The Advertising Q&A: who, what, when, how, why

Hi guys, my last post was taking you on a journey of how I came to do my latest ad this week. It was interesting as the ad was specifically for the Singaporean market yet it was shot right here in London. I shared this story with a Singaporean friend of mine and he asked me some questions which I shall answer here - some questions took me by surprise as I didn't expect them, like, do you know anything about how advertising works?! Then again, he is an intelligent, highly educated Singaporean - he just doesn't work in advertising. His only experience with advertising is that as a passive consumer, when he stumbles upon them in life. So here's the Q&A based on his questions.

Q: Why was this ad shot in London and not Singapore, if it was meant for the Singaporean market? 

A: The client is a big European company, they have a long standing relationship with a creative/ad agency who do all their advertising campaign. They may have a marketing department, but all their ad work is outsourced to this agency in London who are one of the best in the advertising world. This kind of arrangement is not surprising at all - many big companies choose to outsource certain functions even though they can do it in-house. It boils down to whether you think you can do a better job of it yourself and if you can't - you outsource that function to an expert. 

Analogy time: a big hotel may have many kitchens in their restaurants, but they may choose to just buy their bread rather than bake all the bread themselves. If a bakery near the hotel can supply that bread and deliver it promptly in time for breakfast at a reasonable price, then that decision to buy the bread instead of baking it make sense if they have get an excellent product at a good price and if they know they cannot produce better bread themselves.

Would a hotel bake their own biscuits or just buy them?

As their ad agency is based in London, they decided to make this ad in London where their production team is. Given that the two shoot locations were a boardroom and film studio, it was not like it was location dependent: we didn't have to be in Singapore. Don't be surprised when I tell you that many of the ads for international brands that you see in Singapore were in fact shot elsewhere like London or New York. The reverse simply doesn't happen though, like I'd never see an ad meant for the UK market being shot in Singapore - that just doesn't happen. The creative/ad agencies in Singapore serve a far more local market, unlike their counterparts in London and New York. 

Q: You mentioned that one of the models/actors you worked with is very experienced and has been in Skyfall, does being experienced help you get that kind of work? Do casting directors look at your CV?

A: No. There were 3 models in this ad, there's Dave who's the big star - he has a very impressive CV. Then there's June who's done virtually nothing before and then there's me in between the two extremes: I have done some work but nothing as impressive as Dave. So if experience was so vital, then how do you explain June's success then at the casting when she has virtually no experience? I don't think casting directors even bother looking at your CV for this kind of casting - I've been rejected by a casting director earlier this year for another ad because she recognized me from another commercial I have done and she said that my face was too recognizable. Being experienced does mean you know how to handle challenging auditions more confidently, but it wasn't a factor in this case. 

Q: What did you have to do at the audition, since this is just for a photo shoot? 

A: I simply had to sit down on a chair and do certain things that a passenger would typically do on a plane - look out of the window, drink a cup of water, fall asleep, adjust a seat belt, talk to a fellow passenger, read a magazine. There was virtually no 'acting' involved - they just wanted us to be as natural as possible. 

That's me on a plane! A real plane, en route to Iceland.

Q: What kind of look were they looking for at the casting? 

A: The casting brief was to find three actors/models who looked "Singaporean" - the age range was defined as 35 to 50. They had to look like professional business executives who traveled a lot for work. As this ad was for the Singaporean market, they wanted the models to look Singaporean. I suppose the message of the ad may be more effectively conveyed to the Singaporean public if the audience could identify with the models they see in the ad - well, at least that's what they thought, I'm not complaining! 

Q: Were all three models Singaporean then?

A: No. They did look Singaporean enough I guess, June is Chinese-Malaysian and Dave is British-Chinese (born in Wales, parents from HK). As it was a photo shoot, it all boiled down to the casting director deciding who looked the part and it was not a beauty pageant - we were selected on the basis that we looked the part of professional business executives from Singapore, not because we were stunningly beautiful. So it was, "would these three models fit right in if they were spotted on the MRT on a Monday morning?", rather than, "are these three models gorgeous and sexy?"  

What does a Singaporean look like?

Q: If it was just a look they're after, couldn't they have then done the casting based on photos then? 

