• by Richard Whitman , Columnist, January 4, 2018

There has been a lot written over the past year regarding advertising commercial production practices. How bids for production services are processed, and how those practices have impacted the complicated relationship between advertisers, agencies and commercial production houses.

The ANA produced a report issued in August that found instances of agency self-dealing in the bidding process, but also poor client stewardship over the process.

The U.S. Department of Justice is conducting its own inquiry into the matter. 

Now, APR, the big advertising production consulting firm, involved in $1 billion of commercial productions annually, has revealed a set of predictions about likely developments in the field this year.

Among them: More brands will take greater control of their ad production initiatives as their content needs multiply over an array of channels. About time, I guess. Significantly, marketers will source production with media-buying agencies as the need for transparency drives brands to better understand production costs. 

Also, APR believes that technology will make production far more efficient given advances in blockchain and other technology that will improve procurement and automated production bidding processes. 

Experiential marketing efforts will increasingly fall into the ad production wheelhouse, per APR, as such initiatives will require greater amounts of content. That makes it necessary for ad production and experiential production to align and share content. In addition, content created for events, trade shows and conventions will utilize the same efficiencies already implemented as ad production. 

Given the increasing reliance by brands on so-called influencers, the latter will start pressing for usage rights. Terms will be restructured to accommodate the myriad of channels that are used, heightening the levels of monitoring and enforcement within them and allowing for the talent’s online footprint to be better valued and managed.

Yes, that’s an area full of minefields, as Logan Paul reminded us all over the New Year’s weekend. Tread carefully brands! 

And, APR believes, 2018 will be “The Year of Diversity” in production. The demand from audiences for more diverse production will lead to an increase in diversity in both the talent and those behind the scenes, as marketers become more aware of the desire for diversity. 

It sounds like 2018 could be a transformative year in the commercial production space if these predictions on are the mark. 

Can’t wait to see what the DOJ investigation comes up with. They’ve been at it for more than a year now. Can’t be long now, right?