Watch My Cool Commercial for Arcade Galactic in West Valley City

As many of you know, I’ve recently gotten really into producing 30-second commercials for both my own business and other arcade-related enterprises.

This includes my latest take on the concept for Arcade Galactic in West Valley City, Utah — published to my YouTube channel on September 11th, 2024 — where I waxed positive about the budget-friendly nature of the venue.

What tickled me particularly pink about this specific commercial was that I made it to aid one of longest-known pals in the industry: Adam Pratt, who also runs the Arcade Heroes news blog. If it isn’t obvious by now, most notes in my career have pretty closely parroted his own.

As for how this came to be, my goals and Pratt’s happened to align when I saw a members-only YouTube post of his wherein he expressed his intention to increase his marketing efforts following a rough patch of earnings at Arcade Galactics. My explicit goal in creating theses commercials is to help other coin-op professional market their businesses, so I sent him an email proposing as much.

He said yes – in return proposing we highlight his low prices relative to competition in the area, especially as inflation has wrecked finances across the country. I wrote and recorded the script, and he provided the video I’d need to edit.

That’s something I found supremely helpful this time around: having access to high-quality 4K video from the outset. Enjoy as I may crafting everything from scratch, your jaw would probably drop if you knew exactly how many hours I poured into doing so for the Newcade and Arcade Online commercials prior.

So Adam graciously hooked me up. It took me more tries than usual to nail the voiceover, simply because I wasn’t sure what direction would be most appropriate. Given the “galactic” theming of the arcade, I initially spoke in a cadence resembling the narrator from Buzz Lightyear of Star Command. Then, I went for a friendlier approach, seeing as how the point was to reassure patrons. The end result was somewhere in the middle.

During production, Adam Pratt mentioned my commercial amid his video about operating an arcade in a down economy, which bears no relevance to this story other than it makes me happy when I hear my name in something like that. (I’ve also screenshotted every mention of Wilcox Arcade on Wikipedia.)

I let the design language of the Arcade Galactic website inform the onscreen graphics of the commercial – with a twist. Despite how flat the Wilcox Arcade branding has always been, I seriously adore faux-3D. Adam got the latter treatment in spades, from gradients to optical flares and everything in between.

Adam made me a believer in drones thanks to what he achieved with his. The video he sent enabled me to show off the exterior and the entire game floor within, while more intimately highlighting Ms. Pac-Man and the pinball selection. I ripped the remaining clips from his YouTube page with the aim of showcasing activity. (In other words, I wanted to see people actually using the machines.)

I wanted the commercial to be as TV-ready as possible – which, admittedly, is my typical goal, but I think it matters more in the context of a local arcade. That meant leaving the contact information onscreen the entire time, and superimposing lots of other text for those who might be watching with the audio muted.

Luckily for me, Adam gave the commercial the green light upon receipt by uploading it to the Arcade Galactic YouTube channel. I appreciated this more than you might expect, because he was the first of my customers to use a commercial in this way. (The second would be Arcade Online, who requested a Facebook version of their commercial, stripped of any Wilcox Arcade mention, on September 19th.)

The only noteworthy bit that differed between his upload and mine was the thumbnail, which he changed to better match his channel’s style. Mine is defined by the usual Wilcox Arcade “over-design” of which I’m so fond.

My favorite element of the commercial, looking back now, is the five-dollar bill adorned with Adam Pratt’s shade-wearing face. I was worried that wouldn’t make the cut, but it seems Adam, too, understood the Cruis’n USA reference.

I’m very happy with my Arcade Galactic commercial and strongly encourage you to check it out ASAP. If you’d like your own Wilcox Arcade commercial, hit me up via email at wilcoxarcade@gmail.com, or call 270-484-8161 today.