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CNN's Bill Tush tunes in to TV's coolest commercials
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June 11, 1999
Web posted at: 12:02 p.m. EDT (1602 GMT)

From Bill Tush
CNN Entertainment News Correspondent

LOS ANGELES (CNN) -- "Second for second, commercials have more production values than feature films," posits Scott Ross, the president and CEO of Digital Domain. "And because of that, there is a lot more money spent on advertising, and it's about selling a product."

Production values? It's a fancy way of saying that these days, commercials are as much art as anything else -- and as such, they're worthy of their own awards ceremony. That's just what they got this week at New York's Museum of Modern Art, where members of the Association of Independent Commercial Producers gathered to pat themselves on the back.

Getting special commendation: such works as the Barq's root beer spots -- remember "Barq's has bite"? -- the Sprite-drinking snowboarders, and the Superbowl ad in which women tackle each other for a melon.

"When I started in the business 14 years ago, there were probably 300 directors in the whole business," says Bill Sandwick, the executive producer of HSI. "Now there are between 10,000 and 30,000. So it's a very competitive business."