The 30-second television spot is on its way out. At least, that is the prognosis of many media observers with the looming wider acceptance of video-on-demand, which offers the viewer the ability to program out commercial breaks. This means advertisers and agencies will have to find alternative outlets for their messages, and production houses will have to learn to create for new delivery platforms. It may also rearrange where ad dollars go.

Manhattan design-based production company Eyeball is one shop that is thinking outside the (home entertainment) box. Eyeball recently produced two 60-second spots for display on Niketown in-store video walls and at other retailers. The spots are based on the concept of a pictograph game, with various images (based on the ‘Nike Play’ print campaign) shifting about the screen, intercut with graphic elements, text, and product shots. Eyeball’s work for Nike won it two gold BDA Awards in June.

While Eyeball says the budgets for the spots are on par with its commercial productions for TV, Nike enjoyed substantial savings in bypassing ad agency involvement and going directly to Eyeball. With Economist.com’s recently reported projection that ad budgets in the U.S. this year will be down overall by 0.3%, clients are clearly looking to save a buck where they can.

‘For something like this, I’m sure [the agencies] would like to do it, but we can do it quicker and cheaper and have more fun with it. And I think [the clients] enjoy the fact that they can come to a company like us and get the level of work they would get doing it through their agency.’

In this new digital world, companies that work in the realm of 2D and 3D animation may have the upper hand – not only on agencies, but on live-action production companies as well. On the Canadian scene, a major animation and F/X company is pitching the idea of online ads directly to its traditional broadcast clients, and spending considerable R&D time on showing, for example, a car manufacturer the realistic digital cars and backgrounds it can create for these spots. Is it such a leap to foresee a time when a fully 3D animated spot becomes the most cost-effective solution for TV as well? Consider the $35-$50/a head savings on craft service alone. Of course, this is if the TV spot survives at all.

Back to trend-setting NYC. Media Designs Interactive provides clients with marketing strategies and, in its BrandGames division, creates video games that integrate the client’s products into the action. MDI’s philosophy is that while people ‘remember 10% of what we read and 20% of what we hear, we remember 90% of what we do.’ With the gaming industry surpassing even the film industry in revenue, it’s no wonder those with something to sell are catching on. And Canadian agencies and production companies better catch on soon, too, because in the digital universe roles are blurring and, to some advertisers, traditional spots may soon become museum pieces.