Toast Blog
Assorted news, opinion and ruthless insight from Toast. We look at industry news and future trends in TV Advertising and Video Production. Toast is a TV Advertising and Video Production Agency based in London and Oxford. We are known for championing challenger brands and startups. Toast has become experts in getting brands on TV through TV advertising.
What are the advantages of TV advertising?
- TV Advertising builds trust
- Advertising boosts sales
- TV Adverts are full screen, not fighting for screen space
- TV reaches a vast audience
- TV advertising results can be tracked
- Small brands can get into TV advertising on digital channels
- TV adverts benefit from second-screening
In-house Advertising Team
We all still remember the PR car-crash, which piled up around the Kendall Jenner Pepsi ad. The campaign was supposed to be an example of edgy advertising crafted by an in-house team. In the driving seat that fateful day was Kristin Patrick, senior VP-global brand development. Mr Jakeman, President of PepsiCo Global Beverage Group, praised the ad on Twitter shortly after it was released. Saying he was “super proud of the @PepsiCo #CreatorsLeague for producing this.” The tweet got deleted swiftly afterwards.
A healthcare emergency
Coronavirus is a healthcare emergency that has changed the world and will affect the future of individuals and businesses for years to come. Sadly Coronavirus has already taken the lives of friends and relatives. There will be few among us that aren’t personally affected by loss once the virus has been either contained or has run its course. We take a brief look at how the lockdown has affected the advertising market.Animation for advertising
We turn our attention to animation. Some dos and don’ts, the process, the cost, the advantages and the disadvantages. And finally, some animation packages that we can offer here at Toast should you be interested in going down this route. The crucial moment during the process of developing an animation is in the initial stages where you’re considering what animation styles you’re going to adopt. Budget can be a deciding factor; character and 3D animation cost more than say 2D animation.What’s in an advert?
On this page, we’ll look into the anatomy of a TV advert. We explore the specific rules that govern what’s allowed on-air and some of the technical hurdles encountered by advertisers looking to show their wears on television.The Americans are coming
Sometimes a new platform or craze lands and everyone scrambles around for information on how to monetize it or just how to jump on the band-wagon. It happened a few years ago with AR & VR, London was a buzz with startups looking to exploit the new tech. Now it’s happening again with advanced TV. One of the first stages in a new phenomenon are the calls from our American cousins looking to partner with local London businesses to get their feet under the table early. At Toast, we’ve now had two such calls, from American startups looking to expand into the UK market with platforms that are already up and running in the US. We’ve been doing our research into addressable TV in the UK, read on to see what we’ve found.Clearing an ad full of orgasms
Sometimes things are a little more tricky. Below is the response we received to a rough-cut submitted to Clearcast -the UK TV Advertising clearing organisation. The advert was to be shown once on late-night Channel 4 and was used to promote the Aids awareness charity - Frontline Aids (Formerly - International HIV/AIDS Alliance)Toast - Video for the Oxford Tech Hub
Toast is a Video Production and TV Advertising agency with an extensive client base ranging from large organisations to smaller challenger brands. We produce videos, explainer animations and TV adverts for big businesses but also we’ve become well-known for championing smaller brands looking to get into TV advertising. We became established as a promoter of challenger brands after producing Innocent Smoothie’s first ever TV advert. Since then we have continued this effort producing scores of advertising campaigns for start-ups and smaller brands. One of our latest projects has been scripting, developing, filming and producing Abel & Cole’s first foray into TV advertising.
Investment Films
As well as our TV advertising work we have an extensive list of video production clients. We have decided to apply our expertise developed while working with challenger brands into our video production work. We are working with many companies to produce videos which they will use in funding rounds as they grow. These videos range from simple explainers which detail a new product or service to full corporate video productions featuring founder interviews and complex 3D animations.Addressable TV, the new Amazon store front?
Running ads on a free streaming version of Prime Video and knowing who is viewing the adverts. Plus having access to years of their most intimate buying habits could be Amazon’s winning hand.Toast is a talented team of video production and advertising specialists, dedicated to helping your business creatively stand out from your competitors. We specialise in branded content, television commercial production, television media buying, and motion graphics. We know what works to elevate your brand, and we’re not afraid to scare you a little if it will help your business succeed.
These are the reasons we decided to join Clutch, an online platform whose mission is to identify the best B2B agencies and help them to be seen by buyers who need their services. Clutch publishes validated reviews from clients who have worked with the agencies listed on their site. The reviews, along with an internal evaluation of each company’s market presence, are what form their rankings and enable some companies to be listed above others.

The GoPro is a staple of any video kit bag and with its quality-improving every year GoPro footage can be seamlessly edited into any production. Cameras have also got smaller and lighter, using a DigiBeta Cam years ago would give you toned arms and a strong back, now a DSLR can be thrown about all day.
Drones have also been a great leap in video production values, if you need a quick aerial shot just throw up a drone, no more waiting around for an expensive helicopter to turn up. Computers have probably changed the most with a desktop computer able to edit 4K footage and render stunning 3D visuals, the technology really is empowering the creatives. The advances in production gear is also having great benefits in filming. DRTV adverts with smaller budgets than traditional brand adverts can now leverage some of the best new lightweight cameras to increase production values. The infographic covers many other bits of Video Production tech, take a look.The next unicorn?
Once rumours of the project leaked out we came under intense interest from various parties in venture capital land. Quotes about the project are too numerous to mention. It reminded all at Toast of the now-famous “project ginger” from a few years back. We were about the change the food delivery landscape forever, our drone delivery idea was to be revolutionary. Toast invited investors to London for secret demos a few months after starting up. Then the service ran in stealth mode for about 6 months. We experienced problems in secretly beta testing the service in a built-up area. We found a new location, Frenchman Flat Nevada after initial scouting. It seemed a good location given its secret nature and numerous abandoned building structures. We later ruled out ex-nuclear testing site Frenchman Flat as the drone rotors had a tendency to stir up ground dust which would be a health risk.
New to Advertising? Why Not Run A Test TV Ad?
So you have a great product or service and you want the best way to let people all about it. Then TV advertising is the best choice and will certainly outperform your online marketing in terms of trust, target audience and crucially the bottom line.And right now making your first TV advert and getting it on air on the right channels for the right audience has never been more affordable, simple and effective in terms of ROI. In fact we have a unique offer that allows you to Test the water with your first TV Ad and measure its effectiveness.
A Case Study of Tootle.co.uk
If you're like startup Tootle, a new challenger and you want to drive traffic to your website where do you start? They aim to disrupt the £45 billion UK used car selling market. Tootle matches private car sellers to car dealers wanting to source specific cars directly from the public. By streamlining the sales process and removing middlemen, they aim to drive better prices and a smoother experience for both sellers and dealers.

Promoting Challenger Brands
The power of advertising can turn around a brand in a short timeframe, but there are some big players that have done this more obviously than others. Innocent are one brand who, with help from a 30 second clip, became a challenger brand and grew their business across the last 6 years to unimaginable heights, highlighting the power that TV advertising holds when done right.