10 is the new 15

15 used to be the new 30, while 30 was, forever, the new 60. Infotainment commercials even took over for a while, 60 minutes is the new 30! With all of the new ad formats, from Out of Home to Rich Media, it hard to keep up. One prays that their compatriots in Media have their heads on straight when structuring the Media Buy.

Low and behold on a recent buy, I noticed a new format. So small as to be barely noticed! Welcome to 10 seconds as the new arbiter of marketing communications. A challenge to be sure for working in the 10 second format is no slight turn. Tell a story in 30 seconds, sure. Tell a story in 15 seconds, um o.k. Now you have five less seconds. What are you going to do? Well MacGuyver, just what are you going to do?

Questions: Are you going to sell brand benefit or product benefit? A blend of both? Do you have an intro or a setup to the story? How long do you want to hold the end title? If you hold the end title for 5 seconds this means you have 5 seconds for product or brand attributes. Or maybe you hold the end title for 3 seconds, which means you now have 7 seconds to tell your story.

Suffice to say, a unit like this is a unique challenge. Yes, it may strike fear in the hearts of Creative folks everywhere but ultimately it is a challenge. In a way, we are really catching up to the folks in Out of Home and Consumer Package Goods. A highway billboard has to deliver its message to someone driving by it at 65 mph. A read of 2-3 seconds tops. The same goes with any product stacked in a supermarket aisle. The read has to be instantaneous. A sense of recognition and brand story has to occur in the blink of an eye.

Good luck to all of us in the design of the new 10 second spot. Oh, btw, there is a new Out of Home unit in a bus stop shelter that has an animation time of 4 seconds. Wooof!