“Making” Commercials

The company I am completing my internship with specializes in political communications, mostly media. Against common misconceptions, this does not mean that we simply “make” commercials. Our publics are being slammed with overwhelming amounts of advertisements each day making sure that it is our clients message that stands out is a lengthy process.

As with any good process, ours begins with research. We talk to the client and to his or her staff. We see what media has to say. We look for something different. The entire district might know that Senator XYZ served on this committee for 3 years and has a background in corporate finance, but we look for something more. We have to get to the inside of the client.

Once we understand the client on a deeper level, we dig into the direct purpose of the messaging. We learn what language, issues and terms are most popular with our target audience. The client might have a passion for conserving energy, but if the district’s people care most about national security, we need to work that in.

In a perfect world we would gather this knowledge, write and produce a script and the world would be swell. But there is one little problem: the opposition. Other candidates have sweet words, too. Sometimes they even have bitter words about our client. In these cases, we arm the offensive and defensive positions. We strategize to combat the opponent while convincing the audience of the truth in our client.

All of this strategic planning doesn’t even include the script-writing, coaching, filming, editing, broadcasting and post-public management. Depending on conditions the whole process can take a few weeks or a few months.

Once a spot is sent to station and broadcasted we monitor the public’s response. With polls, we discover who saw it, who likes it and who will give their support. From the responses we go back to the drawing board to evaluate and plan the next step. Communications never goes to sleep. And it never ends.

This process is why we don’t “make” commercials.