Response Magazine - September 2008

Sarnow: Online video is having a wonderful effect. Direct response marketers are already used to using videography to communicate with consumers and make sales. Going one step further and using video in the online space is a natural extension for DRTV marketers, giving them an incredible advantage over most other marketers.

Savage: Online video is another effective tool for marketers and their agencies to communicate the unique features and benefits of products and services to both savvy and impressionable consumers. What’s really impacting the business, though, are the media strategies that are being employed to get consumers to watch online video.

Stacey: Online video can boost online sales by 25 percent or more. It’s like installment payments when they were introduced. In the old days, it was one payment of $99, but soon everyone found you could boost sales if you offered three payments of $33. Today, it’s the norm.

Has the influence of mobile/wireless marketing on the industry grown in the past 12 months? How will the expansion of mobile/wireless affect DR in coming years? Garnett: Having done our first mobile project several years ago and remaining tapped into some solid movers and shakers in the business, it’s clear that it’s going to be several years before mobile becomes at all significant — other than creating an RSS feed for your Web site.

Knight: An increasingly large number of people are starting to look at mobile and wireless as a viable way to market their products. The capability, power and speed at which wireless devices are operating have made the point of entry into this space for all advertisers significantly easier. This will continue to bode well for DR.

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Medico: It is still in its infancy but the technology is amazing. Given the need to reach the Gen-Xers who are technol-ogy-savvy and carry mobile devices like appendages, it appears to be set to expand rapidly.

Orsmond: We’ve noticed an increase in the number of TV ads for adult dating using “text” as their primary call-to-action. Plus there has been a substantial increase in the number of financial services DRTV ads carrying a mobile text message. This is most evident with debt consolidation DRTV advertisers who are using “text” to speed up response from consumers who’re desperate for help to sort out their personal financial problems.