Long-form commercial advertisements are the wave of the future. At least, that was what was being predicted 8 years ago. A lot has happened between then and now, and now long-form ads are here, and it seems, we like them.

We’ve seen an uptick in both super long-form, and super short instagram hits. For commercial work, destined for distribution through the internet, it seems that the standard planned-for 1-minute “short” is getting bundled as a “trim-down” for longer form ads. There is a consensus among a number of creative folks that there is a little more to be had in shooting super long-form advertisements, in the areas of stimulating deep engagement, awareness, shareability, and recall.

The Caveat with Long-Form

Our unfortunate decline in attention span seems to have squeezed out an expectation for longer running ads: we (as viewers) are ok with 15-seconds, if it’s good, but any longer, it better be damn good. And at the centre of “damn-good” is a damn good story.

And damn-good and is happening every day. Skim through some short films and long-form ads and you’ll find a number of them each week. This pool of well written, creative, accessible, media from a number of very talented filmmakers is pushing the envelope for traditional advertisers, and some are following suit.

Take for example this 7-minute film featuring Christian Slater, commissioned by HP through the agency Giant Spoon. This long-form ad is far more entertaining than many of the current IT ads circulating, and it is able to do something much stronger than any matter-of-fact style commercial can. It makes you feel the impact of how vulnerable technology can make us.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FqibWHfn_Yc

The question of budget

While there is an appealing cost efficiency that comes with producing long-form content (of which trim downs for 5, 15, 30 and even 60-second trailers can be extracted), a big question lingers for the smaller and medium size organization: how in the hell can a company that doesn’t have an ad budget like HP produce a long-form commercial that tells it’s own impactful story? Well, A-list actors will probably not be your go-to choice for talent, nor will be the use of epic locations. While those help to push the film over the top, the heart of what makes this HP flick great is the story.

Once you have a strong story – one that is impactful – one that will move people, then you’re ready to start looking at ways to produce your masterpiece. Enter the beauty of creative interpretation. For that you need to find someone who is going to take this heart and massage it to life. Look for the creative. Look for the resourceful, and look for someone who values a good story.

But, if you’re still set on producing only a short advertisement – consider a hybrid model, like this Geico ad.

Enjoy.