What's the one rule of direct response TV?

The phone number never leaves the screen. Never

A supplement company needed a thirty second spot built to make the phone ring, not to win awards

I produced and directed it

Two presenters, one virtual studio

A spokeswoman and a spokesman take turns talking straight to camera in a futuristic virtual studio, with a giant 3D bottle of the product turning slowly next to them

It opens on footage inside a vintage TV frame, then pulls you into the set

The old TV frame is a little joke on the format itself, a commercial about watching commercials, and it buys the first two seconds of attention

Why a virtual set?

Here is the deal, a direct response budget goes into buying airtime, not into building sets

A virtual set gives the spot a polished high tech look for a fraction of what a built studio costs, and the money goes where it actually works, more airings

The math of direct response

Every second of a spot like this is measured in calls. The phone number and the website sit on screen in every single shot, big, readable from across a room

The bottle stays big too, turning slowly, so the viewer knows exactly what's coming in the mail

Is it subtle? no. Is it supposed to be? also no

Presenters who don't sound like actors

Two presenters, a woman and a man, so the message reaches both, and they trade lines so nobody stares at one face for thirty seconds

Short lines, plain words, straight to the lens

Talking straight into the lens is harder than it looks. Most people's eyes drift, they blink too much, they rush. Direct response lives or dies on whether the viewer feels talked to, not talked at

Producer behind the lens

When the producer frames the shot, a presenter's eyeline drifting off the lens or a shadow across the bottle gets fixed through the viewfinder before the next take, no meeting

More commercials in the Commercial gallery, and how I light products in the Products Advertising gallery

Thirty seconds, one number, call now

Length: 0 min 30 s · Producer & director: David Victory, VRSET video production, Los Angeles & Orange County

Key moments

  • 0:00 Opening on the vintage TV
  • 0:06 Spokesman on the virtual set
  • 0:08 Both presenters
  • 0:11 Spokeswoman to camera
  • 0:16 Phone number on screen
  • 0:21 3D product bottle
  • 0:26 Closing product shot

See the matching photography in the Commercial gallery.

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Planning a video or a fashion shoot? Contact David Victory or call (310) 988-6575 in Los Angeles, (949) 873-4551 in Orange County. Free consultation and quote for first-time clients.