Gone are the days when TV viewers could wait till the commercial break to grab a drink, break for the washroom, or flip channels. Advertisers have dumped the traditional 30-second spot for ads that run for anywhere from one second to five minutes. Whether short or long, non-traditional ads thwart channel surfing and PVR and stand out from the regular pattern. Given many viewers skip commercials or favour the Internet, advertisers need to be creative to win the battle for mindshare.

(c) 2005 by Andrea Coutu. Vancouver Marketing Consultant. All rights reserved.