Chicago Sees First Ad To Air In HD

[Gregg Lengling]

By Michael Silbergleid

Jan 23, 2003, 19:00 PST




WBBM-DT, Chicago's CBS HD station, is finally giving Chicago-area viewers HD commercials. Abt Electronics will run the area's first HD television commercial -- for Mitsubishi's high definition televisions. The ad will give the area's viewers their first introduction to advertising in high definition.

The HD spots were produced by Steelhead Advertising, Mitsubishi Digital Electronics America's agency, based in Ashland, OR. The high definition ads will run during CBS's primetime and sports programming.

"Our strategic goal is to reach [potential] early adopters who may be visiting friends with HDTV during the holidays. Once you see HDTV, you're going to want one," said Mark Portrait, a founding partner of Steelhead Advertising.

"The airing of television spots that were actually shot in state-of-the-art 1080i high definition reflects the growth of HDTV in the Chicago area," said Mike Abt, owner of Abt Electronics, the 66-year-old family business that has grown into a 350,000- square-foot facility in Glenview, a Chicago suburb.

"We are pleased to partner with Abt Electronics in airing the first HD commercial in Chicago," said Joe Ahern, president and general manager, CBS 2 Chicago. "CBS Television has been at the forefront of providing HDTV programming to its viewers since 1998 and will continue to lead the way in bringing this extraordinary HD viewing experience to our viewers."

It's nice to know that an "extraordinary HD viewing experience" includes commercials.

[Randy Spaulding]

I don't get it ... these guys (HD equip manufacturer's) should be all over the Super Bowl with cool, cool ads. Still deemed too small of a market I guess.