DRTV - orders, leads... and now franchises

Traditionally DRTV has been used by the ‘slicers and dicers’ – products that fall into the household and kitchen categories, health and beauty products or utility items. As the days go by, more and more diverse services and businesses have woken up to the huge potential of DRTV advertising.

An excellent case in point is the ice cream chain, Carvel. Aiming to reduce advertising expenses, Carvel recently decided to invest in a direct response campaign. It is possible today for such unconventional businesses to enter the direct response arena because networks are slowly relaxing the rules for entrants. Aiming mainly at potential franchisees, Carvel switched from traditional advertising to direct response television. When Carvel wanted to add more franchises to its chain, Advanced Results Marketing handled its direct response campaign and targeted the Miami market initially, advertising a franchising seminar that was to be shortly held in the city. The response was so great that Carvel is now planning to hold two more such seminars in other cities with DRTV spreading the awareness.

Another way Carvel plans to use DRTV is to display an 800 number at the end of their commercials that allows viewers to locate the Carvel store closest to them. When the viewer calls the number, their call is then transferred to their relevant store and they are able to place an order or to make inquiries. So from generating actual orders, DRTV has now progressed into attracting would be franchise owners for business chains. It will not be a wonder if DRTV is utilized in yet more ways since it is a cheaper medium than traditional advertising, yet just as effective.