Ralph Van Dijk, the Creative Director of Eardrum in Australia and Paul Wauters, the Executive Creative Director of Babel in France, discussed what we can learn from some of the most interesting audio they have worked with.
Both Ralph and Paul brought lots of examples of award-winning production. They highlighted exactly what creative producers had done to make their audio stand out and talked about what was working in radio advertising.
They shared with delegates some of the “secret ingredients” they have identified and used to create award-winning creative:
Ralph said that audio had to be relevant to the listener or client: “It must be thought through and relevant not only to the producer or radio station, but to the people buying into and hearing the content”.
They agreed that producers needed to be ballsy and ave the confidence to do something ground-breaking.
Paul said that the audio needed to surprise the listener and lead them somewhere they didn’t expect to go.
Tension was critical, they both said, if the producer wanted to grow emotions in the listener. “You have to make the listener the hero” said Paul, and “and relieve the tension built”.
Ralph and Paul said that awards were useful as a motivator, in spurring on creative thinking and encouraging producers and scriptwriters to push boundaries.
The world of audio production is changing and listeners are expecting more. For Ralph and Paul only one thing is certain: the audio world will keep changing.
