What we mean by PPM in Advertising?

First we must know that PPM is the English abbreviation for Pre Production Meeting, and technicality it is used in very specific fields, such as advertising, but only when it is linked to advertising spots or audiovisual productions.

A PPM or a preproduction meeting is always held between the advertising agency and the client. This meeting is atended by the agency top representatives, usually the director, the creative director, and the production team responsible for the spot. On the other side, the most important charges of the client such as the director of marketing or brand.

The goal of these meetings is to refine details, make decisions, and organize the spot from beginning to end, so that at the production stage everything is executed correctly and there are no last-minute unforeseen circumstances.

In PPM scripts are usually re-read and changes are agreed upon. Then the spot producers show the storyboard or storyboard, which is the document where you can see the sequences of images that are going to be made and that serves as a guide to the argument of the spot, to preview what the final result would be.

Once the aforementioned is agreed, which is the key part, the casting is selected. Here, different options are shown to the client and between client and agency they try to choose the most suitable actors, actresses, or portagonists. After the casting, it is the turn of stylists and location experts, where different alternatives are shown that could fit and thus have a more visual idea to predict how the result will be. Finally, last but not least, music is selected, an element which will be the main thread of our spot.

Depending on the spot length and quality, PPMs usually take between 2 and 4 hours. These meetings are of vital importance to achieve the best result with the advertising action.