I can think of at least two campaigns now that are asking television viewers to use their DVRs as a tool for watching commercials.
Sprite has a new "Sublymonal" campaign. At the bottom of the screen, there is a tagline stating "DVR Ready." The commercials are a sensory overload of yellow and green images.
For those who decide to dig deeper, Sprite's 30 second media buy has just bought them a couple of minutes with the consumer. I guess I am supposed to use my DVR to check out what the "sublymonal" message is. No thanks. Sprite is already taking up 30 seconds of my time, I really have no need to give them anymore than that. Sprite is hoping that these ads will increase "interaction between product and consumer. Sorry, I just don't buy it. Crispin Porter did these ads for Sprite.
GE released a similar campaign. It introduced the concept of "One Second Theater" and then in the end of the commercials, had a small piece that was to be viewed with a DVR. They placed this in a great spot in the commercial. At the end of each of GE's television commercials, it quickly shows logos from it's business units: NBC Universal, Healthcare, Ecomagination, and others. If I slow down my tv at this time, I get visuals of each of these logos (and like the Sprite commercial, I spend more time with GE). I like GE's concept more that Sprite's, I just don't know how successful it is. BBDO is doing this campaign for GE.
My guess is that there are not that many people slowing down their commercials.
