Conference 7.286::digital

>    Have any of the new TV ads been Digitized in either AVI or MPEG?
>    If so, does anyone have any pointers on the network?  We'd like
>    to have them in the Demo Centers.

MPEG encoded ads could also be included on our WWW Server... 

Just a thougt!

Vincent

    re: MPEG encoded ads could also be included on our WWW Server...
    
    It's being looked into. There are concerns about our legal rights to
    some of the materials (e.g. Lenny's music), and whether we can
    distribute it on non-TV mediums.
    
    /Tim

    
    Let me try to be clear again. We are using original music - 
    Lenny Kravitz is not involved.
    
    We ARE working through licensing rights to images, voice and music for
    a variety of uses - this is work in process.  The initial focus was TV
    broadcast, and DDBN has the rights for this use.
    
    Electronic access to the TV ads using Internet, WWW, etc. are also in
    discussion - and we will come to decision based on a best
    implementation - we do not want to be in a situation where we promote
    producing Movies in .5 seconds, running the world's largest Internet
    demonstration in California, and then have a painfully slow and klugey 
    computer implementation of the ads. Obviously, the rights to the images
    (like use of stock photography) also are being investigated.
    
    Thanks you.
    
        
    
    Bootleg approachs will be detrimental. 
    
    
    
    
    
    

    
    We are stoking the image of the company as alive and viable.
    Research cited in numerous previous notes suggested that people did not
    listen to our product and service claims up to 87% of the time. This is
    about two or three times worse than IBM and HP.
    
    The goal of the campaign is to change the context of how prospects view
    the company - where we can we bring forward benchmarks, testimonials,
    etc.
    
    We are now moving the copy toward DIGITAL being a credible supplier,
    and ultimately an accountable firm to do business with - that we back
    up our claims with performance.
    
    As our image stabilizes and improves, so will the advertising woirk
    evolve - we still are aiming 80-85% of our total ad spending at the end
    user and IT audience - with lots of product specific advertising.
    
    
    

 Would it be possible to include the TV ads in the 
 AlphaServer video demo?  This is used for trade shows,
 conferences, customer meetings, etc...

 Regarding the quality of the ad being displayed on the
 computer - at least in our case, it would be at "VCR
 quality", that is full screen, stereo sound, and 
 30 frames per second.

 We can MPEG it if we had if we had the source on VHS 
 or BetacamSP.

 		Thanks,

		Mike

I only have one comment about the new adds, other than the fact that I'm very
pleased with the publicity. Almost everyone I know has commented on Digital's
commercials ('course, most of my friends are arm-chair QB'S too).

The one comment I have is in relation to the bright, continous flickering
that occurs during the commercial. There's no doubt that it catches the viewers
attention, but did anyone ever consider that it's this kind of effect that
**COULD"" trigger a seizure for persons with seizure disorders? 

Not trying to throw coldwater on the commercial; I just have sensitivity for
people with disabilities.

Mike Paciello
Program Manager
Vision Impaired Information Services

> attention, but did anyone ever consider that it's this kind of effect that
> **COULD"" trigger a seizure for persons with seizure disorders? 

  The fact that some flickering images can cause seizures is not generally
known to the public. (I know because I know someone who has this disorder.)
I would not expect the people at Digital who are responsible for these ads,
or the advertising agency, to know this. People who have this condition have
to be cautious about watching TV, viewing movies, and many forms of live enter-
tainment. 
  The ideal situation would be for Digital's advertising dept to be aware of
this and to consider this in future ads. We don't really need to do this to
get attention in our ads. And let's not do the screeching music(?) the next
time either.

    
    My expectation is that kind of people involved in advertising are fully
    aware of this as many of them would have studied psychology. It's the
    mechanism the causes the ads to be attention-grabbing in most people
    that causes them to trigger seizures in a few people.  If you want to
    make someone turn and look at an ad, the best thing you could do would
    be to put a flickering monochrome image on the periphery of their
    visual field.
    
    Many other common phenomena can have the same effect - such as sunlight
    flickering through a fence when driving at just the right speed (not
    that people prone to seizures usually drive.)  I've found that most
    people who have disorders such as epilepsy are usually aware of the
    problem and try to avoid exposure to this type of image.
    
    Colin
                 

    	I haven't seen the advert in question (they never show DEC adverts
    on French TV), but I find anything flickering, or rapid changes of
    scene irritating, much like a flickering fluorescent light tube, and
    when something like that comes on I tend to turn my back to avoid the
    discomfort. As far as I know I have no relevant medical problems.
    
    	Presumably if such an advert ever did provoke a seizure the company
    displaying it might be liable under some sort of legal action in some
    countries? Would this be the advertising agency, the company they were
    advertising for, or the company that broadcast the advert?

>>    My expectation is that kind of people involved in advertising are fully
>>    aware of this as many of them would have studied psychology. It's the
>>    mechanism the causes the ads to be attention-grabbing in most people
>>    that causes them to trigger seizures in a few people.  If you want to
>>    make someone turn and look at an ad, the best thing you could do would
>>    be to put a flickering monochrome image on the periphery of their
>>    visual field.

I expected the same. With all the publicity around the Nintendo-type games
producing the same flickering effect (and the resulting litigation due from
those affected), it would seem that advertising agencies would be more cognizant
of the problem. 

The other point that is very valid; people with seizure disorders know when
to turn away. 

    
    It drove me to the Psychology books last night.  Not much info, but the
    dangerous frequency range is very narrow, and the intensity and
    duration of the effect have to be quite long - upwards of several
    minutes.  The strobe lights used in the old Disco days were the kind of
    risky stimulus that could trigger an episode.
    
    Interesting side bar.  Rapid flashing of images may emulate some of the
    effects in subliminal advertising, I don't know about the US but I'm
    fairly certain that subliminal advertising was made illegal in the UK.
     

    	I am not sure what you mean by a "very narrow" frequency range, but
    a television screen can only produce a flicker at a submultiple of the
    screen refresh rate, and by the time you get down to a tenth of the
    refresh rate it is hardly a flicker, more a change of scene. Depending
    on what the "very narrow" range is it could either be completely
    impossible to provoke a fit (none of the first few submultiples happens
    to hit that range) or highly probable (one of the very few submultiples
    that you can choose *does* fall in that range).

Back to the initial request for digitized versions....

I am very interested. If and when the images are made into MPEG I would 
like to be notified. We are building some "Advanced Multimedia" PCs that 
among other things, will have MPEG playback included as a standard feature.

I would very much like to be able to include "Digital content" with these 
systems.


Thanks in advance...

>    duration of the effect have to be quite long - upwards of several
>    minutes.

  This psych book was probably talking about inducing seizures in normal 
people. In people who are susceptible to seizures, it only takes a few seconds
of exposure to this sort of image, and the range of flicker frequencies is wide.
  You might have better luck researching this in medical journal articles on
epilepsy, if you can handle the jargon.