8 tips for a successful TV or radio commercial

Your company has decided to create a TV or radio ad, and you're charged with overseeing production. Rod Starns, partner of the Emmy award-winning video production company, Running Pony Productions, offers this advice for a successful commercial:

1. The commercial should focus on one idea. Clearly and concisely emphasize your key message or selling point, and what sets your product or service apart from others.
2. Target your audience and the desired response. Who do you want to notice and respond to your ad, and what do you want them to do after seeing or hearing it?
3. Writing a 30-second script can be tougher than writing a 300-page novel. So don’t hesitate to hire a professional. Ask for references and writing samples or a demo reel.
4. Meet with your production company in advance and decide who’s going to direct or produce the spot. It’s a crucial role. So make sure you are comfortable working with the director or producer.
5. Don’t wait until the meter is ticking to revise the script or make changes that could have been worked out in advance.
6. When possible, try to correct problems during production, not after. That way, you can spend valuable post-production time enhancing the commercial, rather than fixing it.
7. Professional actors/actresses and voice talent make a huge difference. You may have friends, relatives, or co-workers who would be delighted to play a part for no pay. But why spend money to produce and run an ad if it looks and sounds amateurish?
8. Make sure to have a contract, release form, or other legal agreement with your talent. Among the things it should specify: how much and how the talent will be paid, the nature of the use of the performance, the way in which it will be reproduced and shown (which can be “all media anywhere in the universe, invented now or in the future”), how long you own the rights to the performance (which can be anywhere from one year to “in perpetuity”), and whether the talent may do similar work for a competitor during the terms of the agreement (i.e., if you’re a car dealer, you probably want an “exclusivity” clause to prevent your spokesperson from appearing in another dealership’s ads).