Screen Advertising for the Digital Age

Check out the latest gossip here, straight from the (eucalyptus) branch!

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National Express - Summer Behind the Scenes

Some behind the scenes action from the summer National Express shoot. See what goes into getting the shots you see on screen. National Express TV commercial –…

Want to see how we shoot aerial footage from a helicopter? Course you do!

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We spend a lot of time with Phil Sayer and Elinor Hamilton, every morning and every evening on our way to work in fact. They keep us company, and always make sure to remind us not to leave our bag on the train, or fall through the gap…such lovely people.

The husband and wife team, amongst other things, are the pre-recorded voices on several of the London tube lines.

Former BBC North News presenter, Phil is the iconic “MIND THE GAP” and Ellie has recorded thousands of service lines like “PLEASE KEEP YOUR BAGS WITH YOU AT ALL TIMES.”

They haven’t yet got a monopoly of the train lines, but they’re certainly working on it. Responsible for imparting information for both the underground and overground (and wombling free), they can be heard apologising for late trains and animals on the line up and down the country.

“We’re still at the point of it being a novelty where you want to rush up to complete strangers and say you hear that voice up there? That’s me! We went for a trip to London and we were on the station and every time the recorded announcement said something, I parroted it, deliberately close to people in the hope that they would turn around and go, hang on a minute, that’s you isn’t it? And nobody did…I was really disappointed.”

We spoke to them about their lives as VOs and got #BehindtheAds for you lovely people.

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Different kind of office lunch today. Just shooting a little something for @AmericanExpress 

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#BehindtheAds with DOP Ed Moore

Launching our new series of features #BehindtheAds - your sneaky peek behind the scenes from the people who make ads and get them to air.

Kicking off #BehindtheAds is Director of Photography Ed Moore. 

DOP and Camera Operator, Ed has worked on shows including Atlantis, Poldark and Dr Who, as well as having several film and commercial credits to his name.

Visuals are extremely important in advertising. With only twenty or thirty seconds to play with, both your visuals and your voiceover have got to work hard to get your client’s message across.

On a commercial shoot, the DOP is responsible for deciding on camera positions, lighting the set, and ultimately translating the director’s vision into shots a viewer can understand.

We spoke to Ed about what being a DOP involves, some of the favourite items in his tool kit, and the influence of Jurassic Park.

Q) An oldie but a goodie…best thing about being a DOP?

A) The ability to achieve creative expression via technical means — the perfect fit for me! I can’t imagine doing anything else.

Q) With all the technical advances, is being a DOP today more demanding now than it used to be?

A) DOPs have always had to keep on top of a changing technical landscape so I’d say that element has stayed pretty similar, even if the details have changed. It’s all about translating the director’s vision into reality. If I’ve done my job right the director, agency and client get the exact (or better!) results they were after, the producer has everything within budget, and everyone’s happy. Sometimes it takes a lot of paddling under the water to achieve that but it’s very satisfying if you can make it look easy!

Q) Favourite camera to work with for a commercial shoot?

A) We’re spoilt for choice these days for fantastic cameras – often I defer to the VFX and post team as to what they would prefer. The Red Epic with Dragon sensor is superb and shoots 6K – great for VFX. And the Arri Alexa is incredibly robust and produces beautiful images.

Q) What is the most useful item in your tool kit, and why?

A) Probably a simple polystyrene board, painted black on one side. Can bounce light back or use the black side to remove light as necessary. Costs practically nothing and can deliver a fantastic look just on its own. Wouldn’t leave home without a few!

Q) Would you say you have a particular visual style?

A) I would like to think I respond to the demands of the creative brief and the director’s vision rather than stamping my own look on everything. Left to my own devices however I do lean towards a glossy, “better than life” look that often works really well for commercials.

Q) If you could invent one piece of technology that would make shooting easier, what would it be?

A) I’m always needing to diffuse the sunlight to make everything look beautiful but it often requires big textiles attached to huge cherrypickers and a lot of rigging. If I could have a remote controlled cloud that I could move around and resize at will I would be a very happy DP : )

Q) Favourite film, and why.

A) Without a doubt, Jurassic Park. It came out when I was ten and I dragged every member of my family to see it several times. It was the first time it dawned on me that films were something that people made, rather than just things you watched.

Q) Oddest moment in your career?

A) I do often find myself holding a camera in some very strange places… crawling backwards into the darkness of a WW2 submarine’s torpedo tube was one; another was being strapped backwards into a large plastic elephant attached to a theme park ride to shoot the actors in the following compartment.

Q) What would you save in a fire?

A) Any electronic device that contains my painstakingly collected lists of directors’ and producers’ phone numbers! I can rebuilt the house if I’m still working!

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We’re launching something special tomorrow! Keep your eyespeeled for a #BehindtheAds treat  

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THE DOS AND DON’TS OF TV SPONSORSHIP

Sponsorship can be an effective and significant way for a brand to promote themselves through association, with the affiliation creating the effect that brands are known more widely than they actually are.

Studies have shown that the best results occur when bumpers create an obvious link between the sponsorship and programme content, particularly when the brand is introduced into the emotional relationship the viewer has with the programme.

The tricky thing to sponsorship is that it must be seen to be clearly separate from advertising, and there are some tight regulations in place that dictate what message you can create. Ofcom are red hot on these directives, and stations can get into a lot of trouble if they get the emphasis wrong.

Sponsorship can’t contain advertising messages or be seen to encourage viewers to purchase products or services, in any way shape or form. This includes detailing products or services offered, or marketing the brand in any way other than the association with the programme. Basically: NO ADVERTISING, OK?!! …try telling that to your client.

You can get a logo and a catchy tagline in there though, and if you can successfully navigate the balance between sponsorship regulations and creativity, the benefits can be huge.

