RadioGauge - ColourText

Sonic branding

Client: RadioCentre, London, UK

Project: Radio advertising effectiveness research

Project Design: Colourtext

Fieldwork Partner: DRG Ltd

RadioGauge is the global standard for measuring radio advertising effectiveness. It was launched in 2008 as a commercial partnership between Colourtext, RadioCentre UK and DRG Ltd.

Designed by Colourtext's founder Jason Brownlee, RadioGauge is an award-winning initiative that has grown to become the world’s biggest and longest running radio advertising measurement system. Since its inception RadioGauge has been credited with securing more than $320 million of radio advertising revenue.

The objective of RadioGauge is to demonstrate the effectiveness of radio as an advertising medium. Based on an 'Exposed vs Non-Exposed' research methodology, it delivers classic upper-funnel metrics for radio campaigns such as brand awareness and purchase consideration and measures the strength of a radio campaign's creative execution. In addition, RadioGauge provides comprehensive diagnostic measures for audio creative performance that help brands optimise their sonic identities on radio and beyond.

Spanning more than a decade of successful operation, RadioGauge has evaluated over 1000 radio campaigns and built the worlds most comprehensive database of brand category radio effectiveness benchmarks.

Mark Barber, Director of Planning at Radiocentre UK, wrote a long-read article for ADMAP to celebrate the project's 10th anniversary. If you don't have an ADMAP subscription you can read Mark's excellent article here. The RadioCentre has also produced a RadioGauge subdomain on its website, which is where the infographics below originate and where you can find more details about the UK study.

Mark Uttley

Group Strategy Director, AKQA, San Francisco, US

"Colourtext always take a fresh approach to discovering hidden patterns in data. Whether you want to conduct segmentation or mine your CRM for deep insights, they will help you see your customers , and what they are seeing , in new ways."

Joaquim Bretcha

International Director of Netquest and President of ESOMAR, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain

"Colourtext and Netquest have partnered on different occasions to showcase the power of the digital behavioural data extracted from Netquest’s consumer panel. Colourtext has not only the expertise of dealing with big datasets but also has brilliant creativity to make the most sense out of them. Working with Colourtext is a rich, agreeable and easy going experience"

Mark Barber MBE

Planning Director, RadioCentre, London, UK

"More than a decade of success for Radiog auge across the world is a testament to Colourtext’s experience and perseverance. There are many obstacles to creating a global currency for measuring radio advertising effectiveness - Colourtext has managed to tackle all of them."

"It’s rare to find research companies that really understand the unique radio / listener relationship and what makes radio advertising work. With experience of researching the medium on both sides of the fence, Colourtext is one of those rare companies."

Simone Lawrence

Director of Insights, Canadian Broadcast Sales, Toronto, Canada

Colourtext has an agile approach to research that ensures a successful outcome to every challenge CBS gives them. The depth of experience and understanding the Colourtext team brings to each study demonstrates their value in the audio space. We have a very positive nine year working relationship behind us that has created significant value for CBS and our clients. We remain committed to working with Colourtext in the coming years.

Jon Puleston

Vice President of Innovation, Kantar Profiles, London, UK

It's rare to find a partner with the mix of analytical, technological and creative skills offered by Colourtext. Jason and his team seem to roam around freely in data, find the stories that matter and bring a distinctive aesthetic vision to the presentation of information.