Blipvert

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A blipvert is a very brief television advertisement, lasting one second. [1] The word is a portmanteau of blip, a brief sound, and advertisement . [2]

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The term and concept were used in the 1985 film Max Headroom: 20 Minutes into the Future and in Blipverts , the first episode of the 1987 science fiction television show Max Headroom . In the film and TV show, "blipverts" were new high-speed, concentrated, high-intensity television commercials lasting about three seconds. Their purpose was to prevent the channel-switching that may occur during standard-length commercials, but they had the side-effect of making some viewers explode. [3] They were invented as a MacGuffin to drive the plot. [4]

Real-life examples of compressed advertising

Real life advertisements have been cited as benefiting from a "blipvert effect", in which viewers recall the advertisements better. [5]

Master Lock, which had already made the image of a padlock shot by a sharpshooter into a lasting advertising image with their ad in the Super Bowl in 1974, incorporated that video image, along with its logo, in a one-second-long television commercial in 1998. [6] Advertising Age , in describing why the concept did not catch on, said that is "difficult to do much with a one-second ad". [7]

In 2002, MuchMusic introduced promos that consisted of one of twelve images of a VJ posing in front of the network's logo, lasting for only 1/60th of a second each. The "quickies" were recognized with a Guinness World Record for the world's shortest television commercial. [8]

In May 2006, GE introduced "One Second Theater", television commercials with additional material included as individual frames in the last second of the ad, for frame-by-frame viewing with digital video recorders. When viewed at normal speed, the frames flash by rapidly, much like blipverts. [5]

Miller Brewing Company aired a one-second ad during the Super Bowl XLIII football game in February 2009. The ad featured Windell Middlebrooks, who had been featured in Miller High Life ads since 2006, standing in a warehouse filled with High Life boxes and quickly shouting "High Life!" [9]

References

  1. ↑ Ang, Lawrence (2014). Principles of Integrated Marketing Communications. Cambridge University Press. p. 120. ISBN   9781107664081.
  2. ↑ Winfrey, Les (1987-03-31). "Mind-blowing Tv-industry Satire "Max Headroom" Imagines A Future Where Tv Sets Are Always On". The Philadelphia Inquirer . Archived from the original on December 30, 2015. Retrieved 2016-07-07.
  3. ↑ Abbott, Rebecca (1991). "Selling Out 'Max Headroom'". In Olson, Alan M.; Parr, Christopher; Parr, Deborah (eds.). Video Icons & Values. State University of New York Press. p.  111. ISBN   9780791404119.
  4. ↑ Atkinson, Terry (1987-05-05). "The Mixed-up World Of Max Headroom Creators". Los Angeles Times . Retrieved 2016-07-07.
  5. 1 2 Cecil, John (2012). Online Video Revolution: How to Reinvent and Market Your Business Using Video. Palgrave Macmillan. p. 30. ISBN   9781137511249.[ permanent dead link ]
  6. ↑ Time, "Blink Of An Ad" Time.com Retrieved on 04-24-07
  7. ↑ Steinberg, Brian (2011-04-18). "12 Minutes, 10 Ideas That Tried to Change TV Ad Time Forever". Advertising Age . Retrieved 2016-07-07.
  8. ↑ "Now You See It". Adweek. Archived from the original on February 11, 2017. Retrieved February 10, 2017.
  9. ↑ Mavity, Ryan. Cape Gazette. "Middlebrooks delivers the High Life to Coastal Delaware [ permanent dead link ]. Aug. 27, 2009.
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