From the once-alien world of US talk radio, I read that shock jock, Rush Limbaugh, was puzzled that more advertising had electronically been fitted in to his shows, although he was doing the same amount of talking.
According to the New York Times, listeners to Mr Limbaugh's three-hour programme e-mailed him recently to complain about extra adverts during his show. He hadn't noticed but the listeners were right - there were more ads, as much talk, but not spoken faster, and no extra time. Magic? No, just digital electronics.
A company called Prime Image from San Jose, California, had sold to radio stations a product called Cash. On radio, it can eliminate the pauses between words and sentences and shorten "redundant" long syllables without the speaker even noticing. The company promises a 30 seconds saved in this way per 30 minutes to make way for additional advertising. A programme is delayed for the 30 seconds at the start, and then the electronics catch-up with real time over the course of each 30 minutes by eliminating pauses and "redundant" long syllables.
Limbaugh said the technology spelled "potential doom for the radio industry".
It could be very useful over here. Joe Duffy's laughs and Myles Dungan's witticisms could be compressed to inner space. Vincent Browne's sighs could become sharp intakes of breath. Andy O'Mahony could digitally be given "one voice" amid the usual cacophony.
Nervous, faltering audience members on Questions and Answers could appear as confident and smooth as the host himself. Mike Murphy wouldn't have to fill the pockets of silence after monosyllabic answers from Winning Streak players. Even Eamon Dunphy could be made to sound scripted.
Those minor benefits and the problem of ad clutter aside, advertising on radio and television is worthy of critical review, just as programmes are reviewed.
Some ads could do with a bit of compression, others not. What room is there for savings in the machine-gun delivery of PowerCity ads, so fast that the word "pounds" has to be eliminated from prices? These are the television version of a stream of classified print ads. Item, price, time, buy. Cheap to produce and easy to measure. It discloses the business strategy of Power City - compete on cost, pile 'em high, sell 'em low. The branding is unequivocal; the message is clear.
At the other end of the scale are the concept ads which appeal to feelings. The prime current example is Eircom's €500,000 (£393,782) warm and fuzzy video sequences with the theme "Go further" to the tune of Whitney Houston's My Love is Your Love. It could hardly appeal more to sentiment. Pledge love for eternity, as Whitney does so lusciously (except that it's not really Whitney singing at all). And use Eircom.
Advertising experts say that a brand which establishes an emotional affinity can support a product and service which does not seek to compete primarily on price. Eircom's branding strategy has logic.
That also explains why so many long, expensive, emotional, perhaps even effective, ads seem to have emanated from the Irish semi-state and former semi-state stable. They never competed on price. It wasn't their culture or strategy and still isn't. Raw competition with price as a major element is for the likes of Ryanair, Esat and Power City, not Aer Lingus, Eircom and the ESB (though Ocean has been a departure).
The use of expensive, emotional imagery by Eircom carries the danger of being undifferentiated. The ads could easily fit with the ESB or Aer Lingus, although brand consistency does set the limits of credibility. Could we really have teenage boys and girls in red V-necked jumpers singing "My love is your love is your love is my love" for Power City? The biggest danger of emotional ads is that the actual service or product may disappoint high expectations - especially expectations as high as Whitney's eternal love. It has been hard for Eircom recently to live up to the lofty promise of its ads.
Is the Eircom ad money well spent? I'd be sceptical in the short run. In any case, mergers and acquisitions may mean that we may never see the result of an undiluted Eircom brand.
We can bemoan digital manipulation of brilliant broadcasters to make way for the clutter of commercials. There is a bright side. Ads are fascinating for business analysts and designers alike. They deserve more critical attention and yield a surprising range of business intelligence. So, what's on the ads tonight?
Olvier O'Connor is editor of the monthly publication. Finance. E- mail: ooconnor@indigo.ie
