Wide Landscape

DRTV was born out of a growth in commercial inventory, and even as CPMs increase and avails tighten on top tier networks, inventory is still accessible on a national level.  Make sure your media partner assesses the full scale of availability while building your tactical plan.  Also, fight the temptation to limit your buy to stations and/or programs that you, personally, are familiar with.  A good DRTV buyer can still reach your target efficiently by looking beyond the obvious.

Flexibility

Another staple of DRTV is flexibility.  Stations offer buyers flexibility in rates and cancellation, and in return expect flexibility in placement.  Allowing for leeway in response or impression delivery on a weekly and even daypart level will allow you to take better advantage of station availability, and improve efficiency.

Tracking and Optimization

This is elementary to traditional DRTV players, but many marketers who entered the space during the recession were content with driving phone or web response as a means to earn efficient DRTV pricing.  But rate is only part of the equation. Tracking – both clearance and response – and campaign optimization based on this data is the core of a successful DRTV campaign.  Make sure your media agency has the tools and experience to track and optimize down to the creative, station, daypart/rotation, and even program level.  Also, remember that unique phone numbers and URLs by station and creative are instrumental in this process.

Testing

A good DRTV marketer knows that you are always in test mode.  With the tracking capabilities available via DRTV, your campaign should continue to evolve each week based on testing new stations, dayparts, and creatives.  Your media partner should identify the correct balance between core schedule spend and testing.

There will be a lot written about the return of the traditional TV marketplace in the coming months, and much will focus on increases in upfront and scatter demand and the subsequent impact on pricing.  This more competitive marketplace will elevate the importance of traditional DRTV principles. The marketers and agencies that execute these principles the best will continue to thrive in an increasingly ROI focused environment.

Rob Schmidt is an Account Supervisor at A. Eicoff & Co., one of North America’s largest DRTV agencies.

• It wouldn’t build the brand—the hard-selling reputation of DRTV seemed antithetical to the nuanced process of brand building.

• It would be difficult to reach their traditional target market cost-effectively.

What has become clear, however, is that both these assumptions are false. In terms of the latter issue, the proliferation of cable/satellite networks has provided packaged goods advertisers with a range of effective options to reach their markets. These networks, with programming content in everything from food to Asian culture to travel to senior issues, make it possible to create a highly strategic media plan. Perhaps even more important, these networks are very receptive to DRTV. Not only do they have longer-length availabilities for direct response spots but they are willing to provide direct response advertisers with lower, often substantially lower, rates.

In terms of brand building, the conceptual sophistication and production values of DRTV has increased enormously in recent years. At Eicoff, for instance, most of our CPG clients insist that their spots do double duty—selling as well as enhancing the brand. Many times, we’ll work with a client’s general agency to ensure that a spot delivers the right brand message. In some instances, this means integrating the themes of their general advertising into the DRTV spots – maintaining the brand-building elements of the original commercial but revamping it so it includes a response vehicle.

Not only have marketers recognized that these two assumptions about DRTV are false, but they have found ways to make DRTV their own. In other words, packaged goods advertisers have shaped this advertising tactic to meet their own objectives. Marketers have created DRTV campaigning designed to generate increased product sampling and driving customers to retailers to make purchases. While other packaged goods companies have used DRTV to increase high-value coupon redemptions, refine their database, test new markets and create higher traffic on their web sites.

Another way that packaged goods advertisers have shaped DRTV is through the use of 60-second spots. Many traditional DRTV spots are two minutes in length, but packaged goods advertisers have found ways to make 60-second spots achieve their goals. The additional 30 seconds provides the time necessary to include the information and product demonstrations that shorter commercials don’t allow. Using everything from testimonials to dramatic vignettes, they are able to tell a compelling story because of the additional seconds at their disposal. This story can involve an explanation of the “green” nature of their products to a delineation of the advantages over competitive products.

Be aware that all packaged goods DRTV advertising contains a call to action. It’s not sufficient to flash a URL or 800 number. These response devices must be accompanied by a specific request—redeem a coupon, participate in an online product comparison and so on. Without the combination of a specific request and a response vehicle, these companies won’t be able to qualify for DRTV rates.

This packaged good/DRTV trend is also driven by the times in which we live. DRTV’s ability to deliver immediate, measure results confers accountability on the advertising. ROI is crucial to advertisers today, and DRTV provides concrete evidence of ROI. Packaged goods advertisers relish being able to correlate dollars spent versus sales made or other results (web site hits, coupon redemptions, etc.) It will come as no surprise to anyone that in our current economic climate, accountability is crucial to advertisers. And of course, it’s equally important to viewers. Packaged goods advertisers tell us that respondents often are drawn to these commercials because of the perceived value of an advertised product—they felt they were receiving a better deal on a product sold direct than they would receive in a store.

