COMMERCIAL ID CODE NUMBERS

Every radio and television commercial that we produce is identified by its very own I.D. number. Each ID# is unique and belongs only to the commercial for which it is issued.

We use a 12 character ID number format and a lot of information is packed into that little code.

Here’s an example:

HEFTY JOINTS is our client and the maker of Premium Widgets.  We’ve produced their first new spot of the year, a new 30 second tv commercial.

The spot would get this ID#:  HJPR0012T30E

From this code, we can determine the client, product, number in sequence of spots produced, calendar year, medium, spot length and language.

Here’s how it breaks down:

HJ = HEFTY JOINTS

PR = PREMIUM WIDGETS

001 = the sequential number of spots produced in a calendar year – in this case it was #001, or the 1st commercial produced this year

2 = the year- in this case 2012. For all commercials produced this year, the number sequence will end in “2” for 2012

T = it’s a television spot. A radio spot would have an “R” instead

30 = it’s 30 seconds in length

E = English

Some stations add “dashes” to break up the number/letter sequences, thus making the ID# easier to read:  HJPR-0012-T30E

While understandable, this can cause problems when station invoices are being matched and cleared through our media system.

Invoices are cleared electronically using the commercial information we provide, so an I.D. number with dashes won’t match.

Also, a dash is an additional character that takes up a space within the media system’s 12 character limitation, and every dash added crowds out the letters and numbers at the end of the I.D. number, leaving our billing group with incomplete information.  This causes a lot of delays for a lot of really busy people and can result in delayed payment to our media providers (the tv/radio stations).

So, to answer a question from one of our blog readers: “to dash or not to dash?”. 

“Please, no dashes!” is our response.