Compel people to take time out to address their savings gap and plan for the retirement they want. Create a 21-40 second TV commercial and demonstrate how it might also be rolled out online. Both executions should drive consumers to the Prudential’s online retirement planning tool.
Another brief that I hadn't intended to take on - it all seemed a bit dull and open to cliche. What really changed my mind on this one; the several group brain-storming sessions that we undertook. Working as a group of 6 -8 sparked some imaginative ideas, if not while in session together, then some time after. I can't recommend this type of approach enough, we all seemed to develop and spark ideas off each other that I feel sure we would not have had individually. A practice we should have made use of throughout the course.
This idea came to me later, after a session where Timm had raised the idea of saving for your pension being akin to putting a bit aside whether it be food pushed to the side of your plate for later or a dog burying a bone.
Once I had storyboarded the idea I thought that production of the piece would be fairly straight forward but I think that I underestimated the time that is required to get the right shots, to overcome the technical issues involved in adjusting the final shots and just the logistics of getting people and equipment together in the right place. At this stage the project hasn't even gone beyond a basic animatic. What I have learnt is that taking still images in this way helps to identify issues ahead of movie production, what is drawn on the page in an instant is not necessarily readily achievable in real life. Being uncertain of video production and editing techniques as a whole, I find it difficult to anticipate how long it would take me to realise this as a video production. Others, mainly those in the know, say 'not long' but that's easy for them to say. I find it less than comfortable to learn in this 'cart before horse' way. I much prefer to have organised direct tuition of knowledge and skills in advance of applying them in a project rather than learning them in an adhoc way on the fly.
I am of course much indebted to Matthew and Timm for their assistance in this project. I think we all had great fun - well I did anyway. Matthew particulalrly helped out tremedously with the technical side of production, couldn't have done it without him. It felt odd to be directing them so strongly when I was so indebted to them for their help.
I was reasonably pleased with the results. Having shown it to any number of people it seems that the piece is very clear and direct in the message that it conveys. Giving it a little bit of distance I now realise that I should have allowed much more time to realise the project in a more professional way. I think it's a reasonable idea that might hit part of the target market (mainly male) but it could have been made so much better by taking rudimentary steps such as re-reading the brief afterwards prior to submission. Information such as the need for the piece to also work online and for it to drive clients to Prudential's web-based planning tool could have formed a more explicit and humorous part of the presented piece.
