Spots - Roll Back Malaria

STEP 2DEVELOP THE CREATIVE BRIEFADAPTING vs CREATING NEW SPOTSNow that you have defined your communication objectives, you can assess whetherto adapt existing spots or create new ones. In either case, the basic goal and toolsare the same: Your radio materials should make people want to listen to them. Theyshould create a picture in the listener’s mind.If you have quality national radio spots or are mandated by the national program touse specific spots, work with those. Compare them to your creative brief and notewhether they reach the same objective, whether the target audience is the same,and what other elements must be adapted. Note that adapting scripts written for TVor copy written for print ads presents special challenges because the text was notwritten for the ear. The writer must understand what radio can and cannot do inorder to engage listeners rather than viewers or readers. The basic tools for adaptingor developing radio scripts are covered in Step 3.Consider developing new spots if the existing spots are too different from yourcreative brief. To do so, you will need the help of professionals with experienceproducing creative radio spots for publicity or promotional purposes. Such peoplemight be found within the Ministry of Health Education Unit, at national or localradio stations, in NGOs or private-sector advertising agencies. The professionals youselect may depend on your available funding.If this expertise is not available to you, and you do not have access to other goodscripts for spots, then adapt one or more of the 16 sample malaria radio spot scriptsin Annex 3. Some of the scripts are from actual programs; others have beendeveloped for Spot On.Adapting existing spotsAdapting spots can save you money as well as time.Analyzing the quality and appropriateness of an existing spot for the specificgeographic area and audience you are planning to reach will help you determinewhat degree of adaptation is necessary. Following is a suggestion for how to do this:Spot On Malaria: Guide23