Why not let the station do your low budget ad? After all their creative and production comes FREE!
First, let’s get one thing straight. Nothing is for free…especially in advertising! If it is free, there are probably a hundred reasons not to get involved.
Right now there are a ton of deals being offered by the stations for air buys and they’re desperate to get your money. The offers may range from 2x the frequency of your buy up to and including free production of the ad. I’ll say it again…you get what you pay for!
Why?
We all know the kind of quality ads the stations normally produce, not exactly the cutting edge, cut through the clutter kind of stuff. If you are there because you get double the exposure ask yourself if it is good enough that you’d want to see that commercial twice as many time as normal.
If all you have to talk about is price, and nothing’ but price…you should be doing your ads at the local station! But, for some reason I think about 90% of the advertisers out there doing ads with the station have something more than price to offer…but it’s not coming through!
If your attitude is “I don’t care what it looks like, as long as it’s on air because if I’m on air, I’m top of mind…good or bad!”. Remember, if you buy into the station producing your ad, you are more than likely locked into “that” station for the rest of your buys with that ad. Most will not release the ad to another station, especially if they gave you a discount (Free) to get it done! This now leaves you with having to go through production again if you want to buy airtime somewhere else.
So what’s the solution? The alternative to a station produced ad is using a creative production film/video company to produce your ad. Until recently the costs for doing so where very expensive due to the cost of cameras and editing facilities. Well, times have changed. With the advancements in cameras and computers within the last two years, this is no longer the case! Production fees are less and far better quality than that of the station. We can produce a commercial with the same production look that used to cost upwards of $65,000 5 years ago for a lot less that that now. We can use custom cameras that shoot with the same cinematic qualities of a 35mm film camera and there have been huge advances in processor speeds for editing! Now, add to that access to some of the best creative writers in advertising and you get a value-add that the stations can’t possibly match.
SW
Scott Westerlaken
With over 25 years of award winning experience in marketing, television commercials, film, video, communications, 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.
#1 by Travel Stock Photos on April 1, 2010 - 3:47 pm
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Hi Scott,
I didn’t know that the situation with ad production in Russia and Canada are SO similar. I’d say they’re absolutely identical. I’ve been producting TV commercials as an independent producer for abt 5 years and most clients I knew left stations’ in-house productions due to all the same problems that you named. I’ve got a constant and huge flow of orders, esp now when we have HDDSLR technologies.
Really amazed to know that in Canada TV stations also produce low-end ads
#2 by Scott Westerlaken on April 2, 2010 - 8:27 pm
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I originally thought it was unique to Canada and small market US, but it appears we are all fighting the battle!
Thanks for the comments!
SW
#3 by Mike Lattimore on April 28, 2010 - 5:05 pm
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Scott, those of us in production and post have been saying the same thing for years. The real culprit IS the radio or tv station. When small business owners get the idea that they should advertise, who do they go to? The station itself. The stations are very eager to have a new client and have them buy airtime. It’s the kiss of death.
The stations are looking to sell unsold airtime. They aren’t interested in the success or failure of the client. So the business owner is assaulted by these wonderful deals including free production/editing. The spot falls on ears and eyes during times when potential customers are probably not tuned in (say 3AM). The quality of production is usually lack-luster: the creativethat goes into the script is usually very poor, the talent is marginal at best, and the quality of production is usually LOW. You are so right in stated “you get what you PAY for.” But the funny thing is that the cost of outside production is usually just a handful of airings. Personally, I’d rather have a great ad playing for 75% of a potential buy than one that is poor for 100%. Also, the radio stations do a disservice to the business owner because they don’t care about media-buying. “Is this station or stations, right for the demographic I should be advertising to?” Using a media buyer will make sure you’re spending your money WISELY.
#4 by Scott Westerlaken on April 28, 2010 - 5:16 pm
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Hi Mike,
Thanks for the comments! using a media buyer almost always pays off! the stations are killing their own biz by doing sub-par work AND buys. (spawned the blog last week).. the more you abuse the client AND the viewer, the less they want to spend and watch… TV or as you mentioned, radio! Thanks for bringing radio up, as I totally forgot that audio folks have been facing this for years…
Solutions? would love to hear thoughts!
SW