Mars and Duracell have stepped up as the first brands to air 6-second TV spots on broadcast TV.
The ads will appear on the Fox Network Group’s Teen Choice Awards live broadcast Aug. 13 on Fox.
Mars Wrigley Confectionery Media Director Ray Amati told Deadline.com that the Teen Choice Awards are a good fit to reach young people with its Snickers and Twix brand mini stories.
If the spots prove successful, the 6-second ad could play a larger role in the future for Mars and Duracell, as well as other brands. The spots could also be a boon for marketers who don’t have the budgets to spend on the larger, more expensive 15-, 30- or 60-second spots.
In keeping with the thought that humans have the attention span of a goldfish, YouTube pioneered the ad format last year with the idea that six seconds was just long enough to get a message across but just short enough to keep a goldfish’s—err human’s—attention so they won’t skip through the spot.
YouTube announced the new format—called Bumper Ads—at SXSW last year and threw down a challenge at the Sundance Film Festival this year to agency creatives and filmmakers to tell a video story in just six seconds. TBWA/Chiat/Day, Droga5, Leo Burnett, BBDO and others took on the challenge. Here’s one from
Mother NY:
And here’s another from Old Spice:
With the 6-second spot becoming the new “it” marketing tool, last week, Facebook announced that some of its advertisers would also be producing six-second ads.
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