Buzz advertising: Adrian Torlini’s Radio Interview by Minh Viet, Nicolas, Francesca, Richard, Cindy
-Hello everyone, welcome on your morning show on BBC radio. Today I’m here with Adrian Torlini, a 41-year-old black cab driver from Aylesbury. He has been driving his cab for 9 years now. He’s here with me to talk about a new unexpected type of advertising. Hello Mr Torlini, could you explain to us your new occupation.
--Good morning, I am currently an ambassador driver for Taxi Promotion UK. I have been recruited to serve in the brave new world of word-of-mouth(bouche à oreille) advertising because I can persuade people to buy new products. Indeed, I am quite talkativeand I can be quite persuasive too.
-Ok but how does it work? Are you paid to talk or rather to advertise these new products when you drive your taxi?
-Well not exactly. Let’s take the example of my last holidays in Thailand: I was offered a trip to Thailand, all expenses paid for by the Tourism Authority of Thailand. No one told me to talk about my holidays when I came back, they just assume that if you have been to a place that you have liked you are likely to (être susceptible de) talk about it. They think I can talk my passengers into going there for their next holidays I suppose.For me it is a new experience and an additional way to get some perks (avantages en nature) and some freebies (produits gratuits You know consumers can also get free products if they accept to become agents too! It’s a win-win situation (tout le monde est gagnant).
-And do you think word-of-mouth is more effective than regular commercials or ads?
-Yes, of course! I’m like an adman in my taxi, all my passengers can hear what I have to say. I hope I have more influence on people than billboards: what I say is based on a true/genuine (authentique) experience, not on what a brand wants to sell you. Human contact is always better than repetitive and sometimes over-the-top ads (=exaggerated). I also strongly believe in the shock value of words (le poids des mots). I think people can more easily be persuaded/convinced to buy the product.
- Well thank you Adrian for sharing your experience with us this morning. Thanks everyone for listening to us. I wish you a pleasant day on BBC, of course!