There’s something about Springfield. A new brand study in the Missouri market finds radio listeners consistently recognize more hometown brands, offering a working blueprint for how AM/FM advertising helps local businesses become known before they’re needed.
The Cumulus Media/Westwood One Audio Active Group commissioned Quantilope to survey 105 Springfield adults online from July 29 through August 6. Respondents were asked to name companies in five categories unprompted, then to identify the brands they recognized from a list and rate each on ad recall, favorability, purchase intent, and usage.
Half of respondents could not name a kitchen remodeling company, 44% could not name a fencing company, 42% came up empty on flooring, and 27% could not name a roofer. In four of the five categories, “none/don’t know” outranked every individual brand. Restaurants were the exception.
Aided awareness ran higher among the 55 respondents who listened to radio in the past week than among the full sample or TV viewers. Kitchenland USA reached 47% among radio listeners, compared with 39% overall and 44% among TV viewers. Discount Dave’s hit 69% among radio listeners, versus 59% overall and 63% among TV viewers, and Jimm’s Steakhouse reached 53%, against 43% overall and 44% among TV viewers. Ozark Fence posted 42% among radio listeners and 40% overall.
Among local service brands, Dale’s Roofing led roofing in unaided awareness at 19%, followed by A-1 Roofing at 12%. A-1 carried that into 55% aided awareness, 27% ad recall, 25% favorability, 19% purchase intent, and 12% usage. In flooring, Discount Dave’s reached 9% unaided and 59% aided awareness, along with 25% ad recall and 23% purchase intent, while Lowe’s led unprompted recall at 22%. Ozark Fence (15%) and Carnahan-White (14%) led fencing in unaided awareness. In kitchen remodeling, Kitchenland USA posted 4% unaided and 39% aided awareness, well behind Lowe’s at 84% aided.
Across 16 local brands, the average brand drew 12.6 points of aided awareness for every point of unaided awareness. Lamberts registered 79% aided awareness on just 2% unaided, and Jimm’s Steakhouse reached 43% aided on 2% unaided, leaving room to turn recognition into top-of-mind recall.
Nearly a third of respondents (31%) have lived in the Springfield area for 10 years or less, and across five featured brands, awareness among longer-term residents ran 1.4 times higher than among newer arrivals. Ozark Fence reached 49% aided awareness among residents of more than 10 years, compared with 21% among newer residents.
The study frames its findings around the Ehrenberg-Bass Institute’s 95/5 rule, which holds that only about 5% of buyers are in the market at any given time, and WPP Media research finding that 84% of purchases are effectively decided before shopping begins. Its recommendations for local advertisers call for long AM/FM flights with frequent airings around key sales seasons, host-read endorsements that draw on personalities’ connection with listeners, jingles to build memorability, repeated address mentions to drive traffic online and in-store, and customer testimonials paired with personal appearances on local stations.
In May, a similar Audio Active Group study in Joplin, MO, found Henkle’s Ace Hardware reached 51% aided awareness among radio listeners, compared with 48% overall. In January, a Lake Charles, LA, study found the brands with the strongest unaided awareness across plumbing, HVAC, and auto repair were those using AM/FM as a primary marketing channel.
