An exercise in futility

Today, tonight - or whenever - I want you to pick an hour of television watching (assuming you do watch television at all)

I want you to watch EVERY SINGLE 30-SECOND SPOT.

Don't take notes and don't overly concentrate or do anything that you wouldn't normally do when watching e.g. if you normally have your computer open in front of you, then keep it open.

The next morning or perhaps I should say 24 hours later, I want you to report back on the following:

- how many commercials in totality do you think you watched?

- how many commercials did you remember?

- of these commercials, how many brands did you remember (as opposed to "the one with the bunnies"

- of these commercials, how many do you think told you something you didn't know, offered up something of value, made you think differently about the brand and/or made you want to buy (or consider to buy) that particular brand/product/service

- Bonus assignment: did any one or more commercials strike you as being particularly original, progressive, innovative in terms of message, call-to-action etc.?

I have no preconceptions as to what will happen, but I thought it would be an interesting exercise to put all the clutter, creativity and conversation to the test - especially amongst marketing folk like us.