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I love a good PSA. This one from Nickelodeon is interesting enough to catch your eye but straightforward enough to make a point. 

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What ever happened to category exclusivity in TV spot breaks?

An explanation for any non-media readers out there – typically when you place a buy at both the local and national level, you will be granted category exclusivity for the spot breaks you purchase and any good media buyer will demand it. Meaning that within the a two minute and thirty second commercial break those other four :30 spots you’re running with will not be one of your competitors.

Your competitors could be in the next spot break, they could be in every one after yours, but they should not run in your break and certainly not after your spot in the same break. Sometimes it happens, rotators get stuffed in any avails and when inventory is tight mix ups are bound to happen. But these days it seems as though category exclusivity is totally done with.

MTV seems to do this the most – a two minute break just aired three direct skin care competitors, one after the other.

Local news ran a competitor car spot in the same break they announced a program feature was sponsored by another local dealership of the same make. (Car dealerships are a bit more flexible in that two makes can run in the same break as long as they don’t directly compete – BMW and Chevy can share a spot break because people shopping for a Chevy would not then turn around and buy a BMW).

I’m surprised with the amount of inventory that this is even happening, but media companies and reps are too focused on making money to stay afloat. Unfortunately, its hard for a media buyer to track what other spots are running in the spot break as invoices only contain the date, time and rate of your own spots. Unless you (or god forbid) the client happens to catch it, you’ll never know.

Do you think exclusivity is a thing of the past or will it come back when stations don’t have to whore themselves out to stay afloat?

Just the other day I was thinking about the lack of humor in high fiber food commercials.

Silly, but still gets to their copy points.

I honestly don’t know which is more disturbing – encouraging ladies to mow their lawn through a song or a how-to video teaching  guys to trim the underbrush “so the tree looks taller”. Oy vey…While I can appreciate its a hard subject to get across through video I don’t know that a song or how to video are really the best choice. 

Ladies

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There are some great TV spots out in rotation right now – here are my top 5 (in no particular order)

Check them out after the jump

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I saw this spot mixed in with the usual education connection, proactive and strip tease workout spots that make up the commerical breaks on MTV in the morning. My immediate reaction was – oy someone in traffic fucked up putting an intelligent and witty spot about something important in the world on MTV.

Finally a commercial that about something important that isn’t boring, blah and stuck on A&E or History Channel. Just because I watch MTV doens’t mean all I care about is how I look or how to go to college in my PJs (I hate you education connection)! 

I love this spot and its waaayyy better then any of Al Gore’s “We” campaign ads.  

The Clean Coal spot was directed by the Coen Brothers and concepted by Crispin Porter + Bogusky. 

CP+B is f’ing brilliant (full disclosure, I have an agency crush on CP+B) .

You had to know it was coming…the Superbowl ad recap. BTW You can check them all out on Hulu.  

Overall, Hyundai was the clear winner of the super bowl. They presented a clear and cohesive message through memorable (if a little boring) ads. Hyundai is going after market share in the recession through a very well thought out and beautifully executed campaign. While their ads might not be the ones everyone discussed today, they’re keeping the brand alive and in a positive light through messages that will outlast the Superbowl spotlight. 

Other stand outs include: 

1) Doritos Crystal Ball – The only spot that made me really laugh out loud. While it was a little strange and incredibly funny, the spot didn’t deviate from the brand image or try to hard. Yes, people are hating on Doritos for doing a user submitted contest for their creative (which is soooo 2007), but I say excellent work!

2) CareerBuilder.com – I hated this and almost muted it until they kola was punched. Then I was giggling fool. Punching a kola that’s wearing glasses and drinking coffee = WIN. I liked the Monster.com spot, but this spot was waaay better. It was repetitive and annoying but so are some jobs, right? So they were pretty much spot on in what they were try to sell. Side Note: In the spot break that ran the Monster.com spot, a voice over did a name mention for CareerBuilder.com while going back into the game. I don’t know how CareerBuilder did it and as a media planner I would be asking for a partial refund if I was Monster.com. If a station is not going to bother with category exclusivity within a spot break for a $3M spot, then they are clearly just whoring out ad time.

3) Hulu.com was the unexpected awesomeness. Hulu is a great service and a cool brand, but I’m pretty sure its relatively unknown amongst the non tech people. The ad was memorable, funny and pretty honest. Side Note: My favorite tweets regarding the hulu spot were ones like this from Allen. I’m sorry guy but I think you missed the point of your favorite ad, Hulu is a place you can go to see videos online. Its like youtube but with a higher quality…so maybe you could try going to hulu to view the ads? 

4) Audi (yes I know I just said Hyundai was the overall winner) but Audi had a fantastic spot that was visually stunning  and a brilliant depiction of their brand. Classy, powerful and sexy. I want an Audi A4. 

Despite the hype, the Cash4Gold spot wasn’t all that great. Ed McMahon looked so old and feeble. Plus its sad because we all know he’s really in need of money. McHammer was funny, but funny is not going to get me to do business with the scam that is Cash4Gold. Meh.

Continuing on my TV spot kick for this week, here are a few of my favorite spots that I’ve recently noticed. 

H&R Block “Whisper” by Campbell Mithun 

H&R always has some good humerous tax time ads. This defintiely seems like something I would do. 

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There are currently two advertisers getting it right in these rough economic times. Their messaging is on target, tone is full of empathy and their imagery soothing and familiar. 

First is Walmart. Internationally hated, evil, souless Walmart is coming out with some phenonminal messaging that makes this Nordstom girl actually appreciate the mega store. They’ve emphasized the value of their products, showcased items (blue ray, video games, etc) that can be enjoyed by the family, together at home. Basically falling right in linewhat a retailer shouldbe doing during a recession. 

Here’s one of the ads that focuses on gift cards but keeps the same tone and messaging of the rest of the product specific campaign (sorry about the qaulity). 

The other advertiser getting it right is Hyundai.

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I am definitely not Apple fan girl, despite my iphone lust, but I concede that Apple knows what their doing. They’ve revolutionzed the music business (even if they’re tactics are slightly evil). Apples move into cell phones is no different, they’ve revolutionized the level of features and customization users can expect.

Blackberry is desperately trying to  salvage its reputation as THE phone for professionals and cool kids. The Blackberry Storm has adopted many of Apples features to compete (like their touch screen) and are currently running two ad campaigns. One campaign I absolutely love;  the other has actually made me scream at the tv.

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