A well-edited trailer can make any movie look good, but Hollywood has several minutes to convince a movie theater’s captive audience that a flick is worth seeing. Advertisers limited to just 30 seconds of broadcast TV, when viewers are eager to do anything but pay attention, have a much harder job. But that just encourages more creativity.
I don’t remember the last time I’ve voluntarily sat through an ad that wasn’t holding a longer video hostage, but commercials were a big part of my formative years before ad-free streaming services became an alternative to broadcast and cable TV. It’s a testament to the ad makers of the ‘80s, ‘90s, and early aughts that many of the their frantic 30-second pitches still live in my head, particularly those that were trying to sell me the latest and greatest tech.
