Richard Zeeb (pictured left) has spent 34 years in direct response marketing. He has hired Acclaim Media at four different companies: Next Door and Window, BCI Bath and Showers, Acculevel, and now Priority Tax Relief. Every time he changed jobs, he brought us along. We asked him why.
The problem: TV that works against you
If you market for a living, you want the phone to ring. Richard's job is exactly that. At Next Door and Window, he had to talk his CEO into trying TV, because the CEO thought it was too expensive and would not work.
Richard's first stop was CBS, which produced a one minute spot. It did not work. He wanted to take that spot and air it on other stations. He could not. Because he bought it from CBS, CBS owned it, and they would not let him run it anywhere else.
That is how it works in Chicago. The TV stations keep the copyright on the commercials their production departments create. The spot runs on that station or cable system and nowhere else. If the station across town wants to air it, it legally cannot, and the station that made it will not release the rights. We have always thought that was a disservice to clients.
The larger agencies Richard has used over the years had a different problem. He remembers a long form infomercial that cost $154,000 and a production team that wanted total control.
"They didn't want input. They invited me. I would be there for the shoot. But I had a director's chair, and I just sat there and ate the snacks that they brought along."
So the marketer pays for the production and still has no say in it. Or pays for the production and can't use it where it would perform.
How Richard found us
After CBS, Richard talked to ABC, NBC, and Comcast. Comcast recommended Acclaim Media. At the time, Next Door and Window was just starting direct response TV, and Richard needed a partner who understood that a spot has one job: make the viewer pick up the phone.
Our approach was simple. The client owns the spot. Use it on any station, on cable, on your website, or on any other online media. There may be a small fee to deliver a copy to a new station, but the spot is yours.
For Richard, that was only half of it. He also found out we would listen.
Television commercial for Next Door & Window
Why he keeps hiring us: trust
When we asked Richard why he brought us to BCI, then Acculevel, then Priority Tax Relief, he did not hesitate.
"For me, it was simple. It was trust."
He says that after the first project at Next Door and Window, he felt we knew what we were doing and needed very little supervision.
"I was kind of blown away by your competency when it comes to knowing how to get a good shot, what to say, and how to put it all together."
He also noticed something that matters to any marketer who has sat in that director's chair: we are open to his input. Richard has 34 years in direct response. His ideas are good, and we use them.
BathPlanet Nationwide TV Commercial. This is the “Master” spot, local franchisees would have their phone and city shown.
What he trusts us to get right
Asked whether there is anything he double checks, Richard said no. He pointed to three things: picking locations, scoping the room and setting up the camera and lighting, and asking the right questions in customer testimonials.
"Most of the questions you came up with, I wouldn't have even thought of."
That last one shows up in our most recent project for Priority Tax Relief, a customer testimonial shot in Dallas.
The customer had never been interviewed on camera, and she was going to talk about a difficult situation in her life. She was nervous, and I could see that before we started. So I explained every piece of equipment we were setting up and what it was for. I kept her talking so she could see we were friendly and just wanted to understand her situation. We had also sent a client questionnaire well in advance. After 30 years of interviewing people, I know when to slow down and ask an open ended question that lets someone answer in her own words.
When Priority Tax Relief's CEO saw the finished video, he called Richard. Richard remembers it this way:
"He said, 'Richard, that's our customer.' ... 'You undersold this. This thing is gold, perfect.'"
TV Spot for Acculevel
The work
The spots span four companies, each solving a different problem:
Next Door and Window: a direct response spot that ran across Chicagoland on Comcast cable. Watch it here.
BCI Bath and Showers: a national spot built as a "donut master" for franchisees. A local dealer calls us and we tag the spot with their local address and phone number, so the national ad drives traffic to their store. Watch it here.
Acculevel: a spot that ran in several Indiana markets. Watch it here.
Priority Tax Relief: one spot, tagged for each local region with its own phone number, so the client can see which station and market each call comes from. Watch it here.
We don't make the same spot four times. We adapt the approach to what each business needs, whether that is scale across franchises or tags that make tracking by market easy. We don't track viewer response ourselves. The marketer has the data, and we build the spots to make tracking easy. To see how, read How We Build Direct Response TV Spots That Are Easy to Track.
Priority Tax Relief Nationwide Spot
Richard's advice if you're hiring a video partner
We asked Richard what he would tell a younger marketer taking over his role. His answer has four parts.
Do your homework. Look at the production company's website, their clients, and their spots.
Tell them what you're looking for. For example, "I'm looking to create a 60 second TV spot."
Then stop talking and listen. Let them tell you what they think.
Expect to learn something. A good partner will explain why they do things a certain way.
When he was asked what makes a good partner, he said the same thing again: they earn your trust, and you do the same for them. You do good work at a really decent price.
How we work with you
We don't start with a prescribed plan. Here is what we do instead:
We listen. We learn your needs and goals before we talk about a video.
We refine. We shape the project around your goals, your budget, and our experience.
We produce it and hand it over. The spot is yours. Run it on any station, any platform, any market.
Our team has been doing this since 1998, with 500+ video projects for hundreds of clients, Telly and Aurora awards, and numerous of five-star reviews. We are flexible and nimble, and we back every project with an on-time and on-budget guarantee.
Start the conversation
If you are tired of watching a spot you paid for sit on one station, or you want a production partner who treats your input as an asset, get a quote. Tell us what you need, and we will help you figure out the best way to get there.
If you'd rather start by learning how this works, read How We Build Direct Response TV Spots That Are Easy to Track first.
Acclaim Media is a Chicago-based video production company helping brands nationwide create high-impact content—from marketing and corporate messaging to training and events. With 25+ years of experience and hundreds of successful projects, we make video production simple, strategic, and results-driven.