5 Tips on Creating a TV Advert 

Filming video content is challenging at the best of times – after all, every client has their own expectations, budgets, timescales, and even distribution platforms. There is a huge blood, sweat, and tears that goes into the entire process of creating a TV advert, especially when you want to go above and beyond to make the project a success.

We recently had a project with Panasonic, who approached us an idea to create a 30 second advertisement for use on Lufthansa’s in-flight entertainment systems. It had a very tight deadline, which meant working over the Christmas period. Not a problem for us.

So, it got us thinking – if we were to distill that project into 5 hints and tips that we could pass on, what would it be? Well let’s take a look!

1. Audience and context is key

Before you step into any ideation process for a TVC-style advertisement, you firstly need to understand where your content is being watched. Is it going to be on a small mobile phone in the middle of a waiting room, or a huge outdoor projector screen? In our unique case, it would be a relatively small screen around 4,000ft in the air of a Lufthansa flight.

So, we needed to get into the mindset of leisure and business travellers – do they want something fast-paced to capture their attention, or calmer and still to reflect their own state of mind whilst up in the air? And how do we optimise the content so that it makes them want to watch it.

Taking all these thoughts into consideration, we opted to build a video around a calmer aesthetic, planning a highly stylised, meditative piece to reflect the stillness of being in the clouds. 

2. Plan, plan, and plan!

As with any video production project, clients are putting their utmost faith in you in delivering what they’re asking for. The risk is relatively low on a small production, except for damage to your credibility as a video company. But, as the scale of the production gets bigger, so too does the risk. Then it doesn’t just become about credibility, but also financial risk. So it’s important to mitigate that risk as much as possible, and planning is the best mitigator.

With Panasonic, there were a lot of meetings in a short time frame, and with good reason. There were a lot of international stakeholders, spread across both Panasonic Japan and Panasonic Europe. It’s important that with so many different people involved, that everyone is fully informed on the expectations, creative direction, and schedule of the production. There are different ways to achieve this:

• Scripting – developing the initial backbone of the project with a story that everyone believes in, and hits the keep campaign goals.
• Storyboarding – building a visual representation of the script, which everyone can visualise.
• Location – finding the right location ahead of time, taking photos, and understanding how it fits into your idea.
• Building a team – with bigger productions, you need a strong crew behind you to support your idea and vision.
• Schedules – knowing how long you’re going to take with each scene, who needs to be where, and build contingencies in case you run over.
• Catering – there’s nothing worse than filming on an empty stomach, so people need food!
• Risk assessment – you don’t want people hurting themselves as it can ruin a production, so plan and mitigate and risks before you start filming.

If you’re ticking all these details off as you go along, the chances of a successful production is much higher. We all love that, don’t we?

3. Make a hook that grabs your audience

Most TV commercials are 30 or shorter – that’s not a whole lot of time to sell a project or service, let alone convey a story or brand image! Because of this, it’s super important you focus your intent in the video so you can instantly grab and hold your audience’s precious attention. You get one opportunity to do it right, so don’t fill your video with random content to eat up time. Trim the fat as much as possible.

But, it doesn’t have to follow the typical content farm social “stop scrolling!” call to action. There are other, more nuances ways to nudge your audience in the right direction, which generate intrigue and interest.

Our commercial for Panasonic was planned to grab their attention by showing intriguing and cinematic close ups of particular scenes, withholding information in a way that makes them curious. Certain products were shown in a way that showcased interesting shapes and textures, but without showing the whole product. Pairing that with a bold voiceover, this immediately, but softly pulls the audience into your world before they think about switching off. No flashy images or loud sounds, but a simple story conveyed with the right voice and beautiful imagery. 

4. Budget + time constraints = opportunity

It’s incredibly common in video production that we get all excited when the brief comes in – ideas swirling around our heads, coming up with elaborate and complex ideas, large sets and crews. Then the budget is set, and you realise that you’re way higher than the figure the client has given you!

But, as with any commercial project, this is the opportunity to flex your creative muscles. Whilst blue-sky thinking and bold ideas should always be encouraged, coming back down to earth with a tighter budget can force us to think outside the box, make creative decisions that ultimately cut the fat, and end up with a much sharper and focused end product. When you have to work within budget constraints, that’s when you really have to make every shot count. 

For this project, we weren’t just constrained by budget, but also time.  We had a huge brief delivered to us, but only one day to film it. Right before Christmas.

What becomes an initial goal of filming in different locations to improve production value, becomes the opportunity to condense locations and focus on extracting the maximum potential of those locations. We focused on adopting an approach that meant we could change lighting and camera techniques in the same location to make it feel like a completely new location. Use lots of close up shots, new lighting styles, and hey presto!

5. Be agile on the shoot day 

As much as we’re all about meticulous planning and scheduling for a successful shoot day, there is almost always hurdles that pop up along the way. There’s always a fine balance between focusing on your vision as a direction (i.e. no compromises!), and running a production that is pragmatic – in the sense that you’re able to get the shots you need vs want.

On the shoot day for Panasonic, we knew the schedule and timings were going to be incredibly tight. We had a huge number of scenes, limited time, and a huge location that needed kit to be dragged around a lot. Based on that, we had a feeling that things might run behind schedule, so we focused on what shots we needed, and what shots we could live without. And with some clever trickery from our Director of Photography and Gaffer, we were able to ‘cheat’ certain scene to get the most out of our limited time. 

We can’t plan for every eventuality, especially when you have a thousand moving parts when it comes to video production. So being agile and adaptable when shooting is a must, to ensure the client gets the end product that you pitched and that, ultimately, everyone is thrilled with. 

Final thoughts

Experience is the biggest asset you bring to any commercial project. It’s what allows you to balance creativity with constraints, ambition with realism, and planning with adaptability. When deadlines are tight and expectations are high, experience helps you make the right calls quickly – what matters most, what can flex, and where to focus your energy for maximum impact.

Get the fundamentals right. Understand your audience. Plan properly. Stay agile when things shift. Do that consistently, and even the most demanding briefs become opportunities to create work everyone’s proud of.

If you need any help, then get in touch.