AdWords "Radio Ad"

[integramed]

I just put up an adwords "radio ad", meaning a regular adwords ad but linked to an mp3 file - so clicking it plays an audio ad. Just an experiment. I'm wondering if anyone has done this before, and if so what kind of results did you get?

[GuyFromChicago]

Do you mean you just set the destination url to point to an mp3 file?

[integramed]

Yes, exactly. Destination url points to an mp3 file (which happens to be a real radio commercial.)

[GuyFromChicago]

Interesting, never tried that.

Do you let potential clickers know that there's audio on the "other side" of that ad in the ad copy? I know a lot of people keep their speakers muted (while at work for example) and could potentially miss your message if they didn't know prior to clicking that there was audio on the other side.

[integramed]

Yes, good point. I clearly identify it as audio, in fact I call it a "radio ad" in the ad copy. BTW: if you want to try it just google ivf florida

[AdWordsRep]

BTW: if you want to try it just google ivf florida

Sorry to rain on the parade - but before considering this folks, please be aware that this is counter to the AdWords Editorial Guidelines, and such ads will be disapproved as soon as they're reviewed.

Editorial Guidelines:
http://adwords.google.com/select/guidelines.html

Quoting from the Guidelines:

Destination URL Must Work

* Your Destination URL must work properly. Check your spelling and symbols to make sure you entered the correct URL for the page you want users to visit.

* Your Destination URL must link to a working website. You cannot link to an email address or a file (ex. an image, audio, video, or document file that requires an additional program or application to open or run).

* The landing page for your ad cannot be under construction. We require your Destination URL to link to an actual web page with content relevant to your ad. When your site is under construction or down for maintenance, you must pause your Ad Group(s).

AWR

[integramed]

That's a pity. I'll remove it now before it gets reviewed. Hopefully I'll be able to use the ad again when the dMarc features are fully integrated into AdWords ;-)

[AdWordsRep]

That's a pity. I'll remove it now before it gets reviewed.

Sorry about that integramed.

And yes, it does seem like a really cool idea - which is why I'm kind of excited about the dMarc thing myself.

Thanks for understanding.

Best,
AWR

[cline]

You can link to a webpage that runs audio or video on the page.

[integramed]

Yes, the dMarc services should be most interesting. I run SEM for a national network of 25 fertility clinics, and all do radio spots. So, they are interested in the possibility of running radio campaigns through Google. And then yesterday the obvious happened, one of them called me and asked if Google will also be handling video, that's video as in TV ads. Exciting times ahead ;-)

[grnidone]

How do you set up the radio ad? I want to play with it, but I can't find it anywhere in my adwords login page. Is this available only to a few people?

[AdWordsRep]

How do you set up the radio ad? I want to play with it, but I can't find it anywhere in my adwords login page. Is this available only to a few people?

There's something of a misunderstanding going on here, grnidone.

Radio ads are not actually available at all in AdWords, at least at present. And I'm not really involved enough to be able to speak to the future, beyond pointing you to this press release regarding dMarc, which has been mentioned in this thread:

http://www.google.com/intl/en/press/pressrel/dmarc.html

AWR

[Chris_D]

Hey AWR

Thanks for jumping in to clarify the official position.

So Cline's suggestion - to link to a functional web page, which offers the facility to open a multimedia attachment (TVC or radio ad etc) - would be the best short term solution?

[AdWordsRep]

So Cline's suggestion - to link to a functional web page, which offers the facility to open a multimedia attachment (TVC or radio ad etc) - would be the best short term solution?

Well, I guess I'd have to ask: a solution to what problem?

It certainly would give your potential customer a chance to listen to something of your choice on your website, but that's an entirely different thing than an ad on the radio - where people expect to hear ads.

Is it a good idea? Well, speaking only for myself, on a web site I do not expect (nor do I tolerate) an audio message. If I go to a site and am confronted with automatically engaged sound file, I'm gone as fast as I can hit the back button. And I'll leave feeling a bit miffed. Moreover, I'll certainly never go to that site again, at least not on purpose.

I quess I'd say if you were going to give this a try, at least track what happens to your conversions and make an informed decision as to whether it is a good idea or not.

AWR

[DarkMatter]

I'm with adwords rep. Nothing is more annoying on a website than unexpected audio. Unless you're 16 years old and it's your myspace profile, don't surprise me.

[vayapues]

I agree with DarkMatter on this one. I keep my volume up, because I get audio alerts for incoming mail, and IMs. I do a lot of tech support, so I need to respond to those sort of things quickly.

My office is right off of the main entrance to our building. I hate when sound plays unexpectedly. It is embarrassing, and annoying.

It does sound like an interesting concept though.

[mcanerin]

WHAT!

Are saying that my midi of "eye of the tiger" isn't welcome?!!

Damn, next thing people are going to be complaining about is my red-on-black blinking text, "torch" animated gif's and site that only works in Netscape 2.71. Geeze.....

Seriously though - surprising people is bad - it breaches trust, and that's what you need to to convert people into buyers.

Now, to be fair, the OP did say he tried to make it clear it was a radio ad and was not trying to mislead anyone. It's just that it's probably TOO far ahead.

It also assumes you are browsing on a highish speed connection, have speakers, have the speakers turned up, and have the software necessary for playing the file. For example, many libraries don't have sound on their computers (for obvious SHHHHH reasons...) and many corporations don't allow plugins for the browser, including media players and even flash.

It's not that it's not a good idea - it's just that it's probably not the time for it. You'd be better off with a page that has text, and, *at the users request* plays the video or audio files.

I admire your willingness to push the boundries, though! Nothing cool on the net ever got accomplished without someone asking *why* they can't do this or that.

Kinda like that guy who asked why he couldn't find out who was linking to him, and then proceeded, against all common sense, to index the web to do it (aka "backrub").

Ian

[integramed]

Yes, the original "Radio Ad" was just an experiment. I clearly identified it as audio, but I removed it because it violated the AdWords guideline below. The same guideline applies to AdWords "TV Ads" - an ad that links to a video on Google's video store (video.google.com). Many companies have uploaded videos, and linking adwords ads to them would clearly make neat TV Ads. But again, there is the problem of unwanted/unexpected audio and video unless the ad is clearly identified as such.

AdWords Guideline
* Your Destination URL must link to a working website. You cannot link to an email address or a file (ex. an image, audio, video, or document file that requires an additional program or application to open or run).