Everyone wants to know the best way to get an appearance in a commercial. The answer is short and simplified. Win the audition. Beat the competitors for the job. Do something original, do something just a touch better than your fellow actors who are also up for the job. Dress in the right way for the job. That is to say if you're going to portray the part of an urban professional, don't go in dressed in sixties hippie gear.

The agents who book commercial actors are always seeking new faces, new talents and a new look.
The up side of that is that you don't have to be glamorous, gorgeous or even, in some cases, remotely attractive.

The commercial folks are looking for 'real people' to do the commercials today. They want down to earth folks just like us to portray the ordinary person who is using their product.
With only minimal exceptions, the advertising is concerned with the product and they don't want the actor or actress to be more memorable than what they are trying to sell.

This is one of the places where self promotion comes in handy. Take one of your most normal headshots, sans makeup if you have one, and send it along to the agent who does the commercials and follow that sending up with a postcard. Commercials may surprise you with what they can pay. In many cases, those who work strictly on commercials may make 35,000 to 50,000 a year, just in commercial work.

Is commercial work less satisfying or less... anything than acting in a play or theater?

There are those who say it's not real acting, granted, but the truth is that it's a foot in the door.
Many actors and actresses have been discovered by doing commercials and in many cases, the commercial is seen by someone who knows of a part and will remember them and send out an invitation to an audition for something else.

Don't be fooled into thinking that commercials aren't in the least difficult, or that they aren't hard to get. For the most part, real actors, those with training and experience are selected to make the commercial and are well paid for doing so. They aren't easy to get and one actor tells of over fifty auditions before he was selected for his first commercial.

It's all acting and it all takes talent.