A: Yes they could have. But some casting directors prefer to meet you in real life and see what you're like to work with, how you respond to directions from a director - some actors also have photos which are very flattering or from some years back so they prefer to double check what you look like in real life. 

(Here's the question that floored me and made me go, duh, WTF?)

Q: So if they're after passengers who look real, why don't they just go to Heathrow airport and grab some real passengers who have just come off a flight from Singapore and take the photos then? Why bother with this whole casting and shoot process which must have taken ages and cost so much money? 

My Singaporean friend suggested grabbing passengers off a flight from Singapore.

A: Here's how the relationship between the ad agency and the client works: the client (in this case, a major player in the aviation industry) would have given the ad agency a budget to create an ad for this event in Singapore. The ad agency then creates a very detailed plan of exactly what goes into the ad campaign - every word that appears in the ad is scrutinized, debated over and edited many times before they have the final copy approval. The content of the actual photo is decided way in advanced. For example, they wanted two men and a woman in that photo - this decision to have two men and one woman was probably a joint decision that was made between the ad agency and the client. 

This is not some independent film director going out there with his video camera, shooting random things and then piecing them together on his computer, not quite knowing what he may come up with. No, the ad agency and the client already have a very clear image of exactly what they wanted to create and thus, I was very lucky in that I matched their idea of what a Singaporean businessman should look like and that was why I was selected for the job. The fact that I am actually from Singapore (yup, I was born in Singapore and even served NS) is completely irrelevant. 

I was the only model on this ad who is genuinely from Singapore!

Q: Does the client really micromanage every single detail like that on an ad? 

A: You underestimate just how the ad agency micromanages every single detail of what goes into this ad. They spent about three hours deciding which blue tie I should wear for this ad and the costume manager couldn't just say, "let's go with this one, that's a nice shade of blue." No, we had to take photos of me wearing all these different blue ties and then representatives from the client couldn't make a decision for that on the spot - they had to then email those photos to someone very senior at head office, just to make that final decision of which tie was most suitable. 

June had to wear a pair of glasses in this shoot as part of her costume and they made her try on so many pairs of glasses before finally narrowing it down to a few: then we went through the same process as with my blue tie. They photographed her in those glasses, emailed the photos to the client's head office for someone very senior to make a decision. Then there were these cups of water in the shot - they had prepared so many different cups and glasses, just to decide on the spot which one looks right and some of those cups looked so similar. 

I tried on so many different ties!

Now I know what you may be thinking, what difference would that make? Would it ruin the ad if the model wore a slightly different tie or if the tie had the wrong shade of blue? Are such details really that important? 

Q: Shouldn't they have made such decisions prior to the shoot? Rather than make you try on so many different ties, shouldn't they have decided on the tie in advance if they are so meticulous? 

A: Yes and no. Yes they could have - but they wanted to see how it looked on me and perhaps they couldn't make such a decision without actually seeing that tie on me and how it goes with my face and everything else I was wearing. I suppose they could have called me in a day early specifically for a costume fitting and usually they would do a costume fitting day if time permits - they'll however have to pay me and the costume manager for our time to arrange for such a costume fitting of course. Budget wasn't the issue in this case though, but it was time. I was only confirmed for the job last minute, so they didn't have time to arrange such a costume fitting. 

The studio location on the second day of the shoot.

Q: Why does the client get the final say in everything - like, what is the director there for? 

A: Now, to understand this contentious issue, you have to understand the relationship between the ad agency and the client: the client is paying for the creative agency to create the ad they want. Technically speaking, the client can make the final decision on every single minute detail of the ad, right down to which blue tie the model should wear. Some clients are happy to trust the director/photographer from the ad agency to make such decisions, whilst other clients prefer to control every detail - it is pretty common to find clients who wish to exert a certain amount of control over the creative process, after all, they are the ones paying for this ad to be created. 

This is why the thought of going to the airport and trying to find someone who has just come off a plane is just... gosh, where do I even begin man! The client would never agree to this because you don't know who you're going to encounter at the airport, you have no idea if they will agree to be in your ad, you don't know if they will be wearing the right clothes. you are leaving everything to chance and that is just not the way you create an ad. Perhaps if you're filming some kind of airport fly-on-the-wall style documentary (which has been done before), then you can just show up at an airport and hope that something interesting happens (see the Youtube video below). But otherwise, to create an ad, you do the exact opposite - you leave nothing to chance and you make sure you control every single little detail. 

