You see, I stopped being an "early adopter" of new technology years ago. The speed of change is so fast that the big dollars for new and improved today will be affordable dollars in a matter of months, maybe a year. Paid $950 dollars for the first front loading Sony Betamax back in the day and that was wholesale. By the time it finally broke down, the latest VHS machine was around $200. Today the DVD player has become disposable. Under $100 dollars for better than decent. It breaks, throw it away and buy another.
The PVR begs answers to several questions.
- Is PVR a verb? PVR-ing. Are you PVR-ing my favourite show?
- How effective are TV commercials anymore?
- If I were a commercial writer/producer, what would I be thinking about?
TV commercials might be even more effective.
In the pre PVR days, commercial breaks provided that 3-4 minutes to check another channel, hit the fridge, get another cookie, chat about the last segment, play with the dog, anything but pay attention to the commercials. But they got me. Dammit! Fast forward means I have to pay attention in order to hit the play button at just the right time. Fast forward is actually fast. 30 second commercials fly by, no sound, no advertising claims, no bad jingles, no stupid story lines. But hold on! I am remembering words on screen that are there just long enough to be an impression, a logo that is sharp and colourful and well defined.
Got me to thinking.
Not an original thought I hope. If I were to produce a 30 second tv commercial right now, I would want to make sure the message is strong in fast forward. How many more of these quick messages do you see because you are watching more episodes of more shows.
So much for skipping the commercials.....
