Procedures
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Our procedures are designed to minimise paperwork while efficiently processing, recording and tracking about 15,000 commercials a year.
Concept & script advice
The sooner you get us involved the better as it minimises the risk of unpleasant surprises further down the line.
The most common way to get us involved is to send your scripts or concepts to advice@commercialapprovals.co.nz where it will be quickly assigned within the approvals team. We are also happy to discuss concepts over the phone or to arrange face-to-face consultations.
We're open to whatever process works best for you. For example, we are often asked to review creative concepts prior to a new business pitch so that the agency can be confident that the work being presented will get CAB approval.
There is no charge for advice or script assessment.
Approval & classification of finished commercials
Once your commercial is completed it will need formal CAB approval before the stations will accept it for broadcast. To do this you will need to supply us with a reasonable copy of the ad, the key number as it will be instructed to the broadcasters, and your billing and material contact details.
Some commercials require additional information:
- Food & beverage advertisers need to supply their product's nutritional details if they want to target children under 13 years old. We strongly recommend that these details are provided before the commercial is produced or the media is booked.
- Financial services advertisers need to submit a declaration from a Company Director that their advertising complies with the various securities Acts and regulations
- Alcohol advertising needs to be pre-approved by the Liquor Advertising Pre-vetting Service (LAPS)
- Medical and therapeutic advertising needs to be pre-approved by the Therapeutic Advertising Pre-vetting Service (TAPS)
Ways to submit your commercial:
- Upload to the CAB website as part of the online application
- Digitally via eBus, Dubsat or Adstream
- As an email attachment to advice@commercialapprovals.co.nz
- By courier on DVD, CD or VHS
If in doubt we recommend digital delivery via eBus, Dubsat or Adstream as you have greater confidence in the quality and there is a clear record of delivery.
The fee for approving a finished commercial depend on whether it is an original commercial or a revision to an existing commercial. See fees and ways to pay for details.
Paperwork and informing the stations
As soon as your commercial is approved we'll confirm it in a quick email.
The formal record of approval is the CAB invoice which details the key number, classification and corresponding CAB approval number. The invoice will be emailed or to your company within a few hours of approval.
Notification is sent automatically to all broadcasters so you do not need to do anything else.
Remember that any change to the commercial requires a new key number and every key number requires CAB approval. If a station can't match your key number to a CAB approval number then they will not broadcast the commercial.