Radio directing

Ads & Ends
Nanette Franco-Diyco

TONY HERTZ works as a radio director. This may be a function not so familiar in Manila, where it is mostly the producer who takes charge of the whole radio production, including the studio session.

Mr. Hertz sees directing as a complementary but different function:

“Obviously, what the producer does is vital — navigating the often complex paths within and between agencies and clients to complete the job within budget and deadline.

“Directing is a separate skill with the specific objective of bringing agencies’ ideas to life in sound and extracting every ounce of creativity, meaning, emotion, fun, or whatever they’re aiming for.

“For, me it’s way more than turning up at the studio; I spend as much time as I can talking with creatives, timing, understanding the characters, casting actors to play them then, of course, directing the performances, editing, and mixing. The comment I get most often from agencies is that they’ve never seen anyone spend so much time and concentration on detail for a radio ad.”

Renowned global radio director Tony Hertz has directed radio ads and TV soundtracks in Manila for BBDO Guerrero, Campaigns & Grey, Dentsu, DM9, FCB, JWT, McCann, Publicis Jimenezbasic, and TBWA.

In last week’s advertising seminar at the Ateneo, Tony regaled his audience with some of the latest radio commercials that the participants most applauded. I have personally selected two radio commercials for Johnson’s Baby, “Open Close” and “Her Journey,” that Tony directed for BBDO Guerrero. Both 30- and 45-second commercials can also be found on YouTube.

The commercials feature a mother and her child, and an announcer’s voice-over. These are recorded in Tagalog. They are such tug-at-the-heart materials that truly dramatize the effectiveness of the medium of radio when excellently produced.

Hereunder is the 30-seconder:

“Now, you try with your hands: close, open! You know why I’m teaching you this game? Close, open! Because I know that one day, when you’re all grown up — close — you’ll close your hands and hold onto someone special — Again, close, open!

— and at that point, I will need to open mine — Very good!

— and let you go.

“A child’s journey is also a mother’s. Johnson’s Baby, our signature of love.”

Here is the 45-seconder:

“She trained her daughter slowly, bit by bit. She was 33, and her daughter was 9. At first, she rode with her all the way to school. ‘You’ll be okay here.’ ‘Okay, Mom.’

“The next week, she put her on the train and waved goodbye from the platform. Bit by bit. ‘You’re a big girl now.’

“Then, one day, she left her at the station entrance. ‘It’s okay.’ ‘Bye, Mom.’

“After that, the corner of their street. Bit by bit, until finally: ‘Do you have everything — money, snack, math book?’ ‘Mom, it’s okay.’

“She realized she’s also training herself. A child’s journey is also a mother’s. Johnson’s Baby, our signature of love.”

Radio has often been called “the theater of the mind”. In these two commercials, we palpably feel the Filipino mothers’ difficulty in letting go of their children as they grow closer to adulthood. You might also want to call it learning to cut the apron strings. Both of the commercials are so well-directed, well-produced, well- scripted, and well-acted that we can actually see the mother and her child in our minds. Magnificent!

I asked Tony directly if getting him to direct a radio commercial is expensive. His answer was also direct: “Clearly, working with a specialist director is going to cost more than the, let’s say, ‘ordinary’ process. Agencies and clients have to feel that the value and the quality that it adds to the result is worth it. If you count the time I spend on a project and factor in the years of experience, I think it’s pretty reasonable.”

Tony has also written a book entitled The 7 Secrets of Radio. If you feel that you truly cannot afford him, maybe you can buy the book and try to unravel his secrets in one way or the other.

Nanette Franco-Diyco ended her 15^th year advertising career as Vice-President of JWT, segueing into the world of academe, currently teaching communications at the Ateneo de Manila University.

[email protected]