Crafting a National Commercial under $30k? Writing. Writing. Writing.

This blog is a shout out to the creative minds out there who really think through what a brand should be able to accomplish for the least amount of money. They are the creative directors and writers out there who make the themes, characters, and script become a moment in time for a brand.

Sure there are commercials out there that amaze us with super-expensive seconds of high-impact effects and outrageous staging, but the truth is that I have seen many commercials with incredibly inexpensive production means make the same impact if not greater because the themes were clever. Not cheeky. Clever.

So, can a commercial be produced cheap? Cheap ones can...you know "I'm the Cash Man" (the look awful and feel awful and work locally) and then there are commercials that work with budgets which need to be extended through the only means available: creative.

It is possible to write a low-budget, effective commercial for TV, cinema and web. We have done it. Peel Region Public Health Unit and Fingerprint Communications brought us a commercial that was so clever that the budget was invisible to the viewer. The spot won an international award of excellence and a year and a half later, I am still seeing it in my local cinema. Here is that commercial. It has almost 30,000 views on YouTube, as well. Not a costly commercial, but a very clever, one. I have noticed teens snickering in the cinema and at one showing I saw of it, it got more laughs than any other commercial - one of them for Pepsi using a major sports celebrity.

The message here is this: Only You Can Prevent Big Budgets (I am Woodsey the Production Owl, I guess). Creative can be written to be really effective and make your brand stand out without spending more than $20 or $30k. Sometimes even less.