Want a memorable commercial with impact? Don't bite off more than you can chew. This is part of an ongoing series about brands and commercial video production.
I Love Working with Brands
At Froth & Fur we make TV commercials and digital spots for all kinds of brands, not just ad agencies. I love working with brands. It’s truly a blast helping them solve their problems and hit their goals.
When we make a commercial for a brand we do more than act as your video production company. We also work with you to come up with concepts, write the scripts, and oversee all aspects of production and post.
The Responsibility is Real
I take our responsibility very seriously when we work with a brand. You’re trusting us with your brand’s reputation and expecting that we'll help you move the needle. But lots of brands haven't done commercial video production before. And unless you're a pretty big brand you probably don't have the in-house team you need to really make the most of things. Because if you did, you'd be an ad agency. Not a brand.
Over the years I’ve come up with a lot of tips that can help things go better with your commercial, while getting the biggest impact possible.
Don't Bite Off More Than You Can Chew
Today's tip for brands and commercial video production is: don’t bite off more than you can chew.
Know Your Limitations
A few years ago we had a TV commercial client who came to us with a need and some ideas they wanted us to finesse and then produce. Their biggest idea involved an armored car heist with money flying everywhere, shot on a city street. OK. Great. It was actually a pretty cool idea for their brand. Scratch that. It was a freaking cool idea.
But their budget was only about 25% of what would be needed to credibly pull it off.
Instead of blindly accepting the client's idea and doing a half-assed job of it, I worked with the client and we explored ideas that could be done well with their budget. After all, it’s better to do something with your whole ass rather than just half of it, right? When you use your whole ass you make a bigger impact.
And brands need their commercials to have the biggest impact possible. So don't try to force an idea that seems cool but can't be done with the money you have available.
Focus, Focus, Focus
Not biting off more than you can chew also applies to the information you put in your TV commercials. You might naturally want to cram every little feature and benefit your product has into your commercial.
This is not a good plan.
When someone sees your commercial- on TV, the web, or wherever- they’re not going to remember those ten bullet points about your product. In fact, they might not remember anything about your commercial at all if you try to cram too much into it.
Again, it's about making an impact. My archery coach explained this to my 10 year old self: an arrow focuses all its energy into that tiny but extremely sharp point at the end. That's how your commercial ought to be, too. If you want the most impactful results possible.
So don’t bite off more than you can chew!
And maybe don't point that bow and arrow at your fellow student.
Yeah, my school trusted a group of 5th graders with potentially lethal weapons. We didn't even need to get permission slips from our parents. That'd never fly today.
I have so much more to say about TV commercial production because we make a lot of commercials. Especially in our Los Angeles studio. But for today, I’m keeping it simple and clean.
You might say I’m not biting off more than I can chew.
Photo by Daniel Monteiro on Unsplash
Patrick Ortman is the starting quarterback at Froth & Fur, a Los Angeles/NYC/San Francisco commercial video production agency.