I wrote a blog previously on cost effective TV ads but a couple more points have come to mind. Shoot with the appropriate equipment that achieves the “look” you are aiming for and secondly, and not least of which, work “within” a team that will support you and your goals.
Too many good ideas, good people and good crews are ruined due to trying to achieve too much with too little. A few years ago I did a series of ads with Page and Wood and Kim Dunn for McKenzie College. Kim came to me early in the process with ideas and concerns about how to achieve the concepts with the minimal budget available. This is where I came up with “if the creative can’t be executed well for the money available then adjust the creative to fit what it can be shot for”…meaning make it so that if it could only afford to be shot on video, make sure the “video” look would work creatively! Kim pulled it off in spades.
More recently I was presented with a similar situation for a set of National TV spots for Herbal Magic. I did some research and found the company very respectable and early on in the process found them fantastic to work with. I am a champion of under dogs and go to the wall if I feel they value the effort and they did. The Director(Tony Sasso) and I worked on a bunch of solutions to make the dollars stretch more than I thought possible. We all new the limitations and all of us were looking for solutions rather than problems. This went from the Client, to the star talent (Elizabeth Manley), to the Director, to the sound person and myself. Now I don’t think we did award winning ads in anyway, but we did do ads that accomplished the clients’ goals, that are respectable and effective. What more could you ask for?
Now, for those of you who happened to watched the US broadcast of the Super Bowl, you may have noticed Google’s “Parisian Love” ad.
Not only was it the least expensive ad that aired in that time slot it’s probably the least expensive ad that has aired for an international company in any time slot. The spot proves a small budget doesn’t have to mean ‘low creative”, in most circumstances it means being more creative!
I would love to see some more examples from around the world and welcome your comments!
SW
Scott Westerlaken
Scott Westerlaken
With over 25 years of award winning experience in marketing and communications, television commercials, film, video, web, radio, print, and events, Scott has the ability to maintain focus on the big picture and offer a wide range of solutions appropriate to the clients message and budget. He has been recognized with dozens of awards in business, communications, and filmmaking from around the world. For the client, this means a truly unique balance of hands on technical knowledge and high level strategic experience that always leads to unique and creative solutions.