In this video, I’ll be getting to the nitty gritty of numbers involved with producing a TV advert, as well as how you might expect to track and analyse the campaign.
Okay. So first things first, at Hightower, our rate card for TV advert, creative and production starts at 5K plus VAT. This is for an assets-based TV advert using client’s video or photo assets, as well as using our extensive stock library. Included in this price is creative and script development, stock photography, graphics, voiceover, and library music. Also, importantly, includes all TV administration. This includes dealing with Clearcast, the arbiter of every advert that goes on TV. The role of Clearcast is to make sure every claim in a TV advert can be substantiated. You can hear me talk about Clearcast and a lot more detail in another video. The only element not included is the admin fee administered by the company which sends the finished advert to the TV stations.
Our starting price for a 32 second live action advert is 14K plus VAT. Live action needs to include a full crew of anything from six up to 60, depending on the scope and scale of the production. Clearly a crew of 60 would be a good deal more than 14K. Each production is unique, and naturally the more expensive the production, the more visually dazzling the end result would be. Production really is a case of how long has a piece of string, but in the case of Hightower, production rarely sales north of 75K, just to give you an idea.
Animation and computer graphics are also areas of specialism for us here at Hightower. We’ve produced 2D and 3D computer animation, as well as pretty much every flavour of graphics going. Animated or graphics-based TV adverts start at 16K plus VAT.
Media spend is, of course, the other side of the TV advertising coin. We worked closely with a number of excellent media agencies who will ensure a rock solid strategy for your TV advert. As far as expense is concern, a decent rule of thumb for media is to spend at least twice the amount on media per month as you would on the production. It’s a false economy to think you can get away with not spending a decent amount on media.
Fortune favours the brave. As long as creativity and strategy is done properly, the results can be pretty startling and transformative. 11 times ROI is what we achieved for a new advertiser to TV in the home improvement space. Results are tracked, in our case, by Adalyser, an extremely effective way to plan and execute a TV ad campaign extremely effectively. It’s similar to the best of digital platforms for social media.
Google Analytics also has a keen to play for the media agencies in tracking and interpreting ongoing strategy. The impact of the campaign can be measured differently depending on whether it’s a direct response or a brand campaign. With direct response, the impact is very measurable by the up second website visits or phone calls. With brand, this can also be measured by website visits and social engagement. Google Trends also provides great metrics as far as results are concerned.
Ultimately, we here at Hightower are laser-focused on providing the best possible ROI from either a brand or direct response campaign. We’ll plan strategy and creative with a media agency and walk you through the whole process step-by-step to ensure everything goes according to plan. To find out more, give us a call.
