How do... Who do... I pitch a national marketing campaign?
 

Hello to all,

I'd like to thank everyone, in advance, for any help with this question.

The Background:

I have created a series of nine "theme" :15 & :30 second commercial spots much along the lines of the "I'm a Mac & I'm a PC" commercial campaign. These commercials are, of course, along a completely different theme and intended for a national bank. I have shown these spots to my copyright/trademark attorney who loves the concept. I have also shown these commercials to six other trusted friends, none of whom are in the advertising industry but all of whom 'raved' about how well these commercials work. Everyone is tellng me I should sell these commercials as a national campaign to a nationally known bank.

The Questions:

Does anyone have any advice as to how much national advertisers pay for the concept & production for a national commercial, or series of commercials as a campaign?

Also, does anyone know if there are agents, managers, or attorneys, that work with either, banks or advertising agencies to help facilitate/pitching campaigns like this?

Does anyone have any other ideas they'd like to share as to how I might "create" the opportunity to present a concept campaign like this to a buyer?

Finally who are the gatekeepers and decision makers (with the power to write checks) that I need to target for a presentation?

Thank you all in advance for even reading this far. All hints, tips & advice will be deeply appreciated.

Sincerely,

Mario Salinas
mas@miracle-software.com

I think your best bet would be focus on ad agencies that handle national bank accounts. Generally, ideas for ads for national accounts are generated by ad agencies.

You can take a look at http://www.adage.com/index.php to begin to get an idea of how it all works.

Maro, if you figure this out, please return to this thread and send me an email about how it works. I developed a really cool beer commerical campaign concept a few years ago, tried to get anyone in the world who had some kind of power to listen to me and couldn't. At the time, there was a pitchfest that was trying to get ad agencies or advertisers, but ended up not getting them. I contacted a couple lawyers, beer companies...and they all said the beer companies won't take unsolicited ideas...they only go through their ad agencies. And the ad agencies handle everything in-house. Anyway, I gave up and went back to my screenwriting, figuring that's what I want to do anyway. If I break through there, I'm sure I can find a way to get my commercial ideas to someone important. Let me know if you figure it out.

I think Peter has the right idea. The advertisers hire ad agencies and the agency creatives come up with the market research, campaign ideas, scripts, visual concepts, etc. The ad agency then hires various production companies to shoot the video, do the photography, voice radio spots, etc. Some may do it all with in-house staff but I think many use outside companies and freelancers on a per project basis, depending on market. So circulate your spec ads to the ad agencies as examples of the quality of the work you can do for them. It's okay to have used a real company as the advertiser the ad is for, just don't expect to sell those specific ads for that company. Instead use your spec ads for the bank to pitch the ad agency who handles their account to hire you to shoot the agency's concepts and while you're at it, research other ad agencies who have major banks as clients and send your spec ads to them as well to illustrate what you could do for them and their clients if they hire you. Think of what you've done so far as more of a demo reel than a final saleable product - it's very unlikely that those ads will ever be picked up and used as they stand.

As others have said, this is NOT the way the industry works.

A commercial is the tiny tip of a HUGE pyramid of money.

Understand that the vast majority of the money spent in advertising goes to broadcast or display ads, NOT to produce them.

Because of this, all the eventually successful ideas START with carefully defined market research - travel through creative companies like ad agencies (where every bit of work involved is not only generated, but legally OWNED by the clients involved) and finally, tested and researched for effectiveness well prior to being shown to the public.

There used to be generic "packaged" ads like you've created that some companies made 20 years or so ago, but I haven't seen any in a long time.

If you've already created the work, the other poster is right. Use your work as a calling card to get a job in the industry. (If you're really interested in creating ads) Learn about it from the INSIDE.

Finally, remember, that if you really have created EXCELLENT work - you've already won the "lottery." Because real creative ability is it's own rare gift. While all individual "projects" come and go - you get to keep ALL the creative ability your work has honed. THAT's the real prize. This single thing might or might not fly - but everything you've learned in the process will help you make something else fly later.

(BTW, I was an ad agency owner, long, long ago)