AIS co-owner Chris Painter, left, and customer Rick Russell in a scene from the 30-second advertisement.
It was somehow fitting that the 30-second TV commercial we developed for client Advanced Insurance Solutions had one of its earliest airings during the Little League World Series.
After all, I first got to know Chris Painter, co-owner of AIS, several years ago when our sons played together in Hershey Little League.
Not only are Chris and his team really nice people, but AIS has given me an opportunity to build on the services that Goulet Communications typically offers. So in addition to media relations and blogging, for instance, we’ve coordinated AIS’ paid-media efforts.
Great partners
We’ve been able to collaborate with some great partners. Maureen Royer of Monarch Media Solutions has guided our media buying and scheduling. She also brought Chip Rutan on board to shoot the commercial.
The three of us had a pre-production meeting in late spring, during which I explained what I knew about AIS after a year of working with the family-owned independent agency. That helped give Chip the framework of the spot, which we presented to AIS a few weeks later.
With Chris’ blessing, Chip and I crafted the script. AIS works with 20 major insurance companies, including Grange Insurance of Columbus, Ohio, which is co-branded in the TV spot. After getting script approval from AIS and Grange, Rutan Productions’ videographers spent an August morning capturing video at AIS’ Chocolate Avenue office.
Doug Erwin, co-owner of AIS, works at his desk while Rutan Productions captures video.
Even after reading the script out loud myself, timing it against the stopwatch on my iPhone, I knew it was a lot of verbiage to get out in 30 seconds. When I reviewed the first cut of the commercial, I thought the voiceover actor was going to hyperventilate.
During Little League World Series
The actor’s voice had a “salesy” quality to it anyway, and trying to fit so much copy into such a short period of time made it all the more frenetic. So we snipped some words, tweaked some images, and Chip found a voice actor with a more relaxed tone.
Three days later we had the finished product. And three days after that the spot began airing. You’ll find it on HGTV, Lifetime Movie Network, TNT, Fox News and MSNBC. Maureen scored a major coup by getting the ad on during Red Land Little League’s first game against Texas.
By now, you no doubt know that Red Land came in second in the Little League World Series. If you haven’t seen the AIS spot, here’s your opportunity:
