Coming Soon to an Ad Near You: More Ads

After the judges handed out a pair of Grand Prix awards in the prestigious film category at the Cannes International Advertising Festival over the weekend, the ad world was understandably eager to check out the winners: Cadbury's "Gorilla" TV commercial and Microsoft's "Halo 3" Web film.

Advertising Age helpfully stepped up and posted both the winning ads from Cannes on its website, on a pop-up video player that precedes each winning ad with -- wait for it -- another ad. Ha!

That's right, an advertiser is sponsoring another advertiser's ad. How . . . meta.

This is sort of what one had hoped for when NBC Universal announced the imminent launch of Didja.com last August. Didja would, NBC promised, be the "go-to destination for on-demand advertising content." That is, all advertising all the time. Sadly, it has yet to actually open for business.

Watching 'Gorilla" and "Halo 3" on the Ad Age website has brought to my attention a slight flaw in NBC's cunning plan.

Preceding award-winning, viral videos -- stuff that is by definition entertaining enough that people seek it out -- with your average 15-second pre-roll spot has an unintended effect: It makes the paying advertiser's commercial look dull and square by comparison.

It's the equivalent of saying: "Now eat your vegetables, kids; here's the sales pitch you have to sit through before the real entertainment arrives."

It's not unlike parking a Buick at a Porsche dealership -- a prospect that might not be altogether appealing if you're Buick in the equation.

by Liz Gunnison