Preproduction Meeting (PPM)

In an advertising production, the PPM defines the completion of the preparation phase. It's the last joint meeting before shooting starts. In a PPM, all sub-areas developed since the commercial was commissioned are summarized for the involved parties with the aim of reaching agreement on the goals and the final external appearance of the advertisement. The participants are the representatives of the client and the agency, as well as the production and the director.

Ideally, all elements of the advertising have been decided based on the commissioned time frame and budget and have been confirmed by the client and the agency by this stage of the preparation phase. In addition to booking the creative and technical staff, this includes the script or concept, story and mood boards, the vision of the director, the locations, the cast of actors or speakers, the scenery, the styling, possible digital effects and so on. Also, production aspects such as permissions, timings or delivery formats are spoken about. All these areas are now summarized again, often in the form of a production book or a presentation which anticipates the overall impression of the finished advertising. This overall impression is confirmed by the PPM customer and agency side: After this point, the 'advert' is essentially finished in the mind of all parties involved; the shooting is just a matter of execution.

A PPM is also the last chance to reach agreement on parts of the agenda that have not yet been discussed or decided, to once again identify problems and find solutions and to make final changes. It is therefore important for production to plan and set up a PPM carefully. Changes can significantly disrupt production processes at this point in time and trigger unpredictable costs.