Bigger crops mean more income for farmers, and NIA needed a radio spot to promote their spring fertilizer application services. To get those big yields, exactly the right amount of nutrients must be applied at very specific times throughout the growing season.

How do you say that in 30 seconds? Every single word matters and every detail must be carefully considered. With that, we set out to draft our spot!

Our Whiteboard Process

“Get into character. BE the Nitrogen!”

Our initial brainstorming began: What if we created something that positioned NIA as THE answer to every growing crops’ needs? What if we made the crop small, weak, and hungry….and if we had NIA be the superhero who “swoops in” to save the day?

• Step 1: What does a crop need to bulk up by harvest? Nitrogen!
• Step 2: We had to create the voice and tone of the young hungry crop and then the voice of the NIA superhero who flies in to save the day. As with any project, we immediately took to our whiteboard to start the brainstorming process.
• Step 3: We quickly filled the board with words to describe the young crop: Weak. Hungry. In need of help. Then we added anything related to superhero-like qualities: Bulking up. Growing bigger. Save the day!

Production

Once we landed on the concept, we knew we had to really take it over the top with melodramatic voices and old-timey sound effects.

Reviewing voiceover auditions of our final scripts is always a fun and entertaining part of the creative process. To voice the young crop, we chose 3 distinct childlike voices that worked well together for the young crop who sounded weak and desperate. On the contrary, we needed a strong, dramatic, powerful, life-saving superhero!

We were very happy with the final edit – and so was our client, Northern Illinois Alliance.

Take a listen to the 30-second spot here:

Production

As a bonus, the radio spot went on to receive a Platinum AVA Digital Award in 2017. You can learn more about the AVA Digital Awards here:

About Northern Illinois Alliance (NIA)

Northern Illinois Alliance is an integrated agriculture supply cooperative based in Crescent City, IL. NIA offers agronomic retail products and services and does much of their business in the spring, fall, and throughout the growing season.

Thinking of looking into radio? Not sure which regions to target? We can help you with all of your creative, marketing, and media planning needs.