Michael Mills, a Montreal-based Academy Award nominee, is producing low cost, almost complete TV spots that allow local retailers to take advantage of television advertising but avoid its high costs. Mills, president of Michael Mills Productions Ltd., says CFCF 12 in Montreal has already bought this year's entire production of Thumbnail Spots, as he's called them, and the next batch due in spring, 2000. Cogeco, the Montreal-based TV and cable firm has also made a purchase, and Mills is talking to a station in Western Canada and others in the U.S. He's just begun to introduce Thumbnail Spots to smaller agencies in Toronto.

"We'll sell them in volumes," says Mills. " Volume one has 20 advertising campaigns that feature 42 spots. Most of these are animated, of course, because that avoids a lot of problems." Mills has produced three 15-second spots and 39 thirties, suitable for local retailers such as florists and dry cleaners. They come with original music, sound effects and suggested scripts. Advertisers complete the spots by adding their logos and a voice over. Thumbnail Spots also come with print-ready artwork pulled from the TV commercials.

Mills sells the spots for less than $1,000 each, and a complete volume costs about $10,000. Volume buyers get exclusivity within a designated market area; individual purchasers are assured the specific spot they purchased will not be sold to a competitor in their DMA. Brian Burko, regional sales and intergrated marketing services manager for CFCF 12, says he's going after the smaller advertiser with his Thumbnail Spots. Typically the advertisers use radio because ad production is either free or inexpensive, he says.