What did you See?

As an avid Lost fan, I was glued to my TV screen last night as the series progressed with yet another wild and surprising episode. Since I am such a nerd when it comes to marketing and advertising I do not really channel surf much anymore. Throughout the commercials I would look away and look back to see a black screen with the simple text, "What did You See?" appearing in white font. Each time I was confused since it only lasted seconds at most and led into a seemingly completely unrelated commercial. Finally I caught a flash of school children coming out of a building and then the phrase appeared. Next came a Grey's Anatomy preview which I concluded had nothing to do with these curious advertisements.
After Googling the phrase, the third organic result yielded to my curiosity. I wondered whether this was similar to the one second Superbowl commercials sponsored by Miller.
It turns out ABC is promoting a serious that isn't even contracted yet entitled, "Flash Forward." It is a spin off of the popular book by Robert J. Sawyer's Flash. The story basis is something along the lines of the entire human race blacking out for two minutes and seeing a flash of their future in 21 years.
The show doesn't interest me much, but the teasers did. Is this a good advertising tool? It gets the viewer's attention and curiosity if they are paying attention. I had text messaged a friend to see if he knew what they were and he didn't even know what I was talking about. I also looked to see if I could figure out whether ABC is promoting this on all their hit prime time serious, or just Lost. No research revealed the answer to this though, which means the viewer's of Lost was the chosen audience.
Is this effective?

It is curious advertising to say the least. I actively looked it up and researched into it, but then I know I am a minority when it comes to watching commercials let alone researching the advertisements.
I'll look for more of these weird flashes tonight while I watch the epic Grey's Anatomy this evening.

For your viewing pleasure, here is the video I found online of five flashes. :)

http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid21500443001?bclid=21520217001&bctid=21592854001