How SpotFlow works: seven steps from brief to commercial

A good commercial starts with a good brief. With SpotFlow, you submit that brief yourself, at your own pace, and watch your commercial take shape step by step. Below, we walk you through the entire process, from the first click to final approval.

Getting started, no hurdles

There's nothing to install, and we provide you with an account. On the SpotFlow home page, you click "Start your commercial" and immediately get your own briefing link. That link is yours. Everything you enter is saved automatically, so you can stop halfway and pick up where you left off later. Need to check internally on a price or a promotion first? Copy the link or have it emailed to yourself and pick it up whenever it suits you.

On the left side of the screen, you'll see the seven steps you'll go through: contact, delivery, briefing, script, voice, music, and overview. So you always know where you are and what's coming next.

Step 1: Contact

We start simple. You enter your company name, your name, and your email address. If more people are working on the campaign, you can add extra contacts with a single click. That way, all communication about the production goes straight to the right people.

Step 2: Delivery

This is where you decide what we'll deliver for you. You choose the number of impressions and the length of the main spot. You also indicate whether you need variations: the same commercial, but with a different product, a different store location, or a different word, for example. We deliberately ask what exactly needs to differ later, once your script has been approved. So you don't have to commit to details just yet.

SpotFlow immediately summarizes your choices. You see in black and white what you'll get, for example one 25-second main spot. Finally, we ask for the first air date. If you don't know it yet, you choose a month. That's enough for us to schedule the production properly.

Step 3: The brief

This is the heart of your request. No blank page and no complicated form, but a series of short questions. What product or service do you want to promote? Do you mainly want to reach businesses or consumers? Who is your target audience? Why do customers choose you and not a competitor? Do you want to mention a price or offer? And what is the main thing you want to say?

These are exactly the questions a producer asks when you're sitting with us in the studio. We've worded them so that you don't need any knowledge of audio production to answer them. A character counter on each field helps you stay concise. A strong commercial rarely starts with a lot of words, but almost always with the right ones.

Take a local bakery as an example. It explains that it bakes fresh bread and pastries every morning, that its customers are people who consciously shop fresh and local, and that the difference comes down to one promise: never prepackaged, never from the day before. That's all SpotFlow needs to get started.

Step 4: The script

Based on your brief, SpotFlow automatically puts together a complete script that fits the length of your spot. For the bakery, that becomes a story about bread fresh out of the oven that same morning, with the price and an invitation to stop by, closed with a tagline that sticks.

If the first version doesn't appeal to you right away, you can have the script regenerated, up to three times. All versions are saved, so you can compare them side by side and choose your favorite. Mandatory copy from your brief, such as a legal disclaimer or a fixed slogan, is always included. You'll see it listed separately below the script.

Want to change something yourself? Just type it directly into the text box, as easily as writing a message. Everything is saved automatically. Meanwhile, a length meter keeps track of roughly how long your text will take when it's read aloud. So before a single word has been recorded, you already know whether your story fits the spot. That prevents the moment when a voice actor in the studio has to rush to squeeze the text in.

Step 5: The voice

Based on your answers, we suggest voices that suit your brand and your target audience. For each voice, you see the key characteristics, for example warm and familiar or calm and composed, along with an age indication. You listen to a sample and choose the voice that sounds best for your story. Torn between two voices? You can always change your choice before you submit everything.

A voice is never a detail. It's the first thing your listener hears from your brand, and often the last thing that sticks.

Step 6: The music

You don't have to search endlessly for music, either. We put together playlists organized by mood: upbeat and energetic, warm and familiar, corporate and tight, playful and light, or chill and modern. For each category, one sentence tells you what feeling the music evokes.

You listen to the tracks and pick up to three favorites. Our sound engineer ultimately combines one of them with the chosen voice into the final mix. That way, you set the mood of your commercial, and we keep the room to fine-tune voice and music to each other.

Step 7: Everything at a glance

In the final step, you see your complete request in one overview: your details, the delivery, the script, the voice, and the music. This is exactly what we will record and produce. Each section has a button to make changes. If everything is correct, you submit your request.

After submitting: your commercial takes shape

Right after submitting, you'll receive a confirmation by email. It lists everything once more, including your full script and the agreements on usage rights and revision rounds. Every production includes two revision rounds. Have a question? Simply reply to the email.

The button in that email takes you to your personal status page. There you can see which phase your commercial is in: production, review and approval, or delivery. While you get on with your day, we get to work. We read every script aloud before it goes into the studio, so your commercial never sounds like text being read out, but like a story written to be heard. The status page updates itself, so there's no need to refresh.

Listen, respond, and approve

As soon as the first version is ready, you'll automatically receive an email. On the review page, you listen to your commercial, along with a short note from us. If you're happy, you approve it with a single click, with a final comment if you like. If you want something changed, you describe it in a separate feedback field. We see your feedback immediately, and it stays visible on the page.

Approving and giving feedback are deliberately two separate actions. That way, there's never any confusion about whether a version has been signed off or not. Once you approve, we finalize the delivery.

Behind the scenes

As you go through the steps, your request comes in on our end in one clear dashboard. There we can see at a glance which briefs have come in, who they're assigned to, when they need to be on air, and what their status is. As a result, your brief reaches the producers and sound engineers who make your commercial almost instantly, with no intermediate steps.

That's ultimately what SpotFlow is all about. Not a system that takes over people's work, but a system that makes sure the right people can get to work faster. The technology handles the structure. The ear in the studio decides whether it's right.

Curious what SpotFlow can do for your commercials? We'd be happy to give you a demo, online, at your office, or with us in the studio in Amsterdam. Contact Lennard Groot at lennard@tfa.studio.