For fifty years or more TV advertising was regarded as the holy grail of advertising but as there were only a couple of commercial networks available it was also extremely expensive and beyond all but the biggest brands. However,with the advent of the dot-com revolution during the past two decades many new and increasingly innovativeavenues for advertisers have emerged for them to use in the digital age.
But whilst advertising on websites, tablets and mobiles all have their place in a marketing plan we believe that TV advertising still has a very important role to play, especially since the digital switchover as almost all households can now access a wide range of commercial TV channels.
This means that there are many great opportunities for small and medium size businesses to advertise on channels such as Dave, Yesterday, Pick, Sky Sports, Drama or the numerous bespoke networks that now exist and this, in turn, has created the perfect opportunity for you to advertise your product or service directly to your target audience. For example, as you can see at the bottom of this blog, if you manufacture bicycles or their associated merchandise you can book slots on Eurosport or ITV4 during their coverage of the Tour de France and speak directly to your potential market.
The production costs for TV adverts that are going to be broadcast on the new networks are probably far cheaper than you may have expected. For example, here at Square Elephant Productions, our animated advert fees canstart at £2500 with live action ones beginning at £4000.
For those prices we offer a complete production service that includes scripting, development, animation, voiceover, editing, graphics, filming and delivery. We can arrange the necessary clearance through Clearcast and can produce adverts of differing durations and are able to tailor adverts to most budgets in addition to producing more extensive and elaborate adverts for more developed accounts.
Advertising is all about gaining exposure and no other avenue provides the instantaneous reach that television advertising does as it allows your business to showcase your product or service and encourage viewers to immediately engage via your website or social media.
The vast increase and diversification of the number of channels now available has helped to make television advertising a lot more affordable and cost effective for smaller businesses, especially as the adverts can also be uploaded onto YouTube, your website and social media. This gives it a unique flexibility and massive potential market reach and is why TV still offers the ultimate advertising opportunity for so many businesses.
These recent examples from our very own portfolio demonstrate what can be achieved on a small production budget.
ORRO Bikes 30 sec Animated TV advert
This 30 second advert was created and produced by Square Elephant Productions in just four weeks for ORRO Bikes using the existing images that they provided of their product. It was broadcast during Eurosport’s coverage ofthe 2014 Tour de France and the production costs came to less than £4000.
Bioflow Sport Magnetic Wristband 10 sec TV Advert
The Bioflow advert is only 10 seconds in duration but demonstrates how you can showcase your product in ashorter time span but then book a greater number of slots so that it makes a wide impact by being seen on multiple occasions, in this case during golf coverage. By combining bright colours and 3D technology with a clear voice overand backing music we were able to get the product across to the TV audience in a fun, creative and eye catching way.