TV Ads

Can a TV ad be created in 3 weeks?

On July 4, I sat down for a meeting with B and D of blackpencil, a niche agency within the Burnett world. I described the need to get a TV ad for PSR up running and up running FAST. Both of them had this another-crazy-client look on their faces. After all, I was also working with Arc Worldwide on a print campaign and it just didn't seem feasible to commit to the schedule I needed.

Three days later, I approved their storyboards for two 15-sec TVC's. The concepts featured a maid and a driver - newly minted PSR millionaires. Originally, I was thinking of getting Kris A to be a celeb endorser, but blackpencil found a cheaper and quicker alternative.

By July 20, we were shooting the ad in a rented house in White Plains. We were super lucky. There had just been a typhoon but the sun broke through for the first time in three days when we did the shoot. We did the interlock the next day and broke the ads on July 23, just 19 days after our first meeting.

More importantly, we were just in time for the last week before the first draw and the TV ads fueled a nice spike in text entries. The TV ad made me think: with PSR, it was clear that everything would always be on a RUSH basis.