The days of having a week to script, plan, voice and produce an ad.
The days of being able to direct a voice in the booth and spend 2 hours on one job.
The days of boozy long client lunches, with writers and producers being treated like royalty.

Yep, gone are the good old days.

Actually, I’m not sure they ever really existed!

Radio, more than most other media, has always had the ability to react and create content instantly. But in my experience, deadlines have tightened dramatically over the last few years.

While radio has always had an air of ‘immediacy’, changes in technology and society’s expectations that ‘we want it now’ have driven radio creative teams to deliver gold, fast. (Sometimes in a matter of minutes.)

It’s being able to be creative when the pressure is on and the deadlines are looming that is the real challenge.

A few weeks ago I was talking to some reps about our jingle production service. Rather then just play previous samples, I thought it would be a good idea to demonstrate some creativity, regardless of a tight deadline.

Together, we sent the following brief to my producer:

1. Mention all 4 reps’ names (Melissa, Tania, Rose & Pierre) 

2. Mention the heat drives everyone crazy 

3. Produce it in an urban/pop style, similar to Bruno Mars

2 hours later, this was the result.

It’s fair to say jaws were on the floor.

Creative and production teams will always have tight (and tighter) deadlines thrust upon us. But rather then fight them, let’s look for ways we can beat them and make creative gold in the process!

I’d love to hear your produced audio or see scripts you’ve written under pressure from deadlines that have come out absolute winners.

Email me – [email protected] and in future blogs we’ll share some of your ideas.

Ok, gotta run. Another deadline is looming….