The Role of Audio in the Mix of Communications with Andrea Stillacci and Chris Binns
The Media Roundtable is back! This week we’re devoting the episode to one question that every Chief Audio Officer should ask themselves: “What’s the core purpose of Audio in an advertiser's ecosystem?”
Steven Abraham (President, Oxford Road) hosts fellow Oxford Road luminaries Miranda Romano (VP of Media Operations, Oxford Road) and Neal Lucey (EVP, Strategy & Product, Oxford Road) with special guests Chris Binns, (Chief Strategy Officer, Open X a WPP agency) and Andrea Stillacci (Founder & President, Herezie, Paris). This all-star audio team is talking: $200 headphones, the ultimate sidekick, the value of deep dives, and more. Let’s jump in.
“Media is not math. And anyone who's looking at media from a mathematical perspective is going to end up with the wrong answer and no competitive advantage. Media is human behavior.”
Chris Binns, (Chief Strategy Officer, Open X, WPP)
Ultimate Sidekick 🦸- Audio doesn’t get its fair share of spend (5% of marketing budget vs 25% of audience time spent listening to audio), but in Mark Ritson’s words, it’s the ultimate sidekick. How can CAOs think of audio as a necessity that makes ALL campaigns work harder, instead of audio being just an afterthought?
Going Beyond Impressions and Reach 🤝- To get the most out of audio, CAOs need to know that audio listenership, especially podcast listenership, looks very different from other impressions. Yes, audio has broad reach, but its real power is in how deeply it touches listeners. As Steven says, Podcasts are paid media’s “closest equivalent [to] word of mouth.”
Don’t Swim, Dive 🌊 - Get past maintenance-level marketing. Go deeper into your messaging and the context of your audience to see what’s truly possible with audio. In Andrea’s words, “When you dive, you discover.”
Want to understand the power of audio? You owe it to yourself to check out Andrea's passion: Intrusion project. Check out this gripping 1977 Live Italian broadcast of free radio being shut down by police.
To learn more about how audio can enhance your campaigns, tune into our full episode with the link below.