Everyday Canvas

Commercials

Prompt: What Christmas commercials have touched your heart this year?

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I really don’t watch TV much, and I don’t pay attention to commercials anymore. So, I can't really answer this question fairly, but I can write what I know about how commercials are made for Christmas or for any other thing.

Years ago, an ad-scriptwriter who used to work for an advertisement company told me that the commercials that work the best are the ones that tell a story. So, before anyone tries to put something on the market, they write a story first. In fact, they write several stories, and then, they choose the best story for their project.

Then they all have what they call a “swipe file” in which they accumulate just about anything, all ads, letters, brochures, postcards, flyers, etc. This is to get ideas and inspiration.

The media they’ll advertise it has to be decided upon first. Then, there’s a meeting of manager, assistant manager, marketers, scriptwriters, and artists, photographers, cameramen, etc.

For whoever is writing the script, the most important thing is the first sentence, which has to grab the attention. In other words, the hook has to be in the first sentence or the first visual. Usually, everyone works together on the script and the filming.

In the end, the manager has to approve the script and the video or whatever media is used. Only after that, the commercial goes to the marketer and is aired.

This is what little I know about making a commercial.