The Ad Factor is a Special Interest programme.

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The Ad Factor

Ads don't just appear and ad campaigns aren't conjured out of nothing. For this new series made for the Open University, the camera's go behind the scenes at three companies as they each embark on one stage of the advertising process.

In the first programme, the camera's follow staff at hi-tech firm Psion as they go through the process of choosing an ad agency to launch a new product. As the fight intensifies for the prestigious contract, the tension increaases - only one ad agency from the eight invited to tender can win the contract.

This programme reveals the hard end of the advertising business, where even a successful agency can expect only one in three pitches to go their way. So intense is the competition in the hi-tech marketplace that details about the product are being kept under wraps until the programme is transmitted.

"This series gives viewers a great opportunity to look behind the scenes of something that everyone of us comes into contact with every day," says programme producer Paul Murray. "The Ad Factor programmes show that the process of commissioning, planning and implementing an advertising campaign can be long and fraught for both company and agency."

In the second programme, viewers see how an ad agency goes about planning a campaign for a major client as the series about the advertising business continues.

The camera's follow the creative team at HHCL and Partners as it puts together the forthcoming campaign for Guinness Ireland, based on the Irish national sport of hurling. The agencies eventually come up woith a campaign which the client will fully back, armed with little more than inquisitive minds and a mountain of product research.

In the final edition, the point at which an advertising campaign finally hits the streets is the focus.

In this rare insight into the advertising world, a campaign team's drawings and creative ideas come together in the final product - in this case, a cinema and stills campaign, originated by Mustoe Merriman Herring Levy, for Dr Marten's footwear.

Produced by : Paul Murray

Genre: Special Interest

Running Time: 30 minutes (approx)