TV Commercials - Need some user input on these!

Kevin Mc wrote on 1/26/2011, 2:01 PM

Greetings Vegas Pro-ers,

My firm recently created four 10-second TV spots for a local event, The Draft Horse Classic. I am hoping to get some input from anyone willing to view these ads. It will take less than 1 minute to view all four. I need an audience of viewers who, 1) don't know me personally, and 2) know a little something about video production - so your comments can be technical in nature. Please post honest, positive and negative comments - I can take it :)...

The Pitch:
What we pitched to the client were four "elegant" ads with a single, simple, slow-motion video image taken from last year's event - displayed in high contrast, using a vignette to greatly soften the edges. The video is supposed to be a little dark - as you'll see. The ads are supposed to catch your eye without the use of hype. This is the only event of its kind in the nation, so these ads fall under the category of a mature market where our client felt that we only needed to entice and remind the viewers that the event is coming up (again, without hype).

The Audio is the exact same for all four ads - feel free to comment on what you like and don't like about the audio track. All suggestions are welcome at this point - and needed to help us wrap up this project.

Here's the link:

All four ads will run in succession, with a 5 second break between each. I'll leave these online for about a month to allow discussions.

Thanks in advance for taking a look!
--Kevin

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Comments

rmack350 wrote on 1/28/2011, 11:54 AM

Got to agree about the horse sound. Seems high for a big burly draft horse, but then you want something people can hear from their kitchens and bathrooms.

I like the images, some more than others, but none of them telegraph the idea of "draft horses" to me. Then again, I mostly just see police horses here in SF.

Rob Mack

Dach wrote on 1/30/2011, 6:04 AM

After taking a look at the four videos, first... congrats on the job.

I can only speak in regards to my market, where we don't even do 10 second spots. While there may be adjustments made to the video, I believe the biggest issue is that its only 10 seconds.

I would think that a more dynamic and informative spot could be done in 30 seconds versus the 10. (Use same imagery, add more detailed VO, sharpen closing title sequence)

Of course we have to work with the direction given to us by our clients.

Chad

mtntvguy wrote on 1/30/2011, 8:38 AM

Elegance doesn't necessarily rule out humor. Remember the Cadburry Bunny (a chicken).

So, maybe you could replace the horses with pigs that whinny, and use v/o talent with a British accent.

That suggestion aside, the rack focus text was too slow and it made it hard when it finally got there.

mountainman wrote on 1/30/2011, 10:38 AM

I'm not sure where your going to run a 10 second spot. 15's maybe. A better approach might be to produce a full 30 second commercial that explains everything your trying to sell.
Then you could produce several 15’s that could/might be inserted before and after some other commercial.

If you walk into most broadcast/cable outlets with 10 second spots they are going to look at you like you are from another planet. I've been producing tv spots for almost 20 years and I have never produced a 10 second spot. YMMV

JM

rs170a wrote on 1/30/2011, 10:50 AM

mountainman, I don't know where you live but I'm across the river from Detroit Michigan and all the networks there (CBS, NBC, ABC, Fox) regularly use 10 sec. spots.
They are quite often packaged as a 30 spot but contain 3 x 10 sec. ones.
A recent visit to a local movie theatre had "Got Milk" spots that only ran 5 sec. - and were extremely annoying :(

Mike

mountainman wrote on 1/30/2011, 8:51 PM

Well I live out here in Montana. I've never seen a local spot that was 10 seconds, at least intentionally. I don't see any way that you could deliver a new message in 10 seconds. An ad campaign with a nice 30, then maybe a 10 as a follow up, that would be fine. You can buy a 30 spot on cable here for very little money. You can buy a couple of hundred spots on cable for 4 or 5 hundred bucks a month, plus ROS. If the local market is selling only 10 second spots, I seriously think I'd look to spend my advertising money elsewhere. JM

PM guess I'll have to get out my stop watch!

Steven Myers wrote on 1/30/2011, 9:55 PM

...mature market where our client felt that we only needed to entice and remind the viewers that the event is coming up...

Many seem to have ignored this part of the OP's message. They aren't trying to sell anything new. The customer base is already in place and just needs a reminder.

busterkeaton wrote on 1/31/2011, 1:49 AM

I like the imagery, but agree the audio is a bit jarring.

What other sounds do draft horses make? clip clop of the hooves or jingling of the reins/tackle might work.

Also to my ears it's disturbing to hear "Draft Horse Classic" with a "The" or "The Annual"
or "The Legendary" or some form of the article.

busterkeaton wrote on 1/31/2011, 1:52 AM

As I reread your first post, you use "The Draft Horse Classic," so that probably is the common way to refer to it.

JasonATL wrote on 2/1/2011, 8:05 AM

Spots 1 & 4 convey draft horse to me. I thought they were quite good overall, with very nice video. Nice job.

In my opinion, the text takes too long to fade in. I am guilty of this often. I like smooth fades. In this case, you spend 10% to 20% of the spot's time fading the text in. Perhaps have the text screen (with name and date) "behind" the video and fade/blur only the video out over one second to reveal the text, then the bottom text enters. I didn't time everything out on a timeline, but I would focus my time there.

Also, "elegance" to me often means simplicity. There are four colors on the text screen (in addition to black). I like the consistency in font, even if I don't particularly think the font speaks elegance (but I recognize it might be the client's). The client's color scheme/identity and font, if familiar and established, should show through here. Is the red one of their colors? If not, I'd drop and help the text using the brown, perhaps with a yellow shadow? To me, on less color would clean up the text screen. This also keeps with the video that is quite simple in its tones/colors (a good thing).