Case Study
T-Mobile: concept to national air in 5 business days
Two World Series spots, one week, and an air date that could not move.
View the full case study (PDF) →
5
Business days, blank page to broadcast
Case Study
Two World Series spots, one week, and an air date that could not move.
View the full case study (PDF) →
The Ask
T-Mobile wanted a national presence on air during the World Series — and by the time the request landed, five business days stood between a blank page and broadcast.
A production that would normally run four to eight weeks had one week: concept, production, post, network clearance, and delivery.
The air date was the one variable that could not move.
The Constraint Was the Brief
With no schedule float, every decision had to be made once — no bidding round, no second shoot day, no margin for a legal note landing late. The plan was built backward from the delivery deadline, and whatever couldn't survive that math didn't make it into the concept.
Built backward from air
The Concept
Two :15 rivalry pranks under the #TheBig7th banner, shot documentary-style with real fans for a UGC feel — the same two leads across both spots, two Bay Area locations, one shoot day.
A Mets fan gets a Royals logo shaved into his hair.
A Royals fan finds his car mummified in Mets logos.
How It Got Made
Creative and client decision-makers aligned in a single working session. Anything that couldn't be shot in one day or cleared in one pass was cut in the room.
Crew, talent, and location locked simultaneously, not sequentially — holds converted to bookings the same day, shot list built overnight against the edit's needs.
One shoot day, planned so the edit couldn't come up short — coverage prioritized by the cut, decisions made on set, both spots captured in a single day.
Client and creative reviewed the working cut directly — feedback consolidated into one revision pass, legal running in parallel instead of after.
Mix, conform, closed captioning, and trafficking within the clearance window — delivered on the day promised.
Why It Worked
Built from the network's trafficking deadline, so every upstream date was real — not aspirational.
Decision-makers in the room instead of on an email chain — every approval made once.
A simpler idea executed perfectly beats an ambitious one delivered late.
The Outcome
Both spots delivered on schedule and aired nationally during the World Series broadcast window. The production that “couldn't be done in a week” shipped — without a missed handoff, a blown approval, or an overage.
“Barber Shop” — :15 World Series spot
“Saran Wrap” — :15 World Series spot
The Takeaway
Speed on a production like this isn't heroics — it's sequencing.
When the deadline can't move, the producer's job is to design a process where nothing has to be decided twice.