Wednesday, October 14, 2009

KCTV Investigative Spot



Thoughts?

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

good copy... terrible visuals. boring-b-roll. overall falls flat.

Anonymous said...

guess it's okay...didn't hate it...didn't love it. maybe if a personality emerged as the focal point...so you're not just sending your 'tip' to 'the station'....just a thought.

promokat said...

meh. The copy had a clear message, but the visuals were odd, hard to follow & frankly weren't as interesting as what was being said. I'm not a fan of that voiceover guy either. I agree with the last post, it should feel like you're calling "Investigator Joe Blow," rather than leaving a message on an answering machine at a station that nobody will ever listen to.

Anonymous said...

Should've started the way it ended...local news promos need to quit touting themselves constantly and make it more about the viewer.

scooterbucs said...

I like the style of the spot...very hip/cool. I especially like how the call-to-action was weaved in at the end.

Couple of things that confused me:
Is this a team of investigators or one person. The main guy is never identified nor confronts anybody. At least 2 other reporters are shown confronting people but they are not part of the image.
Also, the p.o.b. portion needs a little more proof for me. So their investigations stopped busses, made police run and politicians high...why? And what were the results of those investigations? If those questions were answered then I might call in if I have a tip. Or even better - sample their newscasts.
Overall, the spot has potential to be great, but right now it's just style and no substance, imo.

Mark Olson said...

If I could jump in here for a minute...

As the guy who put this together, I think this spot should be viewed in the larger context of the entire Investigative Image body of work that I've made over the past few years. The main guy, Ash-Har Quraishi, is our lead investigative reporter. This is actually an earlier edit that I put up online, but I do have a newer version that includes our secondary investigative reporter, Dana Wright. But the main point of this spot isn't so much to focus on the team, or the viewers, but to set a certain attitude for our Investigative Unit and news as a whole. I have plenty of other spots that focus on POPing viewers tips and results, or narrowing in on the emotion of the people we help.

I think that if you are a TV viewer in KC, you probably could at least recognize Ash-Har as our lead investigative reporter if not know him by name.

As for visual style, I had fun making it and I'm pretty happy with the way it looks. I know that it's really just an individual preference on style, so I don't expect to make everyone happy. But I feel that I did hit my goal of trying to make it look different from the typical investigative team promos.

Anonymous said...

Hey Mark,

I actually liked the visuals. Kind of an 'anderson cooper 360' kind of a feel...nice. I just wouldn't assume that everyone who sees this spot knows who your reporter is. I've been shocked and amazed over the years how low the recall is for primary anchors in some markets..and they have face time every day for hours at a time. Combine this look with a little more unique personality from your talent...then I think you've moved up to the next level! Regardless...good work.

Anonymous said...

The spot looks great. I am a motion designer who works as news promotions producer/editor and I get very tired of news people and research people not liking spots because it's not what they're used to. If your brand is edgy investigative reporting the spot works. Your viewers will get this. All of the major brands like Nike, Wal Mart, Coke all have a style that's derived from their brand and it works for them and it will work for you. Thank for not taking part in the bad advertising practices that most news organizations choose to do.