Finally, DRTV offers significant media savings. Because of the way that direct response television is bought, savings can be as much as 40% to 60% off the rate card. Obviously, this savings depends on many factors, but there’s no question that direct response spots provide bargains that can’t be obtained through traditional buys.

Given all these advantages, what’s surprising is not that so many packaged goods advertisers are using DRTV but that more haven’t hopped on the bandwagon.

Steve Millier is a Senior Vice President at A. Eicoff & Co., one of North America’s largest DRTV agencies.

Act Now! The Rise of Direct Response Advertising

April 16, 2010

While global ad spend has softened in many sectors, one format, the direct response ad, or infomercial, has seen a remarkable 18% growth in total units in the U.S. since 2007 according to Nielsen.  In total, direct response comprises 14% of all TV advertising, a figure that may continue to grow as blankets with sleeves, super absorbent towels and language learning CDs gain a mixture of mainstream awareness and web virality.

An analysis of a single week of all direct response national TV advertising shows that 88% of all U.S. TV Homes (or 101 million homes) tuned to at least one national direct response ad — on average those homes saw 32 such ads during the week tracked.  Over 15,500 DR commercials units aired across national TV for the week we reviewed.

What may be somewhat misleading about the chart above is that the increased number of spots are most likely longer length spots.  Our suspicion is this graph would be even more dramatic if detailed by commercial time rather than units.  Either way, this is one more indicator that DRTV and DR radio is on the rise.

Bill McCabe is EVP/COO at A. Eicoff & Co., one of North America’s largest DRTV agencies.

“What does this product mean to me?”

“Why should I choose this product over that one?”

“And why should I pay that much?”

As a marketer, you’d better have convincing answers to all these questions.  But telling your product’s whole story and overcoming barriers to purchase, all within the confines of a fleeting, 30-second commercial, is a tall order.

Enter, DRTV.

DRTV’s longer format – 60 seconds to a full two minutes – allows you to build value, which, not surprisingly, has to happen before a sale is going to occur.  A longer format commercial is perfect for effective storytelling.  It strikes up a longer conversation, and it engages the target with more compelling illustrations.  It educates consumers about your product or service.  It can identify problems, and pose solutions.  These spots don’t just allude to product features, they can explain and even demonstrate the benefits and advantages the target will experience.  All this builds value with every passing second.

More compelling stories build greater value.  As value increases, the issue of price decreases.  When you reach critical value, the barriers to purchase crumble.  And a sale is made.

Lest you conclude that DRTV is the realm of the slicers and dicers and kitchen magicians, none other than David Ogilvy has proclaimed that direct response was his first love, and later it became his secret weapon.  See for yourself.

Jim Madsen is a Copywriter at A. Eicoff & Co., one of North America’s largest DRTV agencies.

Awareness of what these myths are can help prevent the damage they do. Here are the most common myths we’ve observed and the realities they obscure:

You can’t sell and build a brand in the same DRTV spot.

This myth is rooted in the early days of DRTV, when the common belief was that every second of the spot must be devoted to motivating viewers to respond. For hard-selling DRTV pioneers, building brand or anything that didn’t focus directly on the offer benefits was wasted time. Over the years, however, we’ve found that brand-building and selling aren’t mutually exclusive. In fact, delivering the brand message at the right time in the right way can actually increase response rates.

Late night and weekend slots are always the best times to run DRTV commercials.

Not always. Obviously, these are effective periods because they usually offer lower rates and the type of programming that DRTV thrives upon. But it may be that for certain offers, other slots are as effective or even more effective. We’ve found that there are instances when primetime can be effective for some direct response spots.

The most effective DRTV spots are ALWAYS two minutes in length.

For a long time, two minutes was the gold standard for DRTV. For many clients it still is. However, because of the diversity of offers on the air and the well-known brands using DRTV, even 30-second spots can work well. We’ve learned that the length of the spot should be shaped by the offer, by testing and by availabilities. The more flexible advertisers are when it comes to commercial length, the more likely they’ll produce an effective spot

You can’t sell products or services over a certain price point using DRTV.

Years ago, there was some validity to this myth. At one time, $19.95 was the cutoff. As viewers became more accustomed to buying via DRTV, as Fortune 500 advertisers helped legitimize many spots and as credit card usage for purchases became the norm, the old pricing limits became irrelevant. Nonetheless, some people in our industry still believe that it’s tough to sell high end offers, even though there’s a great deal of evidence to the contrary.

DRTV advertising has no impact on retail sales.

In some ways, this is the most persistent myth of all. For years, many people in our business believed that if people didn’t respond to a DRTV spot by calling the toll free number, they would never buy that product in a store; that DRTV commercials contributed nothing to creating awareness for and a predisposition to buy advertised products in stores. We’ve had clients who have run what are known as “dark tests” where they pull DRTV advertising for a period of time and measure how retail sales are impacted. They’ve found that store sales of their products decreased when the DRTV commercials were off the air and increased when they went back on. Clearly, direct response commercials have a positive, spillover effect on store sales.

