I noticed two spots lately with interesting approaches to music in commercials. The first is a spot for allergy relief med Zyrtec. The character asks at the open “You know that song Time in a Bottle?” Then she proceeds to make make a connection with the duration of relief in the bottle of Zyrtec. Now that’s cagey — just mention a song title and let the viewer fill in the musical blanks. That’s bound to make licensing simpler.

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Those who remember the internet bubble might recall what some considered a small renaissance in TV commercials, spots that were quirky, entertaining, and sometimes even memorable. And when the bubble burst, most of those spots disappeared in an instant. In doubtful economic conditions, advertisers reign in the dollars, demand and expect concrete results from what they spend, and forsake what they think of as luxuries in strategy and message, much as consumers behave with household budgets.

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Make the Logo Bigger found this MSN spot from last year, and at a minimum it’s thought provoking. Happily, it’s also pretty entertaining and very nicely done, I thought.

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J.J. Abrams, delivered a thought-provoking TED talk (as most TED talks are) on the subject of mystery. Considering his role in the creation of the TV show Lost, he’s obviously qualified to speak on the subject. As I listened I was struck by how profound some points were, worthy of book-length (or at least New Yorker-length) elaboration, but he had a lot of ground to cover, so I resorted to note taking as if I were back in college. Scrawled on my index card after listening was: [Read more →]