Anyone have experience with mainstream advertising, is TV commercials

i would be intersted in input on this as well. late night tv, in my city, is taken over by commercials for dating lines, dating sites, girls gone wild, etc...

i've often thought of purchashing some form of radio or TV spot, but my lack of expierience in this area makes me wary.

I'm more interested in mainstream and knowing about any tricks or little things that are often overlooked but cost you money in the end. That, and is it better to produce your own commercial, or hire the company to do it? I just talked to the person in charge and she said that it costs between $500 and $2500 to work with the creative ad department and have them put something together. But 98% of the local commercials here are fucking stupid as hell. I've even though about recording them and putting them online so other people can see how crappy they are, and I don't want to end up paying for a piece of shit when I can make a piece of shit for free and have it be funny.

that's another good point. i don't know that i could trust the television branding of my work to be done in such a haphazard, half-assed manner.

Yeah, I am not sure if those were the ones created by the creative ad department or ones that people did on their own. Me and my friends have made better videos of us freaking out Japanese tourists on the beach, but she said I would work with them and then would get to approve the commercial beforehand, but I'd hate to put a lot of time into something only to have it come out shitty in the end.

you could always go to them with some sketches, or even short vid clips for them to draw from. of course i'm sure there are most likely studios in your area with a higher degree of expertise at making TV spots. might just cost alot more.

Depending on what you are selling, Flash artists can easily do an eye catching and much higher quality ad than most companies doing it for under $5k.

I'd put my money on the guys at Envisiontext.

I have done quite a few commercials but the production has always been handled by more professional $10k plus outfits but I have seen varying degrees of quality from them.

Ad buying firms can get you better deals and save you tons of time. I think Sheri Santiago that sometimes hangs on this board and Brad Shaw's does this so track her down.

Cool, thanks.

Just one question, the ad buying firms, are you saying I should go to them about buying the commercial space, or designing the commercial?

I've bought spot markets on the majors CBS, NBC, ABC. National cable TV spots on MTV, VH1, USA Network and some of the smaller ones.

There is nothing as powerful as advertising on TV. You have to watch all the networks like a hawk though to make sure your spots get aired to schedule. Often they'll bump you into shitty time slots. Local cable stations will also override your national spots in many cases.

Don't even try buying time on your own. Go through a major media buying service and pickup their low cost leftovers. Be sure and test the whole storyboard concept of your commercial before you shoot it.

I don't recommend making your commercial look professional however. The weirder and funnier it comes off the more people will say what the heck is that and respond to it. Blast some music, that is an attention getter also. Gorgeous girls, gorgeous girls, gorgeous girls. You need a power hook on the beginning and an action hook to power out the ending.

You can make a shit load of money. You can lose a shit load of money.

Don't be afraid to ask for makeups if the audience numbers aren't what was promised.

Good luck, most commercials bomb. But ever now and then you get a winner.

I just called the cable company, since I am in Hawaii they are pretty much have the market (they sent me a thing that said they have 90% penetration, not sure exactly what that means). There aren't any other cable companies here that I know of. Is there other companies that buy spots in bulk then resell them at a lower cost or?

Yes. Radio and TV are about the same. In most markets, you can make your own, or they can do it for you. You'd be better off making you own. We have the same problem here in my area where the cable company's advertising market makes some of the worst P.O.S. commercials I've ever seen. I'd honestly laugh in their faces if they came to me with some of these final cuts.

Some markets, depending on the company will make you buy their slop. But most will let you do your own if it conforms to their, FFC's, and community standards.

That means their signal, or service is available to 90% of the market they are in. The way you describe where you live, that means 90% of Hawaiians in their market get their channel, and possibly your commercial.

True. Anyone remember those two fucked up rats on those Quizno's sub commercials? That was some funny shit. A lot of people were talking and mimicking those for months.