Thirty Seconds

A journalist's fly-on-the-wall account of the making of a single thirty-second television commercial for AT&T in the late 1970s. Arlen follows the agency, the client, the production crew, and the lawyers through every decision from concept to broadcast.

Ogilvy listed Thirty Seconds in the "Recommended Reading" appendix of Ogilvy on Advertising. The book is a case study in how much work, money, and negotiation goes into a single 30-second spot — the research, the storyboards, the client reviews, the casting, the shoot, the edit, the legal clearances.

For a founder, the book is an inoculation against underestimating the cost and complexity of producing high-quality communication, whether that is a TV ad, a brand video, or a major campaign. It will make you a smarter buyer of creative services.