The Creative Process
One day, after a powwow with the MegaPhone director of marketing, the suits tell the creative director that the client wants to air a thirty-second TV spot. Now, you can't just go off willy-nilly and dream up a TV spot. It has to be built on a strong foundation. So, the first thing the two camps at the agency do is get together and hammer out two important documents that will provide the basis for the advertising and the guidelines for its execution. They are: a strategy statement, which lays out what's needed (the objective) and how to achieve it; and a creative brief, which describes how to fulfill the strategy from a creative standpoint. When these documents are satisfactory to the agency, the suits soon present them to the MegaPhone DM and his related personnel.
Once the agency gets client approval on the strategy and the creative brief, the creative director meets with his art director/copywriter team to give them the assignment. It's the team's job to look at the creative brief and dream up concepts for the TV spot.
Now, this creative brief, this document, is the life-spring of the creative process. It contains key guidelines that will not only have a great effect on how the commercial is created and produced, it will also have a direct bearing on what you do when you come in to audition in a couple of weeks.
All briefs begin with a strategy statement that concisely spells out what product or service is being sold, and significantly, what the advertising needs to achieve. In this case, MegaPhone needs to attract new wireless business customers and they're offering a deal to get people to switch to them: no sign-up fee if you contract for their unlimited minutes package. Along with print and newspaper ads, they'll convey this message in a thirty-second TV spot. The brief spells out a production timeline with crucial deadlines along the way. These deadlines rule the lives of the creative team.
Now for the nitty-gritty.
Next, the brief includes a strong reminder about MegaPhone's brand. If you're a little hazy about what a brand is, here's an illustration I often use: You know who Jay Leno is, don't you? Okay, think about him for a moment.
Hmm. Did an image pop into your mind? A feeling? A reaction? Okay, that's your impression. Now, when I think of Jay Leno, what images and feelings does he conjure up for me? Well, let's see: Short guy, big chin, nasally voice, kind of feisty, The Tonight Show mystique, his cool set, Hollywood, politically cutting jokes, my sense of humor, Kevin Eubanks, jazzy theme song, my late-night habit, and so on.There's something else going on, too. Watching Jay Leno makes me feel, well, comfortable. Yeah, there's something comfortable about sitting in bed watching Leno. It's a good feeling.You probably have different images and feelings that the name Jay Leno conjures up for you.You may even have a negative image about Jay Leno, but the bottom line is that no matter what these impressions are, they constitute a brand. Jay Leno is a brand. If I say David Letterman, a whole different emotional picture forms for you and me (goofy laugh, gap-toothed grin, off-the-wall humor, New York attitude, etc.). He's a brand, too. What's more, the sum of everything about these individuals, and the way you and I respond to them, is a result of their brand personality. It's just the same for any brand of paper towels, running shoes, airline, or shampoo that's advertised—if the advertising is effective, they all have brand personalities, too.
MegaPhone's brand is actually written out as a statement, the main gist of which says: "MegaPhone is a very personable company with a 'do anything to help you' spirit." A more colorful, actionable, punchier way of putting it is to say that they're kind of spunky, which is actually their brand personality, their attitude. This human value of being spunky sets the tone and manner for all of their advertising, and so the spot will probably be executed utilizing their trademark "performing with a sense of humor under any circumstances" concept that is the strong, underlying theme of their entire ad campaign. The tone and manner directly influence the way the concept is brought to life. Its qualities will influence the way the entire commercial is produced, from choice of settings, the style of lighting, style of shooting, editing, sound effects, and even the fonts (typefaces) they'll use. (Fonts have a lot to do with our relationship to words. For instance, you can change the impact of a word simply by changing the font: Compare SPORTY versus SPORTY.)
Without question, music is one of the most potent tone and manner elements an advertiser can use to express its brand personality. Since music has such powerful meanings to us individually, it helps us identify with a brand in a one-to-one relationship. Why do you think so many advertisers have lifted pieces of popular songs as scores for their broadcast advertising? Because if you're a member of the target market that a particular ad is geared toward, a song you like will resonate with you. Why can't you get that stupid jingle out of your head? Because they want you to remember them. In MegaPhone's case, they incorporate music based on modern pop but don't directly lift a hit song and stick it into an ad.
MegaPhone's brand personality is also represented by a slogan (also called a "tag line" or a "position line"). Many advertisers have slogans and you're certainly familiar with them: Nike's "Just Do It" comes to mind as a slogan that was not only a perfect embodiment of their philosophy, but also a concept that resonated strongly with their target market of athletes and athletic wannabes. Simply put, a slogan should reinforce the advertiser's raison d'etre and at the same time reflect the target market's wants and needs. MegaPhone's slogan is "Good Call," and it's spoken at the end of their ads. Often you'll notice that many companies don't use a slogan. That's probably because they believe that the strength of their product and the way their commercials are executed say everything. And that works for them.
Tone and manner will have some bearing on the types of people who'll be cast to appear in the spot. But the most important factor that will influence casting is the group of people just mentioned above: The target market that the ads will be directed towards.
The target market is the group of people who are most inclined to purchase a product or service, and the brief succinctly delineates who they are. Over the years it's been discovered that people make choices for very specific reasons, and even the slightest breath of a new perception can influence their reason to continue to be loyal to a product they've been using—or try a new one. That's why, these days, target market determination has become a very exact science. And for the MegaPhone strategy it's been determined that the target is "heavy cellular users," specifically younger businesspeople on the go. So the spot will be crafted to speak directly to the lifestyle of that group of younger business people. And that determination will ultimately dictate the type of roles to be cast. If MegaPhone had decided to advertise some other deal to a different target they sell to, say upper-income teens who are addicted to their cell phones, that would be a different strategy requiring a different tone and manner. And different casting specs as well.
Tone and manner put the face of the advertiser on the commercial, and also provide an underlying tone of voice—a kind of ephemeral way the commercial (read: brand personality) speaks to the target market. As I pointed out, a target market needs to feel that the advertiser is on their wavelength so they'll feel more comfortable making a purchase choice. In the case of MegaPhone, young businesspeople on the go live in an entirely different world and use their cell phones for different reasons than a target market consisting of younger teens. The advertising can't talk to either target the same way, and the creative team knows this.
Brand personality. Target market. Tone and manner. These three advertising elements are the DNA of a brand, and therefore, elements that are at the heart of a commercial. But there's another, a fourth element that is crucial to the creation of a TV commercial. This element could make a difference in your ability to understand what is happening in the script. So, let's spend a minute or two with the concept of concepts.
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