Posts Tagged ‘short-form infomercial’
What Can DRTV Strategists Take From the “Whitey” Bulger Arrest?
Tuesday, July 12th, 2011
In an ending to a story that doesn’t do justice (no pun intended) to Jack Nicholson’s performance in The Departed, James “Whitey” Bulger was brought down last month by, according to reports, a woman in Iceland who saw this ad on a CNN news story:
Now, what can we as DRTV marketing strategists learn from this? First, avoid being fingered for 19 murders and becoming a despised government turncoat. Oh, wait, this is a marketing blog.
Shotgun Media, Rifle Shot Creative Message
Blame “Whitey” for the firearm analogy — nevertheless it is appropriate.
Several years ago, Eicoff was approached by a company called Liberty Medical that was in the diabetic testing supply business — this was pre-Wilford Brimley. The company explained to us that TV had shown limited success for them and that their target market was Adults 65+, who are insulin dependent, and on Medicare. Unless callers answer yes to all three questions, they are not a worthwhile lead. While I would like to tell you that we all had a vision and jumped on board, the reality was that we were a bit skeptical that TV would be the right strategy.
We developed a very straightforward DRTV spot that was extremely direct – a strong opening that called out the target, “If you are 65….”, supers calling out the benefits of Liberty Medical, and actors the target demo could relate to.
Long story short — the strategy was a huge success, eventually leading us to introduce Wilford Brimley as their spokesperson.
The lesson — while TV is a shotgun medium, a laser-focused commercial can help pinpoint hard-to reach audiences.
Al Eicoff told me many times that DRTV could be an effective way to sell an airplane. I used to laugh to humor him, but then I started to think “you really wouldn’t have to sell many ….” Boeing hasn’t returned my call yet.
PR of a Campaign Can Be as Impactful as the Campaign Itself
According to the FBI, their commercial targeting Whitey’s girlfriend was scheduled to start airing in 14 markets on June 21. Interesting to note that Santa Monica/LA where Whitey was found, was not one of the scheduled markets. It appears the tip came in the night of June 21 from a woman in Iceland who saw the ad featured on a news story on CNN — she apparently had visited LA recently and recognized the wanted couple.
So, after working 16 years and spending God knows how much money trying to find Whitey, the FBI turns to our bastion of marketing and closes the sale in less than 24 hours. Better yet, the PR piece airing on CNN cost them nothing! (Note to DRTV media buyers: I don’t know whether or not they were able to cancel the rest of the schedule — you’ll have to find that out on your own).
I think it goes without saying that you can never publicize your marketing campaigns enough. One more reason it’s critical to integrate your DRTV strategy into your overall marketing strategy.
As far as I know, there is no truth to the rumor that the Charlie Sheen Foundation is working on a campaign to locate the whereabouts of his career. Will keep you posted.
Bill McCabe is EVP/COO at A. Eicoff & Co., one of North America’s largest DRTV agencies.
Adweek Poll & DRTV Buyers See Impact of Media Usage
Monday, December 13th, 2010
A recent AdWeek Media/Harris Poll revealed numbers regarding advertising acceptance that reflect what DRTV marketers already know about how consumers use media – there is often an inverse relationship between content engagement and ad effectiveness.
The survey found that the majority of consumers (63%) were most likely to ignore or disregard Internet ads. When asked what types of advertising they ignored the most, 43% chose banner ads while 20% selected search ads. Traditional media like TV (14%), radio (7%), and newspaper (6%) filled out the bottom of the ranking.
This is more evidence that consumers are less likely to pay attention to advertising when they are focused on, and engaged in, the content they are accessing. In most cases, Internet use is literally a “lean-forward” activity. When consumers go to a web site or search engine, they are seeking information. Unless your message is extremely relevant, or even helpful to the consumer, you will have difficulty being noticed.
The same premise holds true within each media vehicle. While TV fared much better than digital media in this survey, levels of viewer engagement will vary across different dayparts and programming. DRTV buyers take this into account when negotiating buys, and can gauge the impact when analyzing results. Consumers let down their guard when they are in a passive viewing mode, and are therefore more accepting of commercials. And in the case of DRTV, they are more likely to respond.
