Cost Consultants On Advertisement Production

Global Market Outlook on Cost Consultants On Advertisement Production

Market Trends – Technology

Clients could engage with production houses that adopt HD technology and utilize Drone, Movi rig, etc., to reduce the cost incurred by using helicopters to create moving images, and final cut pro to reduce the editing cost.

Drone

• Drones are cameras mounted on a remote controlled flying device, which helps to capture videos from all angles, with an improved performance and precise quality
• This was implemented to economically replace helicopter, where flying areas are restricted and can capture aerial field's videos, time-lapse videos efficiently. This is highly adopted in the French markets as a replacement to helicopters

Movi rig

• Whenever smooth movements are needed, and dolly or crane are complicated or expensive to implement, video production houses use Movi rig, which is a three-axis handheld device to stabilize camera, in movement
• This technology has been useful to shoot video footage even in strong winds, high speed racing, etc., where high quality video has to be shot even in high speed movement scenarios

Digital application production

• Smart phones and tablets adoption has increased exponentially over the past few years
• Marketers are positioning mobile technology at the center of marketing mix, before they plan and formulate their communication strategy. This is highly adopted in matured markets, where the smart phone penetration is high
• This technology is expensive, compared to the traditional media production. The price difference will decrease with the increase in category maturity

Smart TV

• Smart TV provides an opportunity to the marketers, to engage with their consumers through internet and it allows the users to share their information on social media instantly
• Lack of technical talent, acts as a constraint for the production houses to produce video commercials for smart TVs

HD technology

• HD technology is a highly adopted technology in most markets, since the visual resolution of the video is higher than the older cameras in the market
• The usage of HD technology in commercial video production offers greater quality output, at a reduced cost
• High definition technology improves the quality of video and helps to reduce editing, which reduces the lead time

Final cut pro

• Initially, the editors in video production houses had to use sophisticated, expensive, time-consuming editing software to edit the video commercials, which increased the lead time of delivery of commercial to the client
• Final cut pro is a simple editing software, which is easy to operate and could be installed on most devices, like mac book pro, mobiles. An editor can work fast on the location and develop the final video

Role of Cost Consultant

Cost consultant acts as a bridge among the marketer, creative agency, and production house to ensure effective planning, coordination, and execution of production activities from the conceptualization to the final stage, streamlines the sourcing process to increase cost-saving avenues.

Why does a marketer need to engage with a cost consultant?

• Clients engage cost consultant to improve the lead time and minimize the wastage of talent and equipment
• Cost consultants, through their experience of interaction with vendors, casting agencies, videographers, etc., play a vital role in contract negotiation, highlight cost-saving opportunities, and planning production activities for brands at a global/regional level to bundle activities within adequate timeframes and budget
• Example: Unilever engages with Claire Randall Consulting, Mavis & Co. for effective production planning

Cost consultant – Global vs. Local Engagement

• If a marketer has global operation, it is ideal to engage a cost consultant on a central contract for different brands, so that they can create a category plan for global production requirements, identify low cost sourcing hubs to shooting, engage best-in-class graphic designs, etc.
• Planning the requirements at a global level and executing based on regional requirements, help in creating a consolidated blue print, which would ensure a better budgeting by the consultants

Cost Consultant – In-house vs. Outsourcing

• Outsource to consulting firms: Clients with high cost budgets and requirements in the global markets, prefer to engage cost consultant agencies to effectively coordination between the global and regional teams
• Examples of firms: APR, MRA Services, Triad Consulting, etc.
• Engaging an in-house cost consultant: If a buyer has low volume of production requirements, it is cost-effective to engage an in-house consultant

Cost Consultant: Pricing and Contract Terms

Client can adopt retainer + performance-based model (contributes to 2–5% on cost savings), while engaging with a cost consultant. Introducing the performance-based model will help marketers to improve the process efficiency of the consultant.

• Retainer + Performance based Approach:Here, the consultant is paid a yearly retainer fee and a 2–5% mark-up on the cost savings achieved. The performance component encourages the consultant to evaluate various cost-saving opportunities
• High percentage mark-up: Marketers leverage on additional savings by allocating more weightage to the performance-based component. This will help in bringing down the total cost of engagement
• Ideal contract term: Marketers following the retainer + performance-based approach should engage on a long-term basis, between 2 and 3 years