLIMITED. Ace can be reached at acemckay@gmail.com