It was Groundhog Day...All Over Again

 Genius.

Back in the day, I wanted to go into advertising. I consider myself a creative type, but I seriously don't know if I'd be good at it. My brother worked in the industry for a few years. It was tough and, at times, kind of slimy, but I supposed all industries have a little of that in them.

Back then, advertising--at least to the causal observer--seemed simpler, if that's even possible. You had print, television, radio, billboard, even direct marketing advertising. Now...boy, it's the Wild Wild West. It's easier than ever to get your message across because there's so many different ways to do it. It may not reach as many people as before, but...I suppose that's the trade-off.

This past weekend, my wife and I watched the Bill Murray/Andie MacDowell classic, Groundhog Day. Since we streamed it (and because we're cheap and have the "with commercials" option...), advertising interrupted the broadcast. We're okay with that. Yes, they're annoying, but they're not that bad. About the second or third commercial break, we both noticed something peculiar...all the ads were from one company...Murdock Chevrolet. It's not unusual to see television ads from Murdock Chevrolet, but what made this a little different is the company ran the same ad--three times in a row--at each commercial break.

It's was like the "Groundhog Day" of commercials.

I've noticed ads on streaming programs many times duplicate the message, but every ad at every break? Well, it could be coincidence, or it could just be a genius move by someone.

I don't know which. I'll probably never know.

But, if it was planned or not, it was one of those serendipitous moments in life.

Netflix...The Little Things Make A Big Difference...At Least, To Me

Like billions of other people, I'm utilizing the incredible modern technology known as streaming over the weekend. And like billions of other people, we subscribe to Netflix, arguably, the most popular streaming service available.

I don't know who is in charge there at Netflix, or who is responsible for the little things, but one thing I noticed the other day is their hold function. I know that's a strange thing to acknowledge, or even notice, but the other day my wife and I were watching, The Stranger, a limited-series based on a Harlan Coben novel. It's the third Harlan Cobin series we've watched. We paused the episode to do something and after a moment, information came up on the paused screen.

I know the above picture's not the best quality, but to me, it looked like Netflix could have taken that paused imaged and used it as an advertisement for the show (which, is exactly what it is...). Of course, not all pauses yield good pictures, but the majority of the time I do this with Netflix, I get a shot worthy of an ad.

It's the little things.

I know Netflix doesn't want us to pause their entertainment--they want us to sit, watch the entire episode, not move, until the show is done, then watch the next nine episodes until the series is complete. Then, they want you to start another series w/o leaving your chair. But, next time you're enjoying/watching a Netflix show, check out the picture when you hit pause. Chances are, it's going to look good enough to represent the entire show.

I know, I know...it's a strange thing to acknowledge, or even notice...

But the show was titled, The Stranger.