• by Joe Mandese  @mp_joemandese, February 16, 2012

That’s right the adorable spokescherub that gave new life to Life cereal’s brand back in our Boomer days was back on the screen again this morning at the Association of National Advertisers’ TV & Everything Video Forum.

The screen happened to be the one the ANA’s Bill Duggan was presenting on during his opening remarks at the Midtown Manhattan event.

“How many people remember Mikey,” Duggan queries. Surprisingly, only a smattering of hands shot up in the roomful of ad and media execs. So much for recall. In any case, Duggan’s real point was that the Life cereal spots existed in the era of Nielsen’s average program ratings, which now seem as quaint as, well, Mikey. Nowadays, of course, the national TV industry relies on Nielsen’s C3 ratings, which are the average rating of all the commercials appearing in a TV program.

That’s not good enough, Duggan said, reminding the crowd about the ANA’s push for exact commercial ratings. Duggan didn’t tip any new hands in that direction, but he reminded attendees that it ultimately is what advertisers, and presumably the talent appearing in their commercials, really want.

“Mikey wants the rating for the Life commercial,” Duggan said.