If the client is willing to pay the ad agency a huge amount of money to create the perfect ad they want, then why not? Remember, these companies have deep pockets and very big marketing budgets: money is not a problem for them at all! It is a luxury to be able to be in control of every single detail of the creative process - remember, there is absolutely no requirement for them to be 'authentic' in this ad: so whilst the ad is targeting the Singaporean market, they are under no obligations whatsoever to use Singaporean models, who are actually on a flight from Singapore or even shoot it at an airport: none of it needs to be real! It's an advertisement for crying out aloud, it's not a news report. 

So I was very lucky that the photographer I worked with was super efficient and worked very quickly to deliver the right photos (which matched the client's satisfaction). Technically speaking, I could have sat there posing for many, many hours if the client simply said, "no no no, that still looks wrong, change the lighting, change the props, get the models to change their clothes, I want this changed, I want that changed etc." They just have to pay me overtime and more importantly, they know they are working with a professional like myself who is willing to be patient and pose for hours if necessary without complaining. Would a random person they grab at the airport be willing to pose for hours very patiently? Do you want to leave something like that to chance? No, clearly not! 

Models have to pose patiently for many hours on a shoot.

Q: Aren't they trying to reflect something realistic that is happening on planes or in airports in this ad? 

A: Remember: this is NOT about trying to capture anything that is authentic or realistic. It is not a documentary or a news report. It is about creating an image that conveys the message of the product. We didn't even shoot this in an airport or on a plane! The two shoot locations were a building on the South Bank (central London) and a film studio is Harlesden (north-west London). Even if the image captured for this ad is one that reflects something that happens all the time on flights, it is a carefully constructed image that is designed to convey a certain message about a product. 

Think about the ads that airlines create for TV, they are never ever shot using real passengers on real flights. They would all be actors who are selected for their looks, who would gladly perform for the camera as many times as possible until the client is completely satisfied with the performance. Okay let me give you a good example for this - have a look at this memorable ad from 2012 for British Airways. This is by no means a realistic representation of a real British Airways flight (yeah right) but a funny, quirky, memorable commercial specifically for the 2012 London Olympics. 

It's not a real flight, those are actors nor real passengers and guess what? Those of us watching the ad know that - we know we are watching an ad, we know it is not a news report or a documentary about real BA flights. The audience is intelligent and discerning enough to realize the difference between an ad and a documentary/news report. Sorry if I am making a point which I thought is pretty darn obvious, but my Singaporean friend just doesn't get this. 

Q: Where is the creativity then? If the client is deciding on every single detail on the ad, then the ad agency merely executes it? I have friends working in advertising who claim they are so creative, that they come up with all these brilliant ideas - but you make it sound like the creativity is on the part of the marketing departments of the client, rather than the advertising agencies. Are they really creative or not? 

How creative are those working in advertising then?

A: The creativity happens far earlier in the process - the client would basically approach the ad agency with a project, like, "we are going to be at this major event in Singapore, we want to showcase this new product in Singapore - can you create something for this event please?" That's when the creative process begins, the ad agency would then brainstorm various ideas to convey the message of the product: can the ad be humorous? Must it be serious and corporate? Can it be quirky and memorable? Who is the audience and what is the best way to convey that message to the audience? So many questions will have to be answered at that stage. 

The ad agency then has to pitch several ideas to the client for the ad - the client can then either pick one they like or say, "I'm sorry but none of these ideas are really right for us, could you please come up with something else different." This is when the ad agencies are at their most creative! Once they finally decide on the right path to take, that's when the client can start getting more and more involved in the details, such as what kind of blue tie the model should wear. But really, by that stage, most of the creative work has already been done.

Q: How do I get a job like that? I'd love to be in an ad too!

A: My agent gets me auditions for things like that - you need an agent to be able to get auditions like that. I don't have the time or resources to hunt around for auditions, that's my agent's job. They do a great job of it and they earn their cut that way. If you want to be in showbiz, you need a great agent to work for you.

Okay so that's it from me on this topic - if you have any other questions on the world of advertising, please leave a comment below and I'll be happy to answer your questions! Thanks for reading. 

Taking a selfie whilst getting my hair and make up done