Innovation + Advertising: Intersections?

There seems to be quite a bit of discussion these days on the lack of advertising's synchronicity with innovation. As Gareth just pointed out, there is a lag in research innovation behind communications, and technology adaptation itself. My big question is why the advertising continues to get hung up on being innovative? Clearly different sectors have different goals (awards vs sales), but in my mind good advertising is sticky, and conversational, and hopefully activity inducing. Pardon my cynicism but was when was the last innovative tv spot? Communications will never be as innovative as the products or the new ways we use products, but why the lag in the understanding of this? Research can be even further behind in terms of innovation, but really isn't too bad at measuring and there are some exciting things on the horizon. I think the problem tends to be the lake we are all fishing in. Neilsen data is still plugging along, but often terrible at missing segments (see 18-34 yr males who don't watch tv, or keep remotely normal hours). It still isn't defined enough in measuring behaviors and the communication input during those behaviors. Microsoft has filed a patent for "DVR-based targeted advertising." Quite interesting, since the majority of DVR users watch shows after the air date, and the commercials set for that time(often time-sensitive) aren't reaching their demo. Microsoft is planning on establishing an "advertisement data store," from which an "advertisement manager" detects when an ad is supposed to be shown and fills that spot with a current, up-to-date spot so you witness fresh plugs during old shows. This seems to be the 'Google' way for ads on webpages, based on search inquiries, keywords and more. Certainly this won't answer the million dollar question but it would be nice to see the attach rate of ads and respective growth in a more pristine environment. This sounds like a data bonanza that could really help agencies (not just you MS) tap into their consumer more effectively. Does anyone else know of any innovative applications emerging on the research front?
DVR
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