How to film your own insurance ads on a phone (and why you should)

1 September 20266 min readBy Ali Mir

A broker's guide to filming ad footage on a phone: the script format, the reference video, the four shots that matter and the mistakes an editor cannot fix.

The single biggest predictor of whether a broker's ad campaign works is whether the broker is in the ad. Not a presenter, not an animation, not a photo of a family on a beach. The person who will be on the call.

Brokers know this instinctively, and most still avoid it, because filming yourself feels like a skill you do not have. It is not. Here is how our clients do it in an afternoon, with a phone.

What you receive before you press record

• A script, scene by scene. Short lines you can read in one breath. Nobody memorises a page; you read each line, pause, read the next.
• A reference video. Someone on our team performs the whole script in a plain room, so you can see the framing, the pace and where to look. You copy it.
• A filming checklist. Light in front of you not behind, phone at eye level, a quiet room, and three takes of every scene.

The four shots that matter

Almost every ad we cut uses the same four shots.

1. The hook. You, looking at the lens, saying the first line. This is the shot that decides whether anyone keeps watching, so film it more times than feels necessary.
2. The explanation. The middle of the script, delivered in the same framing. You can glance down at the script between lines; the editor removes the glances.
3. The proof. A line about who you are and who you help. Licensed in Alberta for twelve years, two hundred families a year, whatever is true.
4. The ask. "Book a fifteen-minute call and I will tell you in plain terms whether your policy is right." Say it twice, two ways.

Mistakes an editor cannot fix

• Backlight. A window behind you turns you into a silhouette. Face the window instead.
• Wind and traffic. Audio is harder to rescue than picture. Film indoors.
• Reading in a monotone. You are talking to one person, not addressing a room. Imagine a specific client.
• One take. The editor needs options. Three takes of each scene is the minimum.

What happens next

You upload the takes from your phone. Our team reviews them the same day and asks for re-takes where a shot needs one, which is usually the hook. The editor then cuts at least two versions of the ad, so the test week has something to test. Edited ads come back within a few days, you approve them in the app, and they go live within twenty-four hours of your sign-off.

The honest part

The first time you watch yourself back, you will hate it. Everyone does. The prospect watching does not see the take you hated; they see a real broker explaining something clearly, which is exactly what they were hoping to find. The campaigns with the most polished presenters are not the ones with the lowest cost per lead. The ones with the most human presenter are.