The Media Landscape: Where Radio Fits In - #RadioMediaTour

What is Advertising Propinquity?

pro·pin·qui·ty
noun
the state of being close to someone or something; proximity.

People tend to form friendships and other forms of interpersonal relationships with people who they interact with frequently. We’re more likely to form a connection with those who we see often in our daily lives because constant exposure can lead to increased trust. This is known as the propinquity effect and was originally developed by psychologists Leon Festinger, Stanley Schachter, and Kurt Back. They gathered evidence that said the more frequently we network with certain individuals, the more likely we are to form relationships with them, both friendly and romantic.

The effect doesn’t just work for personal relationships. It works in the world of marketing where technology can put your business in close proximity to your potential customers. This propinquity is tremendously important to advertisers. It’s the idea of delivering their message extremely near a consumer, both from a timing perspective and physical perspective, to where the purchasing decision is being made.

The law of propinquity states that the greater the physical (or psychological) proximity is between people, the greater the chance that they will form friendships or romantic relationships.

Radio is still the most popular medium to connect advertiser and consumer these days in broadcast media. Like in 2018, more Americans will tune into AM/FM radio (93%) than watch television, use smartphones, tablets or computers for 2019. Even for Millennials, it is the most popular medium…. rating higher than smartphones (90%).
Source: https://soundcloud.com/nielsen-audiopodcast/a-guided-tour-of-radio-from-nielsen-audios-perspective-season-1-episode-1

Radio Delivers
It’s all about physical and psychological proximity. You are unlikely to find yourself on the same floor as your potential clients or customers, but radio can put you in close proximity with them, even if you are thousands of miles away. Somehow radio endures despite the thousands of options available for our attention. With radio, you don’t need to stop what you’re doing while engaging in the medium. Live and local - that’s its strength. Delivering your message right where it counts, when it counts. The propinquity effect in action.

ABOUT THE EXPERT: Ted Birkey

Ted Birkey is the Radio Broadcast Coordinator at MultiVu, a Cision company. He has over 20 years’ experience as a media analyst, broadcast radio coordinator, producer and sound editor in the news broadcasting business. During his fourteen-year career at MultiVu, he has executed thousands of radio media tours and helped develop their broadcast radio distribution network by strengthening relationships with radio news assignment editors, major radio network planning desks, and independent program producers.

In 2016 Ted won the PR Newswire 2015 President’s Club Golden Ticket Award which recognizes the top Sales, CCS professionals and other PR Newswire/MultiVu colleagues who make outstanding contributions to the business. This recognition is based on top performance for Sales and CCS, while Golden Tickets are awarded to other contributors by the EMC following a careful nomination and selection process. He holds a B.A. in Sound Engineering from Chicago’s Columbia College.