- Shmuel Hoffman
NYC is Baaaaack
Updated: Sep 3, 2021
Remember how NYC was shut down a year ago? Here was Shmuel filming in an empty Times Square at the height of the pandemic last spring:

Well now NYC is back in (mostly) full swing, minus a few million people (according to Unacast) who have moved away since last year and/or are working from home and not going into the office. Despite the lower number of people in NYC, there are still millions of people there, and parking is still very difficult. We've been filming there this whole time, getting our fair share of parking tickets - pandemic or no pandemic. Street cleaning has not changed, and neither has the competition for parking spots.
Double Demographics With Prompt, we had the challenge to make one film directed to two demographics: landlords and property managers who contract with Prompt to manage parking for their buildings, and the end user who needs to park his/her car at the end of the day. We decided to focus most of the film on the end user, as people who need to park are the main beneficiaries of Prompt's services, and we included some testimonials from property managers and landlords toward the end of the film. Since the happiness of the end user is of importance also to property owners and managers, we knew that showing the satisfaction of Prompt's drivers was of utmost importance right out of the gate. Telling the Story One of the formulas (formulae?) we use to draw in the audience from a storytelling perspective, is to begin with stating the problem, and getting the audience to understand and feel the pain associated with the problem. Because presenting a solution without first presenting the problem deflates the solution and its energy real fast. People need to feel that there's a problem in the first place if you want them to be open to hearing your solution. This approach has worked well for us for many of our clients, especially if they're presenting something new to the world. The status quo is a company's or organization's biggest competition, and nobody sees any problem with the status quo when they've become acclimated to it slowly over years. Prompt What impressed us the most about Prompt was the high ratings they received from everyone they worked with, from the penthouse to the parking garage. You wouldn't think people would be so enthusiastic about something as everyday as a parking service, but it is stellar solutions to every day problems that can really increase our quality of life overall. The feedback we heard the most was regarding the human element, that someone is always available at Prompt, night and day, to help with any issue. This level of customer service is rarely seen, but is especially vital in the logistics of parking, especially in NYC.
Cars
We ourselves were happy to get back into commercials involving cars since our Lexus commercial. The fast pace of both cars and Manhattan made it a thrilling production to put together.