I am fresh back in my office this week from a fascinating show last week in London. It was a smaller show that was collocated with the 2008 IPTV World Show but its smaller venue did not deter from some great speakers and exciting directions for TV advertising. One message was clear on every panel and from each speaker: the industry must do something different with or instead of the usual ‘30 second spot’. They must instead target buying audiences with commercials that are interesting, unusual, laughed at in a way that is non intrusive and welcomed by it’s receiving audience, even owning the potential for "viral networking" via the internet - as DVR and other recording capabilities have made 'zipping' – the practice of fast forwarding through commercials or uninteresting content - far too easy. If the industry continues to flatly broadcast unimaginative and uninventive ads to viewers, ad revenue will go down as a result, having the unfortunate burden placed on consumer services… and that cannot be a good thing for a competitive digital media offering. The common theme: the need to target, to make interaction a component, to know your customer, to make each ad an unforgettable experience.

One example of this is the recent success and placement of the ingenious Cadbury Gorilla commercial (If one has not seen it, it is readily available on YouTube and well worth the watch). Being one of the few in attendance that had not seen the commercial up to that point, I was just amazed at the popularity of this 90 second commercial. There have already been thousands of YouTube downloads, over 70 profiles set up on Facebook exclusively around this commercial and substantial contests as well. No matter how much it cost to make, a sponsor couldn’t buy the kind of publicity as the viral networking phenomenon. Running primarily in the UK and during high profile shows with high profiled viewership, this commercial then was seen in video on demand movies and then the "making of" was played after these movies. In almost every movie that was recorded or watched, the "making of the Cadbury Gorilla" was selected to be recorded and watched as well. In some cases, the commercial was actually played more times than was the movie.

The Cadbury Gorilla is a spectacular example of advertising that doubles as user driven content. This kind of ingenuity is the kind of thing the industry needs to do more of. I heard Sky Media state that they were working with several other companies like Ford and Adidas to come up with shorter ads that could non-intrusively run at the start and end of movies and other high-demand content. Thus far, Sky was having good success with things already delivered, and were expecting to expand this scope to other advertisers. Add in the potential for targeting populations and local areas plus interactive elements, this could be a huge win for not just MSOs, but for the consumer as well.

Now if only they could do something with those pesky political ads...