Sponsor (Oct-Dec 1964)

com:m:e»ciai: critiquie Costs of production cut By Arthur Bellaire Creative director BBDO, San Francisco ■ Regardless of what a given commerical costs to produce, is it really worth it? And it not, what's the best thing to do? Cut corners while it's in production in order to bring it in as cheaply as possible? I don't think so. I think that's too late. I think it's cheaper to have a better idea in the first place. After all, ideas are probably the cheapest commodity there is. Oh, we have to pay through the nose now and then to inspire somebody to have one, but nobody has a corner on them. Not even the advertising business has a corner on ideas. When I say that it takes ideas to cut production costs, I am not at this moment referring to those basic ideas which all advertising needs — those ideas which select the strongest selling appeals to form the basis for copy. I am referring to another kind — communicative ideas — on which lie the burden of the successful execution of basic appeals. In other words, in television it ain't just what you say that counts — it's how you say it. Start with a sound basic copy story, expressed in a strong basic theme: that's what to say. Then select a technique that's going to express this basic idea in the most compelling and interesting way possible: that's how to say it. True, that goes not only for tv copy but for all media. But in television that's where too many copywriters start asking the advertisers for production money rather than asking their brains for good ideas. Some techniques do need money to make them come off, but more often than not an idea is good because it is simple and uncluttered. It just takes thinking. "The brain is a wonderful organ," said Robert Frost. "It starts working the moment you get up in the morning and it doesn't stop until you get to the office." If television is a medium of closeups — and it is — then playing it close to the eyelashes is more often right than it is wrong — and reasonable in cost more often than expensive. Shooting in close-up is a good place to begin because it concentrates the interest and comes out big. This is where empathy begins. Playing it in close-up can cause many wonderful things to happen in addition to a lower production budget. The close-up is intimate. It involves. And these days we have to involve or we are lost. Simply saving money in the production of commercials is hardly an end in itself. But having a good idea is — because a good idea really involves the customer. And a good idea is generally a simple idea. And a simple idea generally costs less to produce than a complex idea. One impression I don't want to leave is the thought that when a good idea occurs it automatically saves money. It's just that the copywriter or producer who looks for ideas and watches the dollars will be more likely to get his money's worth when a larger investment is required. The odds are always in his favor. Animation, as you know, comes in many prices. Most commercials can thrive without it, but in those cases where we decide we need animation, more often than not some Hmited form at a limited price will do the job nicely. If you must animate, have a reason. And if you need good quality, have a reason to pay that extra price. Take Mr. Magoo, for example — that nearsighted, bumbling, myopic little salesman who is now in his fifth year selling General Electric light bulbs. This is not cheap animation by any means, but judging by Magoo's record-selling light bulbs, we're really getting our money's worth. ARTHUR BELLAIRE a vice president and member of the board of directors of Batten, Barton, Durstine & Osborn, recently moved to the agency's San Francisco office as creative director. Previous to his West Coast appointment Bellaire was creative director in charge of tv and radio production in New York. He joined BBDO in 1943 as a print copywriter, transferred to the radio copy group in 1945, began creating tv commercials in 1948, took charge of radio/tv production in New York in 1962. Prior to joining BBDO, Bellaire was a news writer with NBC and a radio new.s writer with the United Press. He is a member of numerous advertising committees, chairs the newly-formed 4A committee on tv commercial production. Author of the book "Tv Advertising— A Handbook of Modern Practice," Bellaire has also written many articles on tv commercials. When you total it all up, it's actually not one idea a good tv commercial must have, it's two: first the basic theme idea, expressing what the advertiser wants to say; and second, the communicative idea. Isn't it a shame that the number of commercials cluttering up tv today seem to have no ideas at all — or seem to have one without the other. It's the horribly frightening reliance on extra production values to make up for lack of basic selling ideas that's causing a waste of many advertisers' dollars on television today. Overconcern for aesthetics. Under-concern for selling. Fortunately, some advertisers still insist on basic ideas and communicative ideas in one and the same commercial. It takes a bit more thinking, but it pays off. ♦ November 9, 1964 63