are able to get feedback from them within
an hour of sending an edit file.”
Using HD-streaming programs like
Slingbox, producers can even share live
edit sessions between editor/designer,
producer and client — all of whom can
participate from different geographic locations. “We feed the direct output of an
edit system to multiple sites, so that all
production team members are in the edit
bay ‘virtually,’ and able to provide instant
feedback without having to be on site,”
says Hawthorne.
Still Not Easy
Technology may be making the production aspect of an infomercial a bit
easier, faster and more affordable, but
the age-old challenges of long-form campaigns still persist. The fact is, getting a
Tae Bo-like hit still eludes most marketers, with 29 out of every 30 campaigns
ranking as “failures,” according to Doug
Garnett, founder and CEO at Portland,
Ore.-based Atomic Direct, and a member
of the Response Editorial Advisory Board.
“The mistakes being made are critical,
and are the reason most DRTV businesses
see that horrendous failure rate,” says
Garnett. “If the business would learn its
lessons, that failure rate would be cut in
half, or nearly eliminated.”
So where do marketers go wrong in
the infomercial space? Garnett says the
problem is two-fold. For starters, most
DRTV producers, agencies, and marketers
really don’t use the tried-and-true lessons
from traditional marketing.
“Old DRTV hands manage projects
with a combination of gut checks and superstition,” says Garnett. “But if you follow marketing fundamentals — identify
your target, learn how to communicate to
your audience, and then get everything
onto the screen in a way that ensures
they’ll hear your message — with savvy
processes, DRTV is generally successful,
without resorting to hack formulas.”
New technology, used to make this depiction
of the Work Shop Bench Grinder, allows
more time for editors and graphic artists to
work on the look and feel of a show and less
time fussing with systems and programs.
The other problem is that most DRTV
marketers don’t know how to use research, says Garnett, who calls research
a “highly valuable skill” that needs to
be learned. “Companies have to learn
not only how to conduct research, but
most importantly how to use what they
gather,” he advises. “The truth in long-
