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Ultra Short Commercials

B

Barry

About 6 years ago there was talk, primarily by Clear Channel, of running ads that are only 5 or 2 1/2 seconds long.
Did this ever catch on on this area? I was reminded of this concept when I heard a spot that was 5 or less seconds long today on Cumulus' Kicks 105.5/106.3. It ran durng the brief moments between two songs. The ad seemed quite effective, as it ran all alone, rather than as part of a spotload of commercials.
 
Yep---they are referred to as "blinks" both CC and Cumulus are running them in many markets BIG and small! Just another way to make a few bucks, eh?
 
radiojjh said:
Yep---they are referred to as "blinks" both CC and Cumulus are running them in many markets BIG and small! Just another way to make a few bucks, eh?
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It's also a good way to build to-of-mind awareness. You kick off a stopset with a :15 or :30 for Sleepy's, and you'll hear the set end with a quick 5 second "Sleepy's, The Mattress Professionals!" More of the big guys are doing it, I haven't heard any local clients using the tactic.
 
WNEW All News 99.1 in Washington, DC loves these short commercials. "Now we go to the Bill The Movers weather desk." Lots and lots of those little things throughout the 30 minute cycle of news.
 
Another way to make money but mostly useless wastes of space. Earworms would work, but this is not an earworm. Just something lost in the mix. My client tried them in three markets and they were useless.
 
BarryATL said:
WNEW All News 99.1 in Washington, DC loves these short commercials. "Now we go to the Bill The Movers weather desk." Lots and lots of those little things throughout the 30 minute cycle of news.
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2 second mentions are actually good. Even something as ambiguous as "Harvey Norman...The Right Choice" as heard before 4BH Brisbane, Australia's newscasts (Harvey Norman is a well known and famous chain of department stores in the UK, Ireland, South Africa and Australia - kind of like a Walmart I guess. No US outlets as of yet, but it still has my curiosity.)

And that's all that matters really.....
 
Barry said:
About 6 years ago there was talk, primarily by Clear Channel, of running ads that are only 5 or 2 1/2 seconds long.
Did this ever catch on on this area? I was reminded of this concept when I heard a spot that was 5 or less seconds long today on Cumulus' Kicks 105.5/106.3. It ran durng the brief moments between two songs. The ad seemed quite effective, as it ran all alone, rather than as part of a spotload of commercials.
Click to expand...

Very common practice in much of the rest of the world. The US, while not unique, is in a very odd situation of only recently starting to get away from the 60 second spot, while the 30 has been the standard elsewhere....
 
Where I work, we use 5 7 or 9 second credits (client mentions). It is very effective for brand awareness, especially if you can sign product exclusivity over a long period, eg. 12 months. We have even had callers mention the client credit when calling with a traffic report, so it does work.
 
I've heard 5 second spots adjacent to the TOH station ID. Seems like a pretty good idea.

I don't think any NYC stations do it, but the place I used to work did. Never saw a rate card, but I bet it was a nice fee for what usually ends up being an imaging liner.
 
ProducerGuy said:
I've heard 5 second spots adjacent to the TOH station ID. Seems like a pretty good idea.

I don't think any NYC stations do it, but the place I used to work did. Never saw a rate card, but I bet it was a nice fee for what usually ends up being an imaging liner.
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I think ours were around $50 a spot.
 
NYC doesn't need to do it. Plenty of ads bought there. For other markets it's sold as added value. Sort of like marketing apple pies 2 for a dollar. Many will buy two even though it's still the same price for one. The added value perception only ads to the coffers of the station wiht no more cost to do it.
 
Lee Anderson said:
ProducerGuy said:
I've heard 5 second spots adjacent to the TOH station ID. Seems like a pretty good idea.

I don't think any NYC stations do it, but the place I used to work did. Never saw a rate card, but I bet it was a nice fee for what usually ends up being an imaging liner.
Click to expand...

I think ours were around $50 a spot.
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That adds up! Over $30,000 a month if my math is right. I doubt ours were that much, but I bet they were $20.
 
While listening to WNEW I have noticed they have about five or six ultra short commercials each 30 minute segment. Do they really work when there are so many?
 
BarryATL said:
Do they really work when there are so many?
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I'm gonna take a Cold Corona Lite break from what I was doing and offer my Bank United oppinion, I think so.
 
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