From extra to superstar

Remember the olden days when you were down with the flu and had nothing better to do due to lack of sleep than to watch late night TV? That used to be the time when those guys in infomercials would sell products that seemed ground breaking, innovative, or at worst, downright weird. What on earth happened that these very same direct response adverts now have whole channels dedicated to them? And when you see that big players like MGM and Apple have made themselves comfortable in this medium, you know that DRTV has arrived big time.

DRTV is all about storytelling. The biggest advantage of an infomercial is that there is plenty of time to present the product, talk about its unique points, advantages over other similar products, illustrate its uses with actual demonstrations, talk about its unique points once again, have genuine users testify to the usefulness, talk about its unique points yet again and finally call on the viewers to place their orders right away. Even though people are generally reluctant to buy what they see on TV straight away, infomercials are surprisingly successful. Breakout hits have become virtually goldmines, for example the all time hit, the Ginsu 2000 Knife Set.

Advertisers are being drawn to direct response TV because it’s a more efficient — and flexible — way to acquire ad time and target prospective customers, says Advanced Results Marketing EVP, Beth Vendice. People love miraculous transformations and the longer time given to infomercials shows very thoroughly all the aspects of the product and simulates a hands-on trial for the viewer. Another reason for the success story of infomercials is the very attractive prices and offers (you almost always have a ton of add-ons or gifts thrown in for free). But the biggest attraction of all is the “Order now! Our operators are standing by!” promises that viewers find simply irresistible!

Next time round we’ll try to look at some figures and statistics concerning all things drtv. Let the comments and ideas come.