I remember when I was in high school, over 20 years ago, there was a Buy.com commercial on TV that was simply "buy.com" in white text on a black for like 10 seconds. No voiceover. No images.

That was the only commercial in my memory to inspire me to actually check out the product, which I did and began using to purchase electronics instead of eBay, which had been my go-to at that time.

I still think of that commercial once-in-a-while, but my main question regarding it is: How could this commercial have been OK-ed?

Wouldn't a marketing team shoot down such an idea in order to produce something so as to justify their jobs?

My best guess is that the commercial came from the CEO himself. Something like: "Purchase an add on TV for buy.com. Just put the web address on the screen. No need to spend time or money on ad design or focus groups. Just run it."

Anyone have any insight or behind-the-scenes on this?