Bob, please do not share this page – some of this work isn’t exactly my best and I wouldn’t want it getting around. (Especially the virus-related stuff, which was done cheap.) Plus I say things here that I would only say to you. Thanks.
GG
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#1 I did the spot below for Cornerstone Builders last week. Cornerstone is a big operation in SouthWest Florida – 100+ trucks on the road and a little over $40M a year, gross. Please keep in mind, the target here is old people – REALLY old people, even older than us. (Hard to imagine, I know.) I’m talking folks who still read newspapers, watch FOX news, only buy Mercedes C-class and use those motor-scooter shopping carts at the market. Also, the VO in this spot is not a pro – it was done by the marketing VP’s husband, and I did not direct. Still, a day or two after this spot first ran, they won a $75K project to do two bathrooms and I was told folks were again calling for appointments. (Most local TV spots are horrible. So the bar is low.)
#2 The spot below is about a month old. The owner does the VO and this time, I did direct. The owner is a 400-pound (no exaggeration) Italian guy from Brooklyn, and when I put him on TV I have to hide his weight best I can. I think his VO is okay because he comes off as 100% earnest / honest. Here, I just added screen text to an existing spot about the virus. I should also mention: I have nothing to do with their website. It’s beyond awful and I’m begging them to completely redo it this year. Their POV: “most of our typical customers do not shop online for contractors.”
#3 This next one below is a year old, and again, all I did was add text about the virus. Cornerstone runs the shit out of this spot and they give it credit for breaking a bunch of sales records. (The company is 30 years old.) Again, the target is OLD people.
#4 Below = a virus spot for my appliance client that I did 2/3 weeks ago. They wanted something upbeat. They said: “we’re all growing weary of so many TV spots saying “we’re in this together.” At first, they got a lot of traffic as a direct result of the spot, but I heard yesterday that things are starting to slow down… and we may do another spot that’s more, for lack of a better word, serious. P.S. Please read this article when you’re done here. To an extent, I agree with it.
A few PRE-COVID-19 TV SPOTS:
#5 These next few spots typify pre-virus production values. Below = the spot that was running when the virus hit. I love the VO, her name is Gigi. (Out of Boston. As a team, we’re Gigi and GG.) She’s fabulous. Music score and concept also by Chuck. P.S. A few Polish people called to say “we know what you’re doing and we don’t like it.” Thankfully, my client isn’t moved by overly-PC types.
#6 Below: the owner of the appliance store, Jay Russo. Nice guy, also an ex-New Yorker. Not the brightest CEO I’ve ever met, but he’s made many millions thru his 4 stores, and his new house (and new boats) on the gulf are outrageous. GoodDeals Appliances has been one of my best retail success stories. The story: Jay really wanted to be on TV… and though I had been saying “no” for the last few years, he wore me down. So I came up with something he could pull off – a self-deprecating angle that would A) charm our audience and B) get around any shortcomings on camera. Custom scored by Chuck Butler who did a really nice job.
#7 to #10 The below 2018-2019 campaign (all 15-second spots) had lots of executions. Here are 4. The goal: steal share from a larger / older competitor by positioning GoodDeals as the undisputed champ with regard to pricing. To do it, we used the Geico strategy – say the same thing over and over and over and over until everyone has it memorized. And it worked.
# 11 Below. I was not at this shoot. (Early 2018.) Lighting is horrible, framing is bad, the set is boring. But the spot performed really really well. I wrote it and came up with the idea of “10 questions.” (The brochure is fake.) And though the Fort Myers / Naples area is, relatively speaking, small… the Youtube version of this spot got over 100K views in the 2 months after the spot aired. For a local spot in a small market like SWFL, that’s ridiculous. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PaAw67GXqao It’s now up to 141K views and they are still getting calls for the “10 Questions” book.
#12 The below spot ran in tandem with the one above, during which Cornerstone broke sale records month after month. (Salespeople are commissioned.) I can’t take all the credit, their media buyer is really smart, and aggressive.
#13 The below 15-second spot got good reviews from Maytag corporate. (I have yet to follow up.) I did it in 2017 and GoodDeals still runs it now and then, until a few weeks after the virus hit. There’s one scene that a lot of people complained about. (Old people do a lot of complaining.) The scene was considered inappropriate given how contagious the virus is. (It’s the group ice cream lick by the three little girls.)
#14 This next one is a 60-second national spot that ran on NBC and ESPN from August thru December 2019. The budget for CGI was a little over $100K (I don’t get many budgets like that anymore) and the music was scored by some famous German guy I never heard of. Apparently, the under-30 cool kids know him. I don’t exactly love the music, but it works for this. The spot announces the 4th iteration of DRL’s newest racing drone, the R4… something drone racing fans are aware of / look forward to.
I wrote all the spots above, gathered all the footage (maybe half I had shot, the other half I bought), I directed talent (save for a few), and I did all the editing and audio work. Average turnaround: 5 to 10 days. Prices vary. The cheapest spot on this page is the anonymous truck driver (4th from the top) for which I billed $1750. And the most expensive is the last one.