Sonic Assets Deliver 8.5x Effectiveness. Radio Is How You Build Them.

Mark Ritson recently highlighted some research with implications for every marketer.

Ipsos analysed over 2,000 pieces of video creative to measure which distinctive brand assets actually drive effectiveness. The results reveal a spectacular misallocation of effort. Sonic cues - audio signatures like Netflix's tudum or Intel's bong - deliver 8.5x effectiveness. Yet only 6% of brands use them. Jingles deliver 5.0x effectiveness. Only 8% of brands use them. Meanwhile, logos deliver just 1.4x effectiveness. And 94% of brands obsess over them.

The industry has its priorities inverted. We spend almost all our energy on the assets that barely move the needle, while ignoring the ones that actually work.

Which brings me to radio.

The Medium That Forces the Discipline

Radio isn't just an advertising channel. It's a sonic brand boot camp.

It's the one medium that forces brands to develop the assets that actually drive effectiveness. No logo to fall back on. No product shot. No brand colours. Just sound.

That constraint isn't a bug - it's a feature.

The Ipsos research makes a crucial distinction: brand assets developed as part of the brand - sonic cues, characters, jingles - consistently outperform assets borrowed from wider culture, like celebrities or licensed music. Radio requires you to build owned sonic assets. Every campaign is an opportunity to strengthen the audio memory structures that deliver 5-8x more effectiveness than your visual identity.

And if you want to build awareness of a new sonic identity, radio offers a compelling path. Production costs are low - no visual component required. Media costs allow for the frequency that builds memory structures. And audio isn't competing with visual for attention.

Beyond Sonic Discipline

But radio's value extends beyond forcing sonic discipline. It offers multiple distinct strengths that deserve revisiting:

Liveness

Radio is one of the last truly live mass media.

When something happens - breaking news, a flash flood, an MRT breakdown, a national moment - radio responds in real-time. Podcasts are inherently retrospective, at least 24-48 hours behind the world.

This matters for advertisers. A radio spot can run the same day as a product launch, a sale, a cultural moment. When a DJ says "happening today," it actually is.

Locality

Radio offers geographic precision that podcasts cannot match. A plumber in Jakarta, a car dealership in Brisbane, a restaurant group in Cebu City - they can buy their specific market because radio stations have already aggregated local audiences.

For SMEs and regional businesses, radio remains one of the few accessible brand-building channels. Low cost of entry, low production costs, and you reach your actual catchment area without paying for audiences you'll never serve.

Ambient Persistence

You can't skip radio. You can't scroll past it. You can't click "skip ad in 5 seconds."

Radio sits in your environment. It's companion media - in the car, in the taxi, in the kitchen. Even if you're half-listening, the audio is there. It enters the space whether you've actively chosen it or not.

That ambient persistence is valuable for brand building. It's low-attention, high-frequency exposure - exactly what builds memory structures over time. And there's something personal about a human voice in your space. DJs become familiar presences. That parasocial relationship extends to the brands in that environment.

The Strategic Implication

In Singapore, radio is the only legacy broadcast medium with growing daily reach. Class 95 growing incredibly well.

The most effective brand assets are the least used. Radio is the medium that builds them.

Is radio gaga? I don't think so.