Ad Groups Form DTV Transition Coalition — SHOOTonline | About the ANA | ANA

Ad Groups Form DTV Transition Coalition — SHOOTonline

Ad Industry Prepares For Transition To DTV


August 18, 2008, A SHOOT Staff Report  As reported in this week's HD Essentials column, broadcasters and advertisers have formed a coalition to help prepare the advertising community for the February 17, 2009 transition to digital television (DTV). The coalition — which consists of the American Association of Advertising Agencies (AAAA), the Association of National Advertisers (ANA), the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) and Television Bureau of Advertising — will keep the industry informed of the implications of the changeover from analog to digital-only TV broadcasts in an effort to identify and address any concerns or issues specific to the ad biz.

Already the broad-based coalition has a recently released central piece of research to tap into and share, an ANA white paper from its Production Management Committee titled "The Digital TV Transition: Production Implications for Advertisers."

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ANA Production Committee chair Nicholas Lemesh, who is manager, creative production, for GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare, noted, "A lot of hard work and collaboration among industry sources created this simple, easy-to-understand document for advertisers."

Among the ANA Production Committee members most involved in the white paper's development were Lemesh and Laurence Grunberg, senior manager, commercial production at Clorox.

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Best practices:

The white paper offered the following best practices:

  • Confirm with your media partners the specific requirements each has for commercial submissions.
  • Be sure to discuss center-cut protection with your agency early in the creative process. The need for center-cut protection will impact all aspects of production, from concepts and storyboards to camera framing, graphics, titles and special effects.
  • Consider making an HD master the universal master from which other versions can be created. These may include an SD master, international versions, and materials for media on the web, mobile, cinema, etc.
  • And budget accordingly when considering the HD format.