34 RESPONSE JULY 2018 www.responsemagazine.com
on traditional brand teams to lead the
creative without substantial DR experience,” says Hamilton. “The assumption
that brand teams who are new to DR can
figure it out and deliver creative that generates a positive MER (media efficiency
ratio) usually ends with disappointment.
With DR, your creative needs to be
strong enough to influence viewers to
make a quick decision and purchase.”
Unfortunately, this rarely happens
when the creative focus is more on brand-
ing rather than selling. “Time and time
again — almost guaranteed — brand
heavy creative does not perform and
fails to meet MER goals,” says Hamilton,
who recently came full circle with a DR
campaign that was led by a branding team
that assumed it could “make the infomer-
cial work,” and then failed to do so.
“Being in DR for more than 20 years,
it was frustrating to call out the mistakes
and not have them corrected because the
recommendations did not meet the brand
team’s vision,” says Hamilton. “Unfortu-
nately, it’s a painful part of the education
process where the learning has come
from the experience of non-performing
creative.”
In this situation, the experienced DR
side of the project had to take a backseat
and allow the branding team to drive the
creative. The media tests underperformed,
leaving the marketer in a quandary over
where it went wrong. To avoid this trap,
Hamilton says firms should never turn
their infomercial creative over to a pure
brand team and expect a positive MER.
“Branding and winning DR creative
can be accomplished together, but it’s
usually when the DR experts lead,” he
says, noting that the brand teams must
help guide the DR creative for high-qual-
ity imagery and branding guidelines, and
that the content needs to drive an action,
not a feeling.
Hamilton adds, “The big payoff for
the brand team is;when they allow the
DR;professionals to do their work and
then sit back and watch the creative get
aired over and over. In turn, the brand
builds with repetitive impressions and —
thanks to DR — they’re all accountable.”
Hamilton says there are three main
factors for DR success: the creative needs
authentic talent and testimonials that
relate to the demographic of the buyer;
the offer or call-to-action (CTA) needs
a strong value-building; and you have to
test and tweak — and test and tweak.
“Keep your budgets open and keep
10-20 percent in reserve for future post
and/or production so you don’t get caught
short,” he says, “knowing that you’re
probably going to need to go back in and
try again.”
2018 LOW-END HIGH-END
Feasibility study* N/A $12,000
Primary consumer research* $10,000 $45,000
Script consultation/concept* $7,000 $15,000
Script* $10,000 $40,000
Music/audio $5,000 $23,000
Crew/equipment $35,000 $100,000
Location/studio $20,000 $70,000
Art direction/stylist $4,500 $40,000
Props $3,000 $25,000
Editing $30,000 $90,000
Catering $2,500 $7,000
Director $8,000 $36,000
Voiceover $4,000 $8,000
Animation/graphics $10,000 $55,000
Mark-up (25-35%) $37,250 $198,100
2017 LOW-END HIGH-END
Feasibility study* N/A $15,000
Primary consumer research* $10,000 $50,000
Script consultation/concept* $7,000 $18,000
Script* $10,000 $45,000
Music/audio $6,000 $23,000
Crew/equipment $40,000 $120,000
Location/studio $20,000 $75,000
Art direction/stylist $4,500 $40,000
Props $3,000 $25,000
Editing $30,000 $105,000
Catering $2,500 $7,000
Director $8,000 $36,000
Voiceover $4,000 $8,000
Animation/graphics $12,000 $55,000
Mark-up (25-35%) $39,250 $217,700
2018 COST OF INFOMERCIAL PRODUCTION
Much like spot production, long-form costs can vary greatly according to the product, the show itself, and what he marketer wants to accomplish. Here are the approximate costs for a hypothetical half-hour show compared
to 2017’s numbers, based on interviews with long-form producers working from low-budget productions to elaborate,
high-end shows.
* Depending on the arrangement, feasibility studies, primary consumer research, script consultation/concept, and the script may or may not be subject to markup for an
infomercial.
