TV ads made quick and cheap on the Net

A Los Angeles-based start-up launched a service Wednesday that allows companies to create television ad campaigns over the Internet for as little as $500 and as quickly as within one week. Spot Runner lets advertisers select a generic commercial from its library, personalize the ads and target customers by demographics, networks and neighborhoods.

Advertisers can buy air time on major networks, including local broadcast and cable channels like CNN and ESPN. The company was formed by Nick Grouf and David Waxman who previously founded Firefly Network and PeoplePC.

[Leekolas]

That's just great

I can't wait to see a bunch more cookie-cutter commercials on TV. Really the last thing I want to see on TV is Fruit Loops and Viagra using the same template for their ads.

[AdGuy]

Cheap commercials

The pressure is always on the cut costs somewhere in
advertising. Considering the cost of creating the ad is tiny
compared to the cost of running the ad, it seems odd to get
cheap with the message creation. After all if you simply run the
commercial one less time you more than make up for production
costs.

Spending a lot on an advertising schedule...and then going
cheap on the production of your ad is like spending $50,000 on
a wedding then showing up in a dirty wrinkled suit.

A sharp, clean, well thought out, expertly produced commercial
cuts through the clutter and taps into reasons people buy. Dull
may be cheap, but it is also ineffective.

[B.A.H]

This is horrible for ad campaigns brand ID building

With all the new technology driving the price down of commercial production, like HD camera, and post-production software. A company can produce a professional, unique, and effective commercial for a great price. This template style of marketing is counter-productive for any company trying to develop a brand ID. Also with all this new technology out there, it?s going to widen the gap of the professional/high-end spots, to the local cable cheap stuff you see late at night. You may have only one time for a potential customer to see your ad. Make it count.

[peteharvey]

Andrew Fippinger is a genius, so the company will undoubtedly succeed.

Having said that, SpotRunner poses an iminent threat to the
creative well-being of just about every writer and art director in
the business. Giving clients the ability to create cookie-cutter
spots, while sound from a financial standpoint, undermines the
effort to give advertising even a slight shred of dignity. We are
all in for an apocolypse of bad direct advertising. Duck and
cover.

[clairequilty1]

Save the Ad Status Quo

I am so glad that you articulated this "iminent threat" to the advertising industry. I am sure that most Americans agree that today's TV advertising is a bastion of quality and creative inginuity. It is so very frightening that the beautiful ads we now see, like David Spade hitting his portly co-worker with various objects until he falls over and destroys their office, could be replaced by ads created by people who exist outside the industry.

[Rose Louis]

It's just an ad

You can talk about the downfalls of cookie-cutter advertising till you're blue in the face. But the truth of the matter is that THESE ARE JUST ADVERTISEMENTS--goading the public to the the PRODUCT.

Why not worry about the product--the ice cream store, the latest Viagra pill, the newest kind of Cinnamon Toast Crunch. Make sure that what you're selling is original. Who cares about the advertising, as long as it's cheap and effective.

[theCorpCOO]

Bunk and Junk

I tested their system. Spot runner rates seem 25-percent to
500-percent more than Cheap TV Spots available elsewhere.
They also don't let you air your own commercial or post it on
your web site. They keep it, which forces you to pay their
inflated price for air time. Not a good deal at all once you talk
with them to get the real details, which costs an extra 100
dollars. They're not experienced media people, but actually
computer people with no real-life TV advertising background
(retail, product branding, etc.). The scatter TV schedules they
promote are too thin to be effective. I think their system could
bankrupt a small company, before Mom and Pop knew what
happened. I don't think their generic ads will function either, as
a competitor can rent the exact ad, nullifying branding attempts.
My opinion, anyway.