Consumers use media for various reasons, ranging from proactive information gathering to engaged entertainment, to passive relaxation. It is important for marketers to understand how this media usage and behavior will impact their communications plan.
The Adweek Media/Harris Poll “Ads People Ignore” can be found at http://www.harrisinteractive.com/NewsRoom/HarrisPolls/tabid/447/mid/1508/articleId/649/ctl/ReadCustom%20Default/Default.aspx
Rob Schmidt is an Account Supervisor at A. Eicoff & Co., one of North America’s largest DRTV agencies.
Can DRTV Continue It’s Growth Curve?
Friday, October 15th, 2010
An interesting article in this month’s The Economist, “The Return of Advertising: The Box Rocks.”
The author of the article points out some pretty startling facts re: the TV industry vs. the growing online video/mobile ad market: “In the first quarter of this year the average American spent 158 hours per month in front of the box, according to Nielsen, a research firm. That was two hours more than a year earlier. By comparison, he spent just three hours watching video online and three-and-a-half hours watching it on his mobile phone.” While 6 1/2 hours of viewing online/mobile video represents a great opportunity to reach a highly valued consumer, it is somewhat surprising that this only represents 4% of total consumer viewing for the month.
The article surmises why, “As Laura Martin, an analyst at Needham & Company, an investment bank, observes, the internet now competes fiercely for the kind of advertising that is carried on the radio, in newspapers and in many magazines. Campaigns to persuade people to consider one product over another, or actually to go out and buy something, are well-suited to digital outfits, with their superior ability to track and segment audiences.” It would appear that while radio, newspaper and magazines (the media that has relinquished control of most of their own content for free) appear to be taking the brunt of the advertising falloff, TV (the medium continuing to protect its content) continues to grow – a good sign for DRTV marketers.
Those companies that rely heavily on DRTV for qualified lead generation campaigns are increasingly finding that online lead aggregators, while delivering an extremely efficient ROI, can only generate so many leads. The big players are finding that DRTV is much more scalable. There are no signs on the immediate horizon that this will change.
All of us in the DRTV industry are excited about DRTV’s role with online/mobile video; and it appears its growth will continue to augment, not cannibalize, DRTV marketing.
Article: http://www.economist.com/node/17149050?story_id=17149050
Bill McCabe is EVP/COO at A. Eicoff & Co., one of North America’s largest DRTV agencies.
The Increasing Use of Short-Form DRTV
Monday, September 20th, 2010
According to recent reports, the use of 15-second commercials by the pharmaceutical industry is on the rise. However, the use of short-form DRTV commercials (2-minute & 60-second length spots) is increasing as well. Before a company decides to implement 15-second commercials as part of a campaign, companies should always consider using DRTV to build brand awareness, improve cost effectiveness and increase accountability.
A recent article by Jack Neff in Advertising Age questions the shift toward 15-second commercials and their effectiveness. He believes pharmaceutical companies are using 15-second commercials as a means of cutting costs, but sacrificing brand building and effectiveness. The following are a few excerpts from the article:
We’ve all heard it: The 30-second spot is dying, with penny-pinching procurement practices driving the final nail in its coffin… While it may be a prescription for cost cutting, the shift to 15s is having nasty side effects.
“People are making decisions on going from 30s to 15s recently, I think, purely driven by cost vs. is that absolutely the right thing?” said Lakish Hatalkar, head of integrated marketing communications, package design and innovation for Novartis.
“The companies that live and die by their advertising are stretching their budgets with 15s, and frankly there’s a lot for them to learn,” said Ameritest CEO Charles Young. “It’s an awfully short form for creatives to work with. If it devolves into simply reminder advertising, you’re not building brands. You need to bring emotion and news value to those brands.”
Compared to general 15-second commercials, DRTV 2-minute and 60-second commercials build brands, convey more information and often receive lower rates than station rate cards. DRTV commercials also use a unique 800 phone number and/or a unique URL, in order to track the effectiveness and accountability of a campaign.
