By 
Most likely, you’ve seen commercials your entire life. Some have made you roll your eyes. Some have made you laugh or even cry!
Commercials have a few different roles to play. Their first and primary goal is to educate the public about the company’s product.
However, most commercials also want to entertain. For example, think of Geico’s funniest commercials. These commercials make you laugh while also delivering a sales pitch.
The key to this delivery is writing top-notch commercial scripts. Crafting a commercial script requires precise goals and techniques to get the best results.
If you write a script for commercial uses, you may struggle to identify the best scriptwriting methods. If so, this guide is for you! We’ll provide five tips to help you write the best scripts for your business.
Write Commercial Scripts for Their Medium
Before writing your script, consider what medium you’ll use to broadcast it. For example, radio commercial scripts should differ from TV commercial scripts in most cases.
Why should that matter? The answer is that each medium relies on different senses to communicate to your audience. For example, your TV commercial scripts will naturally use visual elements to captivate your viewers.
For example, consider the commercials for animal shelters. These ads usually use footage of sad animals set to poignant music to get people’s attention. However, radio ads cannot use that visual element to their advantage.
So, think about the best ways to communicate your message in each medium. Maybe your commercial voice-over scripts could rely on funny dialogue to convey your message. Your TV ads could focus more on visual content, such as demonstrating how your product works.
Define Your Commercial’s Story
Commercials generally rely on simple stories to communicate their message. However, simple doesn’t mean “boring” or “bland.” Your storyline should hold a viewer’s attention for the length of the commercial.
The first step to crafting a captivating story is to make it coherent. Flesh out a clear beginning, middle, and end.
Most commercials identify a particular problem or conflict for its character(s) in the beginning. In the middle, they find a way to combat this problem. In the end, they’ve resolved the problem using the company’s product or service.
Remember to use both your visual and audio content to make viewers invested in your story. Many people leave these in one column of the script and forget them in later portions.
Establish a Clear Tone for Your Script
Funny commercials are a favorite of viewers across the world. However, many clients are reluctant to give approval to these scripts. So, don’t start out your scriptwriting by bringing out your inner comedian.
Instead, think about the best way to align with your brand and resonate with your target market. Your brand guidelines are your first step in deciding on a successful script’s tone.
For example, let’s look at the classic advertisement. In 1926, a newspaper ran an ad for piano lessons. The iconic headline was, “They Laughed When I Sat Down at the Piano . . . But When I Started to Play!”
You can easily visualize how this ad would look on TV. You can picture the calm confidence of the player taking his seat. You can hear the dinner party’s laughter turning to shocked silence.
This story isn’t a humorous one, but it tells a compelling narrative. Anybody interested in learning how to play the piano would immediately look up this teaching service.
It often helps to keep certain adjectives in mind when deciding on your tone. Consider if you’d like your script to be:
- Exciting
- Playful
- Calming
- Sophisticated
- Classy
- Sincere
Keeping words like these in mind can help you craft the best script. If you need help, consider looking at services like 1minutemedia.com.au for assistance.
Choose a Theme
Choosing a theme affects more than your single commercial. Instead, it’s often a theme that helps the company build its brand image.
Themes often indicate trends of the times. Similarly, they’ll be something that your target audience can identify from their daily lives.
For example, consider the theme from Ewan McGregor’s recent ad with Expedia. McGregor points to the meaningless nature of life’s goods. The rat race of materialism ultimately won’t matter at the end of our lives.
Instead, it’s important to rack up experiences that can help you grow. That’s where Expedia’s travel plans can help.
This commercial does several things well. It forces people to reflect on the things they spend their time and money pursuing. Then, it makes them reconsider those choices.
Finally, it takes them to a gorgeous beach that seems infinitely more worthwhile than the previously shown goods. In this light, it seems ridiculous to spend so much money on a phone when they could travel to that beach.
The theme also fits into Expedia’s branding. As a company, they promise to sell experiences and opportunities. It’s a theme they can use in several other ads.
Choose a Specific Call to Action
When viewers reach the end of your commercial, they should have clear instructions on what to do next. Everything in your ad, from the story to the theme, should drive them to this action step.
So, decide at the start what you want viewers to do at the end of the commercial. It often helps to ask the client to research what their target audience will respond to. Then, you can use this information to craft a resonant call to action.
One beneficial approach is to use a sense of urgency in your CTA. For example, instead of just providing contact information, urge them to “call now!”
Start Writing the Best Commercial Scripts Today
As you can see, writing commercial scripts can take a lot of work. However, using these steps can give you a better idea of how to begin the process.
Remember the role of each of these steps. First, determine what medium you’ll use for this commercial.
Then, define your ad’s storyline. Set a tone and theme for this story that will resonate with your audience. Finally, urge them to take action that will further engage with your company!
We hope this article was helpful! Navigating the advertising world can be a challenge for even the best writers. So, check out our other tips to get the help you need today.
Comments