Add this little ditty to the long list of snickering snots snarking “Suckers!” They would be right, after reading Nick Miede‘s answer to question: “Did That Tesla Ad Really Cost $1,500?” I saw the figure roar across blogs and social networks earlier this month and marveled at the amount.
Nick questions for Advertising Age, where Cotton Delo reports the news on March 18. Recent college grads produced the unpaid Telsa commercial, she explains. “The result was a minute-long ad titled ‘Modern Spaceship‘, which the Los Angeles-based creators spent $1,500 to make in November. The creators recently started a production company called Everdream Pictures“.
That excerpt is from the story’s second paragraph, where she reveals what should have been question one before writing a single word: “Who benefits?” That $1,500 number, attached to a clearly compelling video with richer-feeling production values, was sure to spread across the Interwebs—and it did. The commercial makers sought publicity for their fairly new company. Smart thinking, dumb response by bloggers and reporters not addressing motivations or questioning the figure, which applies to film crew lodging and meal expenses.
Nick does what news gatherers didn’t:
What about the cost of developing the concept? Script? Storyboards? Pre-production logistics? Set Design? Visual effects? Day rates for the crew, talent and editor? And what about all the gear they used to shoot the commercial? The article states Evergren already had the equipment it needed. And that equipment was free when they first got it?
Obviously, the commercial didn’t cost a mere $1,500. But ‘That Amazing Tesla Video Was Made by Recent College Grads for More than $1,500 Because Oftentimes Great Creative Requires a Decent Amount of Resources’ isn’t a very exciting headline. Yes, boasting that your commercial cost just $1,500 is a great way to attract business. Unfortunately, it’s a terrible way to stay in business.
His context is about real production costs and how the claim diminishes them and the broader misperception generated. I focus on the newsgathering and failure to ask “Who benefits?”, answer “Why?”, and put context around the who, what, where, and when.
Everdream posted the video to Vimeo four months ago. There’s nothing new, or news, about it. Just the buzz is new.