Bill McCabe is EVP/COO at A. Eicoff & Co., one of North America’s largest DRTV agencies.

Working with a celebrity endorser can be an expensive proposition for an advertiser. And, as many advertisers through the years have discovered, it can be fraught with peril.  But with DRTV, you can find out very quickly whether a celebrity is the right spokesman for your product.

Liberty Medical is in the business of home delivery of diabetes testing supplies and was committed to using a celebrity in their advertising.  Liberty tried a number of very famous actors without success.  The spots were pulled after short media tests, with minimal financial investment.

It turns out having an instantly recognizable name was not enough to resonate with potential Liberty customers. The spokesman had to know what living with Type 2 Diabetes is all about. Enter Wilford Brimley.

Click on the embedded video to see the spot created by A.Eicoff & Company, and hear Wilford Brimley’s story.  The spot was a long-term success for Liberty Medical.

After the initial two-week test with Wilford Brimley proved successful, a national rollout followed.  The difference was not the message or the markets where the spot ran.  The difference was the simple fact that Wilford Brimley understood what living with Type 2 Diabetes was all about; he was able to connect with the audience.  He knew that testing your blood sugar as often as your doctor prescribed was vital, even if it wasn’t the easiest or most pleasant thing to do.  He offered a bit of advice, he did it in a compelling manner and there was no mistaking what he wanted people to do: “Call Liberty, they’ll help you live a better life.”

Liberty Medical built their diabetes testing supply business significantly on a Direct Response Television campaign featuring Mr. Brimley.   This commercial, which ran successfully for several years, was also parodied on Saturday Night Live, featuring John Goodman in the role of “Wilford Brimley.” 

I’m not sure how Mr. Brimley took the satirical piece, (I didn’t dare ask), but when your commercial is being parodied on SNL it’s definitely part of the consciousness of American television viewers.  And that was a huge bonus for Liberty Medical.  A celebrity is not always the right way to go in a television campaign, but when you can test it with a Direct Response Television commercial, you’ll know very quickly whether you made the right decision.

Terry O’Sullivan is a Group Creative Director at A. Eicoff & Co., one of North America’s largest DRTV agencies.

Call Tracking

The development of telemarketing call centers has become just as important as any other element in DRTV.  When a person calls the number shown in a DRTV advertisement, they are directed to a call center where the call can be broken down into several statistics.  Most DRTV commercials place a unique 800-phone number on their spot, specific to that channel/daypart.  When a person calls one of the unique phone numbers, the call center can track which spot (channel/daypart) generated the call.  The call can then be analyzed and statistically reported by aspects such as cost per call, cost per lead, and conversion rate, which have become one of the most important elements when placing media.  These statistics help optimize where media is placed based on which channel/daypart/program produces the best statistics.  Many call centers today possess real-time tracking technology that gives media buyers the power to know more data faster and optimize more effectively based on this data.

Internet

The internet has provided a new medium to which the viewer can respond.  Many DRTV commercials also feature a URL the viewer can visit.  Some advertisers are even placing unique web address in their DRTV spots, e.g., www.company.com/tv1.  The use of a URL is a less formal response to a commercial, but can provide similar statistical feedback to advertisers.   Also, though viewers may not remember the unique URL in a commercial, they may perform an internet search for the company advertised in the spot.  If search has gone up, one can assume the commercial has had a positive effect.

Media Landscape

The television media landscape continues to expand.  The number of cable networks is increasing and becoming more fragmented, making it easier to place longer length spots (typically 2-minutes or 60 seconds in length) and target specific demographics.  For example, if an advertiser wants to target adults aged 65+, they are able to place DRTV spots on stations this demographic is likely to watch, and as a result, more likely to respond to.  This type of strategy not only drives more leads, but more qualified leads as the audience viewing the commercial are the ones targeted.

Fortune 500 Companies

Twenty years ago, top Fortune 500 companies like American Express would have never dreamed of using an 800-phone number or a call-to-action in their television commercials.  Having DRTV as part of their marketing mix was considered uncomfortable territory for these companies.  Nowadays, these Fortune 500 companies are calling us to learn how DRTV can help generate leads and more importantly, sales.  Whether it is driving people to a phone number, retail store or website, DRTV has been an effective ROI strategy for these top companies to produce results as well as build brand awareness.

With technology and the marketplace ever changing, the possibilities are endless for DRTV. At the current pace, advertisers in the next 50 years may have no choice but to rely on DRTV.  Alvin Eicoff would certainly agree.

Adam Poll is an Assistant Account Executive at A. Eicoff & Co., one of North America’s largest DRTV agencies.