Advertising Production Budgets To Utilise Cost-Saving Devices

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Advertising production budgets are, of course, subject to the same variables that influence ad-funded networks like ITV – which points to cost-saving devices such as more use of green screen and cheaper foreign locations (eg Serbia?). But there are other strategic issues for the sector, which are more to do with how you engage a media-savvy audience that increasingly expects to be marketed to on its own terms.

Trends likely to continue include the use of online virals, with brands trying to wrap their work up with an air of clubby exclusivity or creative subversion – while at the same time offering rewards and incentives. Hand in hand with this will come greater use of celebrities and sports stars, since they have the ability to engage with audiences and retain their attention.

The sector is also gradually making its move into 3D, since this reinforces the sense of spectacle that ads increasingly require to hook viewers. In the US, for example, Mini has just unveiled plans for a 3D slow-motion cinema and TV ad in which a monster truck attempts to jump over the roofs of four different Mini models. The ads come in various lengths and are supported by a range of online assets and a making-of film.

With a Facebook takeover planned during this week, it’s a classic example of how commercial campaigns are evolving.
If there’s one innovation which looks unlikely to happen, it is culture minister Jeremy Hunt’s ambition to see a network of city TV stations. A recent report confirmed that it would be hard to make such services pay, unless they are based on broadband delivery with limited levels of origination.