Good Idents Are Darn Hard To Do

Which is why we must doff our cap to these:


(Interest declared: they were done by friends of mine. Nice one, Laurence and Mark.)

If you’ve never had to do idents, you might think they’re fairly simple little things.

Not so.

First problem is the short time lengths, usually 6×5″ and a 10″ and a 15″. If you think writing a good 30″ is hard, try getting a decent ad into five seconds.

Second is almost always budget. Idents tend not be considered in the same way as normal ads, so your minute of footage usually has to be made with the kind of cash that would be cheap for a regular 30″.

Then you’ve got the fact that, despite a flurry of Pencils in the 1990s – including a Gold for Doritos:

…they’re not all that sexy, and would be unlikely to attract a Budgen or Glazer. That means your potential talent pool is smaller from the word go.

So let’s pat the good ones on the back.

The difficulty level is high and the kudos level low.