It has become cheaper to outsource commercials

Outsourcing has come to the advertising industry. In whatever light you see them, advertisements serve an important and indispensable purpose. Without them, businesses would go bankrupt and customers would be at a loss as they would know nothing of the markets available to them. Within recent times though, the viewing public has been exposed to advertisements ranging from the melodious tunes of David Rudder and Mungal Patassar uniting the nation through Guardian Life. That commercial was done in Venezuela. So too was the slick NP advertisements on televison these days.That was shot in Costa Rica. Whatever it may be, a trend noticed of late is that these advertisements are not being produced locally, but are being done outside of TT. Why ? Creative Director of Corbin Communications, Douglas Brunton, whose company is responsible for the NP ads, explained that one of the overarching problems in TT was that there were no ancillary industries to go along with advertising.

In 2003 and 2004, this lack of ancillary industries was particularly noticeable, he noted. Now though, there seems to be a move by local advertising agencies to expand the industry. This is being done through local programming such as Westwood Park and Gayelle. Despite these efforts, local companies seemingly prefer to produce their ads abroad. The main reason for this, according to Brunton, is that the production costs are a lot cheaper than if the advertisement was locally produced. “The total cost of that ad was a lot cheaper than if it was to be filmed in TT,” Brunton said of the the NP Ultra advertisement. The entire thing was digitally produced. Brunton explained that both Costa Rica and Venezuela are set up for offshore markets, and as such they offer competitive rates when it comes to advertising. Another reason is that animators and other such staff are difficult to source, making them a rare commodity, he said. This would naturally result in the high costs that many local companies are faced with when dealing with local advertising agencies.

As a result local companies opt for cost efficiency and head for foreign countries when the time comes for the production of advertisements. Brunton pointed out however, that there was no lack of talent in TT. Advertisements being produced abroad, are however, not a recent phenomenon. In fact, as far back as the 1980s, ads were being produced abroad. For instance, the popular “Catch” chocolate ad was produced in Colorado, USA. As Brunton puts it, “We have the picture frame but we don’t have the picture.” He said there was a wealth of talent available in TT, but “we do not expect better of ourselves,” and this may be attributed to the lack of local ads being produced. Senior Accounts Executive at Communications Insight, Vishal Maharaj, said there were indeed many local companies that were choosing to do their ads abroad, but at the same time the local advertising industry remained a vibrant one.

Maharaj admitted that the quality of ads produced abroad was in fact superior to those produced in TT. There remained however, a high level of local ads being produced. The difference, he adds,  is that local ads provide “more control and a finished product.” While it may be cost effective to produce ads abroad, when they are done locally, one is able to exercise greater control, he noted. Those responsible for making these ads are able to give greater input, therefore saving time and energy that would usually be put into making adjustments in ads that were produced abroad. Although there are many great advertisements being produced locally, such as those done by Dairy Dairy, Kiss Baking Company and Abel, there is still a move by many companies to have their ads produced abroad.