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Think you can't do much with stills? Well, watch this.

It's all made, by us, using just still images.

Yes...we've still got it... 

Now, time for some more puns. How about, I’m still standing, or still the one.

Any and all pun suggestions welcome.

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Real or Rendered?

It's interesting to see how many people are opting for CGI in their adverts, and these days the graphics are so good, only a professional can spot what is real and what is generated.

So, who fancies a quick game of real or rendered? Answers at the bottom of the screen, but no cheating...we'll know.

A) Hillarys 'Advisor'

Hillarys 'Advisor' TV ad from Koala Limited on Vimeo.  

B) PETA '98% Human'

  C) John Lewis 'The Bear and the Hare'

ANSWERS 

A) only the people are real

B) the ape is rendered

C) OK...this one was designed to trip you up, we admit it! Everything is real, well as real as 2D animation can be. Each cell was individually hand drawn before being stop frame animated in a physical 3D model. Though a CGI version has been made:

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Cute is Clever!

Lately, we’ve had an increasing number of enquiries from clients wanting an ad with an animal character, and it’s not just because we’re called Koala.

There have been several hugely successful advertising campaigns with animals as the stars recently, and now, it seems, this tried and tested method is all the rage.

Market research suggests that brands who build an emotional connection with their consumers through advertising reap long-term benefits.

To put it simply – we’re all social animals that are driven by a need for community and a place to belong. We want something we can share amongst our peers, something we can have a good chat about as a way to establish recognition and…you guessed it…a totes emosh connection.

So, if viewers see something that resonates with them, they’re likely to share it via social media and talk about it amongst their friends and family. Over time, the affections generated by a good, emotionally stimulating ad will be transferred onto the brand itself…clever ey?

Cute and cuddly animals have always been the ultimate soft sell. They…

• Are unintimidating – CHECK! • Friendly – CHECK! • Appealing – CHECK, CHECK! • Provoke an emotional reaction – CHECK, CHECK, and CHECK!

Plus, the latest software is so developed, the possibilities of using animals to convey our intended message is almost limitless. No more filming for hours, waiting for an animal to give us the shot we need; we can produce high quality, realistic animals that you would struggle to tell are CGI.

Filmmakers of Life of Pi even had to prove to the Indian government that their tiger’s suffering was all computer generated.

We arguably live in an era of distrust and suspicion, and dislike being told what we want or need…which puts us in a pickle, ‘cause that’s the very basis of advertising. The antidote: put something cute that people will love front and centre.

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THE BRIEF

The style connoisseurs, Police Watches, fancied a rocking number that oozed cool, with a whiff of rebellion.

THE RESPONSE

An ad made entirely from six stills. Just another day for our motion graphics genius.

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Koala make the whole process a joy and their quality productions ensure we get the very most out of our media

Nice quote from Charlo Carabott, Managing Director of Mazumamobile.com

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Reg is back at them again in his new footie kit! 

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AFFILIATE STILL VIABLE?

The cost of affiliate marketing and display advertising is increasing.

Adobe Digital Index’s Global Digital Advertising Report for Q3 2014 shows that cost per click rates (CPC) are slowly increasing by 4% year on year globally, with average CPC growth for Great Britain now standing at 104%.

Click through rates (CTR) are going through the roof, with Great Britain seeing the highest increase at 20% year on year.

Auto and finance industries have seen the highest increase in CTR year on year, at 29% and 39%, respectively, where retail has seen a 12% increase.

With the average CPC rising, the cost of acquisition per person can be high. Advertisers have traditionally believed affiliate and display marketing to be the most economical form of advertising, but at what point do other approaches start to look more viable?

YouTube’s TrueView is currently proving to be a popular platform choice, marrying the best of affiliate marketing’s analytical tools, click through opportunities, and the played video ad.

Powered by Google AdWords, intelligent data capture is perhaps to be expected of TrueView, but applying these tools to content is an invaluable tool for advertisers. Instant data detailing what demographics are watching and how people interact with said ad can only help develop and make a campaign successful.

TrueView’s charging structure is different to that of the traditional CPC and CTR, with a cost per view charging method in place when a viewer watches an ad for an average of around 25% of the total length.

The ability to control who sees an ad and where it will appear are also extremely attractive features. Combine this with their charging structure, and the sums could add up.

Sky’s AdSmart, another intelligence based service, could prove to be a popular choice amongst those moving away from internet based advertising towards the more traditional broadcast arena, but who want to maintain control over when and where their ad is played, and who’s watching.

Using a mass of their own customer data, as well as the consumer profiler, Experian, AdSmart allows advertisers to cherry pick their target audience. What’s more, advertisers are charged per impression – where each targeted household sees at least 75% of the ad at normal viewing speed.

With TV advertising, you’re creating brand awareness in a mainstream arena as well as gaining the opportunity to generate leads and drive traffic to your website.

It’s a medium that creates long term emotional connection with audiences, and allows viewers to feel part of a shared experience, knowing that others are watching at the same time as themselves.

What’s more, the customer comes straight to you rather than through a third party, that means no commission payments to affiliates, so it could be well worth the cost. ThinkBox’s research certainly suggests so.

Arguably, the benefit affiliate marketing and display advertising held over TV was that it allowed advertisers to target a specific audience, however targeting has now come to TV.

Television as we once knew it has broadened its scope and reach. Video ads can be aired across numerous platforms such as linear TV, catch up TV, VOD, and internet TV. With that the potential possibilities for advertisers have grown innumerably.

So, with the cost of CPC rising, is it time to go back to TV?

All graphs from Adobe Digital Index’s Global Digital Advertising Report for Q3 2014, unless otherwise stated. Read the full report here.