Anatomy of an ad: word count

In the Anatomy of an Ad series, I look at the art and a science of creating a commercial or campaign. In this post, I look at word count.
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Listen, my friend. Stop cramming as much as you can into your audio commercial: information, products, deals, lists, contact details, and, for the purposes of this post, words.
 
Let me explain. One of my main gripes – along with most writers, producers and voiceover artists I know - is over-worded scripts.
 
In my experience, here’s how it usually goes down:

• I'm sent an over-worded script
• I edit it for time by removing unnecessary words and information, combining words and phrases,  using words with less syllables or that are easier for the voiceover to say, etc 
• Client puts some of those words back in the script and/or adds new information
• Repeat x times
• The over-worded script eventually gets to production
• Producer sees an opportunity to create an engaging piece of audio
• Producer times ad and realises it’s over-worded, so discards the fancy effects and ideas for a standard read and music bed
• Voiceover artist runs through script with an engaging, authentic, and emotive read
• Voiceover realises the read won’t fit to time
• Voiceover speeds up pace, losing the ‘truthfulness’ and allure
• Commercial goes to air
• Consumer, who is busy driving with noisy kids in the back seat / working / cooking / talking / doing anything BUT actively listening to the radio, has no reason to stop to listen to your ad
• If consumer does register your commercial, the fast pace and unnecessary information make it harder to hold their attention. Consumer uses as little brain power as possible to process your commercial and, if it’s too hard, moves on
• You lose ROI

 
Let me explain. You’ve met someone who talks fast, right? And the faster they talk, the harder it is to understand them. You strain to listen and process what they’re saying, ask them to repeat themselves, and maybe even give up. Don’t let your commercial be that person.
 
The bottom line is that an audio spot can comfortably fit about three words per second. That’s an average script with an average read style, with average pacing and inflection. So, the ‘three words per second’ rule is great – if you want an average commercial.
 
But remember, if you want the voiceover artist to talk loudly or emotively, they’ll need more time. A deeper voice also needs more time.
 
But here’s the thing, the real power of an audio spot lies in the “theatre of the mind”. 

The greatest thing you have working for you is the imagination of the consumer… And if you can get into that space, your ad can run all day. 

- Don Draper (the writers of Mad Men knew what they were on about).

Theatre of the mind is using your audio to trigger people’s imagination and emotions. Surprise them! Entertain them! That’s when they’ll want to engage with your ad.

Some ways you can use theatre of the mind are:

• tell a story
• set a scene
• lead listeners down a path, but coming to a surprise conclusion
• use production techniques

 
Here’s an example. A couple of years ago, I wrote a branding commercial for a women’s clothing store. The script could have gone like this:
Clothing Store has all the latest fashions at great prices, like Brand Name 1, Brand Name 2, and Brand Name 3. Tops, pants, dresses, coats, evening gowns, starting from X pounds. All the latest styles from Paris, Milan, London, etc, etc, etc… Clothing Store, at Street Name, Town. Tagline.
 
Instead, I exercised brevity, concision and logic (logic being, don't waste time telling people what they know or will assume). This cut the word count way back, which gave us time to really use the voice and production. The result was a commercial that captures and holds attention; that people want to listen to.
 
In a nutshell, give the producer time to work with sound effects and the music’s rhythm.
Give the voiceover artist space for inflection and expression.
Give the writer an opportunity to let your message shine.
 
Simply stated, less is more - give your ad a chance to work.