Click here to view a 10-minute video of the key findings.

AM/FM radio works for personal care brands. In a first of its kind study, in partnership with NCSolutions, the Cumulus Media | Westwood One Audio Active Group® unveiled results from a men’s personal care brand sales effect study. The findings revealed AM/FM radio delivered strong ROI for the brand:

• Sales driver: AM/FM radio drove major sales lift. Households where men were exposed to the AM/FM radio campaign saw an 8% lift in sales for the parent brand. The growth in sales was driven by more spending per trip.
• Positive return on advertising spend: For every $1 spent on AM/FM radio, the men’s personal care brand saw $1.23 in return on advertising spend among target male consumers exposed to the campaign. Even more significant, for every $1 invested in AM/FM radio, the parent brand saw an $11.96 in return on advertising spend across all households.
• Market share growth: The parent brand saw a +.8% increase in category share. Most notably, the increase in purchasing came at the expense of key competitors in the category.

AM/FM radio works for the bar soap category

To further understand the personal care category and the impact of an AM/FM radio campaign on awareness and brand images of bar soap, the Cumulus Media | Westwood One Audio Active Group® commissioned MARU/Matchbox to conduct a study in December 2019 through January 2020. The survey consisted of 1,000 women over the age of 40 who use bar soap and are the primary shopper for the household.

Heavy soap purchasers skew 40-59, are in larger households, and are employed or homemakers

Bar soap can be found in many households but 34% of respondents are heavy bar soap purchasers (purchased 8+ times in the last year).

Heavy bar soap purchasers are in larger households than total category users. 47% of heavy purchasers live in a household with 3+ people, compared to 34% of total category users. They also tend to be employed (47%) or homemakers (20%).

AM/FM radio is an ideal platform for bar soap advertising as heavy AM/FM radio listeners are more likely to be category users

AM/FM radio is an ideal platform for bar soap advertising because it reaches heavy category purchasers. Heavy bar soap category users are +23% more likely (over one in four) to be heavy AM/FM radio listeners.

Bar soap brand ad recall is higher among AM/FM radio listeners

The study revealed there was stronger ad recall impact among heavy AM/FM radio listeners and DMAs with heavy AM/FM radio GRP levels (high opportunity-to-hear markets).

Heavy AM/FM radio listeners are +10% more likely to recall seeing or hearing ads for the bar soap brand in the past month. Those residing in high opportunity-to-hear DMAs are +33% more likely to have ad recall than those residing in low opportunity-to-hear DMAs.

Heavy AM/FM radio users and those residing in high opportunity-to-hear DMAs also had higher purchase intent.

Heavy AM/FM radio listeners are +5% more likely to purchase the bar soap brand and those residing in high opportunity-to-hear DMAs are +6% more likely to purchase.

Mass appeal and Gold-based formats are ideal for bar soap brands

Most AM/FM radio formats over-index with heavy bar soap purchasers. However, Classic Rock, Oldies, News/Talk, Rock, Top 40, Country, Soft Rock, and R&B & Hip-Hop are more frequently listened to among heavy bar soap purchasers and offer large reach and high purchase propensity.

ABX personal care audio creative test: AM/FM radio ads perform very close to TV ad effectiveness for highly visual personal care categories

For the personal care ads, marketers often dismiss audio advertising by noting solemnly, “We need sight, sound, and motion.” The implication: video ads generate substantially greater creative effectiveness, increased brand equity lift, and larger sales effect than an audio ad. Haircare and skincare advertisers want ads showing silky hair and smooth skin.

ABX, the leader in syndicated advertising effectiveness, recently examined the largest head-to-head creative study of audio and video ads. For the purposes of the analysis, ABX examined two years’ worth of recent testing, which totaled 40,000 ads and included 10,738 TV ads and 2,779 AM/FM radio ads. Included in the test were personal care ads for haircare and skincare.

ABX found that in the skincare category, AM/FM radio creative performs at 95% of TV effectiveness. In haircare, AM/FM radio performs at 89% of TV. Bar soap and personal care brands can utilize AM/FM radio as effectively as they’ve historically used TV ads for a more economical cost.

Key takeaways:

• NCSolutions: According to a first of its kind study, AM/FM radio drove sales lift, ROI, and market share growth for a men’s personal care brand
• Heavy soap purchasers skew 40-59, are in larger households, and are employed or homemakers
• AM/FM radio is an ideal platform for bar soap advertising as heavy AM/FM radio listeners are more likely to be category users
• Bar soap brand ad recall is higher among AM/FM radio listeners
• Mass appeal and Gold-based formats are ideal for bar soap brands
• ABX personal care audio creative test: AM/FM radio ads perform very close to TV ad effectiveness for highly visual personal care categories

Click here to view a 10-minute video of the key findings.

Liz Mayer is the Insights Manager of the Cumulus Media | Westwood One Audio Active Group^®.

Contact the Insights team at CorpMarketing@westwoodone.com.