From brief to broadcast.
Advertising on television can look complicated from the outside, and to be fair there are quite a few moving parts, but you don’t need to become an expert in any of them, because that’s what we’re here for.
The brief
This is the important bit, and it happens before anybody starts talking about ideas. We’ll want to understand who we’re talking to, what you’re selling and what’s different about it, what problem it solves for people, and what you’d like them to do once they’ve seen the advert. We’ll also talk about where the campaign is going to appear and what the overall budget looks like.
It can feel like a lot of questions, but a good advert comes from a good brief, so it’s time well spent.
The idea
Once we understand what you need, we go away and develop concepts, and then turn the strongest ones into scripts and storyboards. Where it makes sense we’ll show you more than one approach, so you’ve got something to compare.
You get to see the direction and talk it through with us before any production begins, so you always know what you’re going to get.
Pre-production
This is the planning stage, and it covers things like casting, locations, schedules, crew, props, wardrobe, art direction, voiceover and all the logistics that go with them.
How much preparation is needed depends entirely on the production. A motion graphics advert needs very little, whereas a shoot with a cast and several locations needs a good deal more.
Production
This is where the advert gets made, and it can look completely different from one campaign to the next. It might be live action in a studio or out on location, or it might be animation or motion graphics.
Whichever it is, the technique is there to serve the idea, and not the other way around.
Post-production
After the shoot comes the edit, along with the colour, graphics, animation, music, voiceover, sound design and the final audio mix. This is the stage where everything comes together and starts to look and sound like a finished advert.
Clearcast
Before any advert can be shown on UK television it has to be approved by Clearcast, the organisation that checks adverts against the advertising rules on behalf of the broadcasters.
We handle the whole thing for you, from getting the script approved early on to clearing the finished advert, and there’s more detail on our Clearcast clearance page if you’d like to know how it works.
Broadcast delivery
We prepare the finished advert to the broadcasters’ technical specifications and get it to wherever it needs to go, in good time for your first airdate.
If you need them, our media buying partners can plan and buy your airtime, using their knowledge and buying power and taking an impartial view of all the opportunities. After that, all you have to do is grab the popcorn!
Already have a media buyer?
That’s no problem at all, because we regularly work alongside agencies and media buyers, and it’s a simple split: they look after the airtime, and we look after the creative, the production, the clearance and the delivery.
And if you haven’t got a buyer, our media buying partners will plan and buy the airtime for you, so you can deal with one team for the whole campaign.
Ready when you are.
Tell us a little about what you’re hoping to achieve and we’ll take it from there.