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A blipvert is a very brief television advertisement, lasting one second. The word is a portmanteau of blip, a brief sound, and advertisement.

The term and concept were used in the 1985 film Max Headroom: 20 Minutes into the Future and in Blipverts, the first episode of the 1987 science fiction television show Max Headroom. In the film and TV show, "blipverts" were new high-speed, concentrated, high-intensity television commercials lasting about three seconds. Their purpose was to prevent the channel-switching that may occur during standard-length commercials. They were invented as a MacGuffin to drive the plot.

Real-life examples of compressed advertising

Real life advertisements have been cited as benefiting from a "blipvert effect", in which viewers recall the advertisements better.

Master Lock, which had already made the image of a padlock shot by a sharpshooter into a lasting advertising image with their ad in the Super Bowl in 1974, incorporated that video image, along with its logo, in a one-second-long television commercial in 1998. Advertising Age, in describing why the concept did not catch on, said that is "difficult to do much with a one-second ad".

In 2002, MuchMusic introduced promos that consisted of one of twelve images of a VJ posing in front of the network's logo, lasting for only 1/60th of a second each. The "quickies" were recognized with a Guinness World Record for the world's shortest television commercial.

In May 2006, GE introduced "One Second Theater", television commercials with additional material included as individual frames in the last second of the ad, for frame-by-frame viewing with digital video recorders. When viewed at normal speed, the frames flash by rapidly, much like blipverts.

Miller Brewing Company aired a one-second ad during the Super Bowl XLIII football game in February 2009. The ad featured Windell Middlebrooks, who had been featured in Miller High Life ads since 2006, standing in a warehouse filled with High Life boxes and quickly shouting "High Life!"

References

1. Ang, Lawrence (2014). Principles of Integrated Marketing Communications. Cambridge University Press. p. 120. ISBN 9781107664081.
2. Winfrey, Les (1987-03-31). "Mind-blowing Tv-industry Satire "Max Headroom" Imagines A Future Where Tv Sets Are Always On". The Philadelphia Inquirer. Archived from the original on December 30, 2015. Retrieved 2016-07-07.
3. Abbott, Rebecca (1991). "Selling Out 'Max Headroom'". In Olson, Alan M.; Parr, Christopher; Parr, Deborah (eds.). Video Icons & Values. State University of New York Press. p. 111. ISBN 9780791404119.
4. Atkinson, Terry (1987-05-05). "The Mixed-up World Of Max Headroom Creators". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2016-07-07.
5. ^ Cecil, John (2012). Online Video Revolution: How to Reinvent and Market Your Business Using Video. Palgrave Macmillan. p. 30. ISBN 9781137511249.
6. Time, "Blink Of An Ad" Time.com Retrieved on 04-24-07
7. Steinberg, Brian (2011-04-18). "12 Minutes, 10 Ideas That Tried to Change TV Ad Time Forever". Advertising Age. Retrieved 2016-07-07.
8. "Now You See It". Adweek. Archived from the original on February 11, 2017. Retrieved February 10, 2017.
9. Mavity, Ryan. Cape Gazette. "Middlebrooks delivers the High Life to Coastal Delaware. Aug. 27, 2009.

External links

• GE One Second Theater

• 1985 neologisms
• Max Headroom
• Television commercials
• Television advertising