Digital Hit Makers

From Infomercial to Billion Dollar Brand Written By Elisabeth Pritchett, CEO and Founder of IntelliVision, Inc. www.InfomercialHitMakers.com Cracking the Branding Code: Many traditional advertising agencies require budgets that rival those of small countries and would like their clients to believe there is one way, and one way only to build a “real brand”. And with those gargantuan budgets they can run flashy Super Bowl ads that cost millions of dollars for 30 seconds, and blanket the airwaves with brands we already know all about…. But the thing they know very little about is how to take a product with zero consumer awareness, no retail distribution, and a budget so small it wouldn’t pay for their catering and turn it into a brand. (I can say this with confidence because I once was an executive producer for one of those big agencies). Maybe you have heard of these products… Proactive Solution, The Snuggie, OxyClean, Ginsu Knifes, Hooked on Phonics… ShamWow, Total Gym, Bowfle...

Infomercials 101 Written By Elisabeth Pritchett, CEO and Founder of IntelliVision, Inc. What is DRTV? DRTV stands for Direct Response Television, which is synonymous for what most people call “infomercials”. It’s any television advertising that asks the viewer to take an immediate action, whether that is to order a product, visit a website, or call a toll free number for more information. It’s advertising that is eliciting a specific and direct response from the viewer and that’s what we do here at IntelliVision. We get the viewer, the consumer, and your potential customers to take action. We generate a direct response from the viewer as a result of seeing your ad. Brief History of Time Do you remember when TV ended each night? At around 1 am or so they would play the national anthem, show the American flag waving and then TV programming was OVER until the morning. Now if you’re too young to have any idea what I am talking about than this sounds like lunacy. But never the l...

Spot or Half-Hour Infomercial? Written by Elisabeth D'Orazio Pritchett, CEO and Founder of IntelliVision, Inc. Once you’ve decided to use the power of direct response television advertising (infomercials) to increase sales and promote your product one of the first questions that come up is: "Do I need a full half hour infomercial or should we consider a short form commercial?" First, a short form spot is generally anything under 120 seconds and a “half-hour” infomercial is 28 minutes and 30 seconds. There are many factors that go into deciding which format is best suited to each product. However, there are a number of basic questions we ask that can give us a general idea of which format is best suited to your product. What’s the TV price of the product?  Does the product require an explanation or can it be demonstrated quickly and clearly?  Are you trying to directly sell on TV (oxy clean for $19.95) or are you generating leads (mortgage company, health insur...

Do You have the Next Big Thing? Written by Elisabeth D'Orazio Pritchett, CEO and Founder of IntelliVision, Inc. Since the Magic 8 Ball on my desk has proven itself to be somewhat unreliable in determining the success and failure of products, we asked our expert product evaluation team to create specific criteria to evaluate a product’s potential success. Here at IntelliVision, we have the privilege of seeing literally dozens of new and exciting products every month, brought to us by everyone from small inventors to large corporations, and from every product category imaginable. So we have had to develop a systematic way to evaluate each product. Our team sits down together and reviews each product for it’s features, benefits, uniqueness, cost of goods, strength of offer (price), and much more. Inevitably we see products and services that are perfect for infomercial advertising and those that simply don’t fit the direct response television model for one reason or another. Thi...

Top 10 Reasons Infomercials Fail Written By Elisabeth Pritchett, CEO and Founder of IntelliVision, Inc. Let me start by saying there are more than 10 reasons infomercials and short form spots fail. However, I wanted to outline some of the clearly avoidable (and- not-always-so-obvious) pitfalls where we see many product owners and companies stumble through this processes. So, even if you’re already a savvy marketer, this article will serve to reinforce your genius or surprise even you. # 10 Dentists Performing Brain Surgery Mistake: Not hiring infomercial expert & underestimating the need and value of a specialist. Now that sounds ridiculous! Who in their right mind would let a dentist perform brain surgery? But, they’re both doctors. They both went to medical school. They both have some of the same equipment. And even though you might save a little money if you let the dentist do it… it’s just not worth it. Why? Because they have totally different specialties! And the s...