You don’t need a supermarket’s budget to be on TV. You do need to spend it carefully. Here’s where the savings really are.
Make the ad from what you already have
If you’ve got decent footage and photography, we can build a TV ad from it: new voiceover, music, graphics and a proper end frame, cleared and delivered. We call it a library ad. It’s the cheapest route to air, and a good one looks nothing like a compromise.
If you shoot, shoot once for everything
Plan the shoot around every version you’ll ever need: the TV master, cutdowns, social versions in square and vertical, and stills for the website. One well-planned day beats three scrappy ones.
Keep the cast small and the locations close together. Every extra location is a company move, and company moves eat shooting time.
Don’t buy national airtime
Start in one region. ITV and Channel 4 sell regional airtime, and it’s how plenty of brands test TV before they scale. CI Group’s first campaign ran on Channel 4 South only, and paid back £5 for every £1 in five weeks.
Addressable TV goes smaller still. Sky AdSmart and the broadcasters’ streaming services can show your ad only to households in your postcodes, or only to homeowners, so you’re not paying for viewers you can’t serve.
Buy at the right time
Q4 is the most expensive time of year for airtime. January to March is usually much cheaper, and people are in the mood to plan home improvements, holidays and big purchases.
Make it work hard for years
The cheapest ad is the one you don’t have to remake. Crocodile’s 2016 ads are still on air ten years later, refreshed with new offers and end frames rather than reshot. Ask for a shoot that’s built to be updated: date changes, new prices and new offers without going back to set.
Measure it
Use a tracked phone number or a dedicated web address, and watch your direct and branded search traffic while the ad is on. If you can see what each week of airtime brought in, you can decide whether to spend more with confidence.