Some of the best ideas turn up on your doorstep. Literally. This one arrived with a takeaway. Matt, creative lead at ABF Pictures, was at his front door sharing a laugh with the delivery driver when it clicked. That handover is a bit of theatre that happens millions of times a night across the country. It’s quick, slightly awkward and full of anticipation, and almost nobody had thought to put it on telly. Ten months later, the new Foodhub TV advert is on air.

Foodhub wanted a TV advertising campaign that captured how it feels when your takeaway arrives. We didn’t want menus, discounts or hero shots of steaming pizza. We wanted the giddy rush when the bag lands in your hands, the moment Foodhub calls the Hubba Hubba feeling. “The Photo” takes that feeling and turns the volume all the way up.

Comedy in TV advertising lives or dies on restraint, so we kept the world grounded. A real doorstep, a real street and two characters you’d recognise from your own front door. The grade plays a cool, blue suburban night against warm lamplight from the hallway, so the doorstep feels like a stage. Then we break the frame completely before snapping back to stillness. That contrast is where the laughs live.

Casting was everything. We needed one performer who could fully commit to the bit and another who could play it absolutely straight. Our production crew once again made 30 seconds feel much bigger.

A night-time doorstep sounds simple until you’re filming a TV commercial at the height of summer, when it barely gets dark before half nine. So we built the schedule around the sky and didn’t start the doorstep scene until 10pm. A long night, but it gave us the proper inky blue the idea needed. Worth every yawn.

Everyone has had that moment at the door, even if most of us keep it under control. The best TV ads come from noticing ordinary stuff and asking what happens if someone just goes for it.

Got a brand with a story waiting on the doorstep? We’re a TV commercial production company in Manchester and we’d love to hear it.

To find out more visit Foodhub