It features Paul Whitehouse as Damien the hairdresser, owner of Damien & Jason's salon. Damien is a successful and busy salon owner. He uses a broker to sort out his insurance as he values expert advice and feels safe in the knowledge he has the right cover and a great deal.
Click above to watch the full feature length advert.
Paul Goodwin was the producer for our Damien & Jason TV advert. He gave us the following insight into the shoot.
I played a number of roles when it came to producing the new Damien & Jason TV advert. Liaising with the production company, director and Paul Whitehouse's agent to co-ordinate the shoot itself was one of the key roles, along with managing the production budget. In addition, I was also involved in co-ordinating the editing schedule to arrive at an approved rough cut and managing the post-production process and post-production budget.
We had four weeks of pre-production, which included make-up tests for Paul Whitehouse, wardrobing, casting, location scouting, prop preparation, etc. This was followed by the shoot which lasted two days and then a week of editing. We then continued onto the post production stage which lasted for an additional two weeks. So altogether the entire production process for the advert lasted nine weeks.
The most enjoyable part of the filming was Paul's improvisation at the start of day one, where he just ad-libbed a bunch of gags that ended up in an out-takes edit.
The tricky part of this ad was probably not the shoot itself, but the character development where we had to be mindful not to make Paul either too Geordie and 'blokey', or too effeminate. Getting the right balance was key in creating a likeable, believable three dimensional character.
He genuinely is a unique comedy talent. He totally made the character his own and thoroughly researched the part to ensure Damien was real and believable. He really helped develop the dialogue and was great with the supporting cast.
To watch the TV ad and see for yourself click here.