Behind the Scenes of Our First TV Ad Spot

The thing about standing up a new company is that, nowadays, Googling your own business comes with being bombarded by ads from all the other acts in town. It can seem that competition is everywhere, but with a little bit of market research, it was proven that the time is right – right now – to introduce ourselves in a big way around Knoxville. So, we’re doing it!

Brand awareness campaign engage!

With ONE Service Pros year one in the books, the next steps of our marketing strategy had been designed for incremental growth in multiple avenues of advertising, but then the pandemic shook the nation. Quarantine altered life for many homeowners now staying home for months, relying on home systems more often, noticing necessary repairs and desired upgrades, spending stimulus checks on home improvement, and spending more time in front of the TV.

So, that’s where we’re going. During commercial breaks on cable TV— like HGTV, and ESPN, and Say Yes to the Dress— Knoxville will be meeting us in a big way! We’re telling the story of one fated day when ONE Service Pros came to the rescue of a family whose lovely Seymour home needed a lot of help right away.

Can we affordably repair their A/C, a stubborn showerhead, and smoking light switch – all in a day?

It was an especially fun project to begin, bringing our team together in new ways. From the first brainstorm, we had our set, most of the shots, and decided who’d be cast, even before a storyboard was put together. We began exploring our ideas with friends in many industries, from ad sales specialists who won us over up to the very responsive folks at the Tennessee Department of Transportation that wanted to assist us on the shot of our fleet of vehicles — before we figured out how to film it in our own backyard!

We had figured that we were years away from ever being “TV ready”, but after just a little bit of research, a little bit of local networking, and a lot of hard work… here’s how we made our ad!

The Beginning: Picking a TV advertising partner

Of everything that went into pre-production, our first move was to select our first broadcast partner. After careful consideration, we decided to start with Effectv, a local Comcast marketing powerhouse that supported us like a friend, co-producer and an advertising think-tank.

Wrapping all our trucks

We are proud of our fleet and knew these technicians in their trucks would have to be the highlight of our commercial. Thanks to Jim McMichael Signs and Truck Painting and Carrier for their partnerships!

Creating the Script

From the fleet of trucks flaunting our company logo, to our graphic branding (a happy family holding up a roof over their heads), to our new messaging, we’d need to create a story that animates our branding elements and creates endearing characters of the people we love to help.

Thanks to our head technician Darius, our tagline was nailed earlier this year: “ONE Call, we can do it all!” So, our commercial would naturally follow, with a comical portrayal of what “ONE call” could do.

We’d thought it might be hard to find a set to film in… until our ONE Service Pro owner Janet Livingston, volunteered her lovely home. “I like seeing my techs working anyways!” she joked with the team.

We would stage a number of minor “breakdowns” that wouldn’t damage the property, but show how several breakdowns could be thrown at our happy family in one day. Our husband might try a DIY fix but would defeated, turn to “Honey” to help. Of course, honey calls ONE Service Pros and away we go to make our affordable, expert repairs happen at once.

Selecting the voice and feel of the Commercial

We listened to about 50 different samples of background music and narrowed it down to three. We wanted an airy country feel, that complimented the suspense in the story. Like so many other decisions, Janet knew instantly when she heard the right track.

With voice-overs, we selected a fantastic professional whose voice is often used with international brands. We loved Nicole’s voice so much, we also invited her to record our company phone greeting and menu.

Pre-Production of the shoot

Through our partnership and some serendipitous networking, we found Greg Huff. His command of all our shots, combined with his eye for making a laugh or two… put it all together. It didn’t hurt that Greg not only directs… he edits!

Lights, Camera, Action!