16th
ingenious, split commercials show passage of time
I saw the new AT&T “Postcards” commercial for the first time two weeks ago. I didn’t think much of Part 1 aside from mumbling, “Wow, its about time that AT&T went on the offensive given what Verizon has been up to recently” However, once Part 2 came on about a minute later (after the P&G block I might add) I screamed “That’s Awesome!”
I didn’t ever recall viewing a split, 2-part commercial before. It amazed me how well this technique worked to illustrate the passage of time. I don’t know if this has been used before (has it?), but it seems like a very simple, yet ingenious way to “lengthen” the duration of a commercial for free! We all learn in intro psychology that the human mind just cares about the end and secondly the beginning; why even bother with the middle then?
I hope to see this technique used more on television (unless its protected?) and possibly in other media, but for the time being, hat’s off to AT&T (or their marketing agency) for wowing me.
