ANA Issues Guidelines For Achieving Cost Efficiencies In TV Production.

The Association of National Advertisers (ANA) has issued compelling new guidelines to its member companies for achieving cost efficiencies in TV commercial production. Created by the ANA’s Production Management Committee, the 15 guidelines cover a wide range of issues: from pre-production planning, to bidding procedures; from location shooting, to rights negotiations; from digital asset storage, to talent re-use considerations.

“Producing effective television commercials is one of the most important – and expensive – parts of the marketing process,” said Soni Styrlund, Production Management Committee Chair and Manager, Advertising Production, General Mills, Inc. “These guidelines represent the collective insights and experiences of over 40 major advertisers who comprise our Committee.”

Although the guidelines are advisory in nature, ANA president and CEO Robert Liodice noted, “Members look to the ANA for marketing knowledge and best practices. It is highly likely that advertisers will adopt many of these thoughtful guidelines, significantly reducing production costs throughout the industry.” The ANA’s 340 members represent more than 8,000 brands that collective spend over $100 billion in marketing communications and advertising.

The complete text of the 15 guidelines is available on here. Highlights of the guidelines include the following:

1- Formalize TV production guidelines. Prepare comprehensive guidelines that institutionalize best practices and establish expectations for all involved parties.

2- Use a production expert. Whether internal or external, project-related or ongoing, tap the know-how of an experienced production person.

3- Set production budgets prior to creative development. Establish upfront budget parameters for producing commercials as well as for testing them. Don’t discourage the agency from presenting ideas that exceed the parameters, but insist on options that stay within the budget estimate.

4- Set a realistic timeline prior to creative development. Clarify the airdate at the start of creative development so that a realistic timeline can be prepared.

5- Determine whether multiple bidding vs. single bidding is more advantageous. Potential cost considerations need to be balanced against deadline constraints, time-input and overall process efficiency.

6- Consider building individual spots into pools. Pooling the production of similar ads can reduce shooting days, resulting in significant cost savings.

7- Consider shooting in secondary U.S. markets as well as off-shore. Cities outside the major U.S. markets can provide a wealth of professional talent as well as other untapped resources.

8- Evaluate the number of shoot days required. Consider shaving a production day and extending overtime and/or using a pre-light day for product shots.

9- Use cost-plus on specific categories. Within a firm bid, convert certain expenses, e.g. crew, film, pension & welfare and location expenses to a cost-plus basis.

10- Break out color-corrected packaging for hero product. Use your design resource or internal capabilities to produce color-corrected packaging and mock-ups rather than paying agency or production company mark-ups.

11- Leverage the overall buying power of your company and your agency/holding company. Use your clout to negotiate reduced rates for such services as talent payment, commercial distribution, element storage and insurance.

12- Manage roles and responsibilities during the process. Limit the number of people involved in the production process. Empower one key decision-maker to call the shots during prep and production.

13- Establish a digital asset library to reuse and repurpose existing footage. Create a centralized, web-based storage facility for video, audio and logo assets. Before production begins, check this library to see what might be usable.

14- Set up a profit center for music. Actively claim and collect royalties for original music created for advertising. Be sure to negotiate retention of publishing royalties upfront.

15- Revisit talent payments and re-use often. Considerable savings are possible via careful attention to talent use and rotation scheduling.

The Association of National Advertisers, Inc. (ANA) is the industry’s premier trade association dedicated exclusively to marketing and brand building. Representing more than 300 companies with 8,000 brands that collectively spend over $100 billion in marketing communications and advertising, the Association’s members market products and services to consumers and businesses. ANA serves the needs of its members by providing marketing and advertising industry leadership in traditional and digital marketing, legislative and regulatory issues, information resources, professional development and industry-wide networking.

For more information at http://ana.org