Lois Geller, president of
Mason & Geller Direct Market-
ing, a full service agency in Hol-
lywood, Fla., points out that many of the
elements of DRTV pioneered by Popeil
survive to this day. Products such as his
Veg-O-Matic were sold over discounted,
unused, late-night airtime. Today, the
newly reformed Simi Valley-based com-
pany boasts more than $2 billion in sales
and the world’s best-selling rotisserie
oven.
Comcast digital cable
systems are already allowing
viewers of video-on-demand
advertisements to click
their remotes for additional
product information.
“He’s been hugely successful,” says
Geller, “with his formula for demonstrating a product, heaping it with benefits,
backing it with testimonials, focusing on
easy-pay price points, adding decision
breakers, and providing motivation for a
quick call to action.”
His “But wait! There’s more!” and “If
you act now” call-to-action phraseology
is still used today.
While all that’s old may remain in the
salesmanship of consumer electronics,
the medium has certainly evolved since
those early days of television. Marc Pearl
is the executive director the Consumer
Electronics Retailers Coalition (CERC),
a trade association based in Washington,
D.C. “We’re moving toward a more
ubiquitous use of audio and visual display
devices,” he says. “There’s not much difference between use of your computer
monitor and the watching of TV. The
fact that one product has a tuner and the
other doesn’t is inconsequential. And
like computers, television is becoming
increasingly interactive.”
Technology as a Sales Driver
“Interactive TV is DRTV,” says Ben
Mendelson, president of the Interactive
Television Alliance, an independent
trade association based in Santa Monica,
Calif. He points out that there’s an especially large market for the sale of iPods,
cell phones and smart phones via DRTV.
Mendelson adds that not only are QVC
and HSN increasingly selling computers,
but channels dedicated only to consumer
electronics are meeting the upsurge in
demand.
“While the younger market is already
comfortable buying online, it’s interesting that they haven’t bought more via
television,” says Mendelson. “Previously,
the traditional DRTV market and shopping channels served an older, middle
class demographic. But as TV becomes
more interactive, people will become
increasingly comfortable buying directly
with their remote control — never having to turn their computer on.”
“The biggest opportunity to DRTV’s
sale of consumer electronics comes in
the elimination of the telephone,” says
Robert Barnett, senior director of Alviso,
Calif.-based TiVo’s interacative direct
response advertising group. “Think about
the inertia that has to be overcome to
get a viewer to stop what they’re doing,
write down a number, get out their credit
card, dial and wend their way through
ordering.”
For some complex consumer electronics, where a quick click to order may be
eclipsed by a need for more information,
video-on-demand (VOD) might prove a
solution. Kevin Smith is vice president of
advertising sales development for Comcast Spotlight. He notes that the cable
company’s Showcase and Feature capabilities (also known as Searchlight) allow
viewers of 30- or 60-second commercials
to opt into additional product information, which can be as long as 30 minutes.
The expanded information is available
24/7, catching viewers at a point of high
interest. Additionally, short-form commercials can direct viewers to a second
channel for special offers.
Electronics Beg for Push to Web
“The best cameras, telephones, media
players and home theater systems are
pretty pricy,” says Tim Hawthorne,
founder and chairman of Hawthorne Direct Inc., an integrated response agency
in Fairfield, Iowa. “Few consumers buy
them impulsively.”
For the buyer who questions the expense of a digital camera when a $7.99
throwaway would suffice, he notes that
a 30-second spot is inadequate in describing multiple complex benefits and
features such as unlimited storage, the
ability to create and edit special effects
