We wanted to try something a little off the wall this year. When we discussed new Hidden Camera Commercial with one of our clients, we asked what message they wanted to send out. What was the ultimate goal of the commercial?

Their answer? Something that customers will talk about.

We couldn’t have asked for a better answer. After several days of discussion, we all agreed on an idea – A hidden camera commercial featuring their new mascot, Green Man.

Writing a Script for a Hidden Camera Commercial?

It may seem silly to write a script for a hidden camera commercial, but a script is necessary. We need to have control over as much as many factors as we can.

We plotted out ideal scenarios and not-so-ideal scenarios and committed to a flow of reactions we wanted to achieve. But we really wanted to make sure we knew what we were going for so we did the only rational thing we could think of…

We set up our back room like a pawn shop and pretended to be customers.

http://youtu.be/hYeROp3xxO8

Beyond the fact that it was fun to do – this mockup helped us figure out a number of things:

• How many cameras we needed
• How many reactions we wanted
• How we would present the message in 30 seconds

The Production

We used a total of 5 cameras for this shoot. We didn’t want to miss anything or take any chances for this production. Two professional HD camcorders (to capture close-ups) were hidden behind speakers to the left of the cash registers. Three GoPro cameras were setup to capture wide shots.

The beauty of the GoPro Hero 4 cameras is the ability to monitor the feed using smartphones and tablets. We were able to control the cameras in the backroom and monitor customer reactions without being on the sales floor.

One of the scariest parts of using real customers in this type of commercial is wondering how they’ll react. Fortunately, customers were amused and happy to participate more often than not.  Many even came back for the dance at the end.

Have we peaked your curiosity? Alright, go on and watch it.

Share your thoughts. Did we meet our goal? Is this a commercial you would talk about with friends and family?