There is an awesome text effect that is fairly common lately in commercials that I would like to have available in my arsenal. Don't need it, but it's so cool.

The effect is organic in nature and vibrates (throbs?) and usually matches some dialogue by an announcer. I've seen it in advertisements for more than one national company. I will keep an eye out for next time I see it and look it up online. In the meantime does anyone have an idea of what I'm talking about?

Check into Boris Continuum effects. Many have the "beat reactor" property that allows for the effect to be modulated by an audio track.

Do a youtube search for BCC tutorials and you'll likely find something that will get you on the right path establishing the effect you want.

Continuum Complete: Sony Vegas Pro Filters and Transitions Plugin (http://www.borisfx.com/sony/bccsvp/)

Not sure for certain what you mean, but a number of the Boris Continuum plugins have a feature called Beat Reactor that allows you to trigger effect parameters from an audio source. Very useful and quite possibly could be applied to the scenario you're describing.

Thanks, guys, looking around the Boris site now.

There's also Shake from NewBlueFX. It's only $30 and might be enough for you.
Their site is acting really goofy for me right now but try and have a look at it.
http://newbluefx.com/products/transitions/motion-blends/shake

Thanks, Mike, I'll have a look-see. I think I had shake as a part of a demo a long time ago, in fact I'm sure of it. As you say, it might be enough. Boris is amazing, but I'm not seeing that particular effect, still poking around as I find time.

Here's John Rofrano doing a demo of Beat Reactor with BCC8.

Create Audio-Driven Effects in Sony Vegas Pro with Beat Reactor (http://www.borisfx.com/videos/BCCVegas/Beat-Reactor.php)

You have to dig around to find out some of the more interesting tricks you can do with BCC. There are a number of tutorials on youtube to help you along. I've learned the most by jumping in and figuring it out.

You can download the trial for BCC and play with it.

There's also Shake from NewBlueFX. It's only $30 and might be enough for you.
Their site is acting really goofy for me right now but try and have a look at it.
Shake | NewBlueFX (http://newbluefx.com/products/transitions/motion-blends/shake)

It should be working better now.