Every January, there is a television event unlike any other: the Super Bowl. It is the one three-hour block for the entire year when viewers look forward to the commercials. This highest rated of all television events forces businesses to put forth the best 30-seconds they can muster. Who can forget Reebok’s “Terry Tate: Office Linebacker”? Or the EDS classic “Herding Cats”? Unfortunately for advertisers, there are 1,822 additional hours of primetime during which consumers often do not watch commercials. They get-up for a snack, go to the bathroom, or start channel surfing. Up until recently, a commercial’s worst enemy was the trigger-happy remote controller. Now, with the success of TiVo, and ad-free cable, like HBO, advertisers are in dire straits. Luckily, it’s the 21st Century. There must be some crazy idea out there that just might work. Last summer’s The Restaurant was paid for almost entirely by product placement, but that does not seem to be a viable option with most primetime programming. Enter the “branded short.” The UNLV Short Film Archive decided to take a look at this new concept, which could bring short films into the mainstream.

BMW took the longtime practice of movie product placement a step further in 2001, with the first branded shorts. Working with veteran Hollywood director David Fincher, The Hire series of short films was created. The Hire centers around a man with no name, who sells his services as a driver, always at the wheel of a BMW. In some installments, the driver is caught-up in international intrigue, in others the story is more personal. Without fail, though, he is able to demonstrate the stunning capabilities of BMW automobiles. At six to eight minutes a film, The Hire was released on the Internet where it developed a cult following among BMW fans and short film enthusiasts

This sort of short film series seems uniquely suited to the Internet, but advertisers looking to catch consumers’ interest now want to bring branded shorts to television. More than just a response to TiVo, it is possible branded shorts are the natural evolution of advertisement. Ford’s sponsorship of Fox’s 24’s season premier is a the perfect example of branded shorts in action. Half of a short subject featuring the new F-150 pick-up truck was aired at the beginning of the program, and half was aired at the end. The short was action-suspense, in keeping with the style of 24. At the moment, though, this leaves the field of branded shorts open only to large corporations capable of supporting entire hours of television.

Still, with most ratings numbers down across the board, the situation needs experimentation. Ad agencies and other areas of the industry that do not change will fail, according to Megan O’Neil of AtomFilms, an Internet film company involved in branded shorts. Atom Films produced some other shorts for Ford, which were shown at Sundance. Despite Ford’s ventures, O’Neil does not believe these shorts will bring an ultimate end to conventional television advertising. More likely, companies will attempt to diversify into the many new fields available. O’Neil predicts that in addition to branded shorts, advertisers will expand to wireless devices and Internet advertising, as alternatives to television for reaching key demographics. “People are mobile these days, and that’s a market [cell phones, PDAs, etc.] advertisers can’t afford to pass up,” said O’Neil. Corporations such as Sony have taken branded shorts in a different direction, using them as a way to fund up and coming filmmakers by sponsoring projects that feature Sony products. The BMW Films, on the other hand, have relied on millions in funding and the talents of celebrity directors like Ang Lee, Guy Ritchie, and John Woo.

Whether branded shorts will become commonplace remains to be seen. At the moment, the genre appears poised between the Internet and television. Clothing brand DKNY recently released an 18 minute short on their website, promoted by, among other things, a full page ad in The New York Times; so it seems that branded shorts have not quite revolutionized advertising, yet.