Companies large and small, Fortune 500 to pharmaceutical companies, have realized the effectiveness of DRTV and the numbers back it up. Short-form DRTV campaigns increased 21.9% from 1st quarter 2009 to 1st quarter 2010 and the pharmaceutical industry remains the largest player in DRTV with almost $400 million spent in 1st quarter 2010. The following charts from Response Magazine shows the increased use of short-form DRTV campaigns in recent quarters, as well as the largest users of DRTV by industry:
Quotes and graphs from:
http://adage.com/mediaworks/article?article_id=145852
Adam Poll is an Assistant Account Executive at A. Eicoff & Co., one of North America’s largest DRTV agencies.
Back to Basics: Maintaining DRTV Efficiency in a Tight Marketplace
Wednesday, June 2nd, 2010
DRTV became even more attractive to a wide array of marketers in late 2008 and early 2009 as media budgets eroded and CMO’s faced more pressure to justify marketing spend by way of ROI. New advertisers tested the DRTV waters, and inventory was available across a broad spectrum of broadcast, cable and syndication outlets. With more vendors willing to work with DRTV advertisers, availability was plentiful and efficiency came relatively easy. But as we face heavier scatter demand in 2010, and brace for a strong 2011 upfront market, it is important to revisit the basics of what makes DRTV efficient.
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.
Packaged Goods and DRTV: A Growing Trend
Tuesday, May 25th, 2010
Over the past two years, we have seen a growing number of major packaged goods companies conducting direct response television campaigns, including P&G, Arm & Hammer, S.C. Johnson, and Clorox. Until recently, most packaged goods companies rarely considered DRTV because of two assumptions:
- 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.
Nielsen Confirming Growth of DRTV and DR Radio
Friday, April 16th, 2010
The following excerpt from a recent Nielsen report confirms what most of us have suspected: The number of DRTV and DR Radio spots are growing.
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.
Building Value Takes Longer Than 30 Seconds
Thursday, April 1st, 2010
What motivates a person to buy a product? Without getting into discussions on supply and demand, it all comes down to one word: value.
“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.
The 5 Myths of DRTV
Friday, March 26th, 2010
Despite the growth of the DRTV business in recent years and all the knowledge available about it online and elsewhere, certain misconceptions persist. Some of these misconceptions have been repeated so often by so many that they become full-fledged myths. At worst, these myths create flaws in the DRTV strategies of advertisers—flaws that can produce media plans, creative approaches or even offers that don’t work.
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.
DRTV’s Impact on Traditional Marketing
Tuesday, March 2nd, 2010
It dawned on me as I was watching the Olympics this week the impact DRTV is having on traditional marketers. While we didn’t see a preponderance of 800#/drive to web (though I saw some), the impact I spotted was more subtle.
There has been a great deal of discussion regarding the web’s impact on television viewing. We’ve discussed at length the misperception that TV viewing is declining — there is plenty of research recently published that shows that, in fact, TV viewership is increasing.
Digging deeper behind the “TV is Dying” headlines, I’d propose that what the “experts” really want to be saying is, “The :15 and :30 TV Commercial is Dying.” I suspect that general marketers are beginning to learn what DRTV marketers have known for a long time — longer length commercials are more effective than shorter length commercials.
Here are a couple spots from Nike and P & G that appeared frequently during the Olympics:
Personally, I love these spots — I don’t get tired watching them. The question I ask myself is, “Would I like them as much if they were a :15 or a :30?” Probably not.
As more traditional marketers become exposed to the benefits of longer length DRTV spots, I believe you are going to see traditional marketers shift the balance from :15/:30′s to :60/:90/:120′s. The same reason DRTV marketers know they generate more calls/traffic per dollar via longer length sports, smart traditional marketers will learn this is the strategy they will need to follow for TV to be effective for them.
Bill McCabe is EVP/COO at A. Eicoff & Co., one of North America’s largest DRTV agencies.
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