More often than not, a brief that comes in asking for “an ad” turns out to actually be a brand film in disguise. The two terms get used interchangeably all the time, and it’s easy to see why, they’re both video, both professionally made, both end up on a screen somewhere. But they’re built to do genuinely different jobs, and confusing them is one of the more expensive mistakes a business can make in their marketing.
An ad has one job: get someone to do something, now. Buy this, book this, call this number, get in before the sale ends. It’s short, it’s direct, it usually has an offer sitting right there in it, and it’s built to be seen again and again over a set window until that action happens. Good ads don’t try to be clever or subtle. Everything in them – the pacing, the message, the structure is pointed at one outcome, and if it’s not driving that outcome, it’s not doing its job.
A brand film isn’t asking you to do anything today. It’s trying to make you feel something about a business, so that when you actually need what they offer, they’re the name that comes to mind first. It’s selling identity, values, craftsmanship – the stuff that doesn’t convert in ten seconds but quietly makes every ad that comes after it work harder. It can be slower, longer, more cinematic. You won’t find a discount code bolted onto the end of it, and if you do, something’s gone wrong.
This is where it actually starts costing people money. I’ve watched brand films get a “book now” and a phone number crammed in at the last minute because someone got nervous it wasn’t “selling enough” – and it kills the whole thing. The reason a brand film works is that it doesn’t feel like it’s selling to you at all. The moment it does, it stops being a brand film and becomes a mediocre ad instead, and you’ve lost the one thing that made it worth making.
The other way round is just as common, and honestly worse for the budget. A business needs bookings for a limited-time offer, so they commission something beautiful and cinematic because that’s what “good video” looks like in their head – and then they can’t work out why it didn’t shift a single booking. It was never going to. Nobody watches ninety seconds of slow, moody footage and immediately clicks through to buy. What they actually needed was fifteen sharp seconds with a clear offer and a reason to act today. Instead they’ve got a lovely piece of brand content sitting in completely the wrong slot in their marketing.
The businesses I see get the most out of video understand they usually need both, doing different jobs at different times. The brand film does its work quietly in the background, building familiarity. The ad turns up later, to someone who already has a sense of who you are, and gives them a reason to act. Flip that order, or try to force one piece to do both jobs at once, and you end up with something that’s a compromise at everything and genuinely good at nothing.
Before I start any project, the first thing I want to know isn’t budget or timeline – it’s what job this thing actually has to do. Build trust over time, or get someone moving right now. Simple question. The honest answer to it decides pretty much everything else about how the video gets made.
Not sure whether what you actually need is a brand film or an ad? That’s a conversation worth having before the brief gets locked in – get in touch and we’ll help you work out which one’s right for you.