Is Half Your Advertising Wasted?
February 2006 By Denny Hatch
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Is Half Your Advertising Wasted?
It is imperative to make and offer and close the loop.
Feb. 16, 2006: Vol. 2, Issue No. 13
IN THE NEWS
I don't watch TV ads. At the moment of a commercial break, my fingers do the walking all over the remote control as I surf the dial. My built-in clock tells me within a couple of seconds when it's time to return to the program I was watching.
I admit to one exception—an infomercial that stops me cold and causes me to watch it all the way through, just as I'm stopped by "Casablanca," "The Third Man," "Yankee Doodle Dandy" and "Patton."
I fervently believe that every business person, every marketer, every advertiser should watch this infomercial for four reasons: (1) It's a lot of fun; (2) It makes an incredible offer; (3) It's inspirational; (4) It closes the loop.
The Amazing Ron Popeil
In going around the dials, we've all stumbled on Popeil in his green apron—that good-looking, wonderfully enthusiastic inventor and marketer of rotisseries.
But it's the infomercial for his knife set that should be an object lesson for every marketer and advertiser, indeed anyone in business who has customers, clients and prospects.
Let me say at the outset that the only reason I never bought Popeil's knife set is that I once had a kitchenware catalog as a client and was able to buy some of the world's finest cutlery at a deep discount. But this doesn't make this commercial any less mesmerizing to watch.
In front of a studio audience, Popeil breaks the rules of selling by stating the price of his knife set up front—three low payments of $14.98 each.
He then turns the stage over to an old-fashioned pitchman—a smooth talking old guy in a white chef's outfit and toque—right out of carnival midway, who starts demonstrating knife after knife, slicing, dicing, sawing through bone and tin cans to prove how sharp they are. He shows off knives for carving, paring, peeling, chopping and filleting. Included in the set is a bread knife, cheese knife, chef's knife, cleaver, boning knife, and sportsman's knife.
It is imperative to make and offer and close the loop.
Feb. 16, 2006: Vol. 2, Issue No. 13
IN THE NEWS
Retailers shift ad strategies in digital age
CHICAGO (Reuters) - U.S. retailers are experimenting with new advertising strategies as they try to reach customers who fast-forward through television spots, block Internet pop-up ads and do not subscribe to newspapers. Television advertising isn't going away any time soon, and newspapers will remain a primary means of letting customers know about special sales, but retail marketing executives are increasingly turning to glossy direct-mail catalogs, online coupons and even billboards to get their message across.
—Emily Kaiseer, Reuters, Feb. 12, 2006
"Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is I don't know which half."
—John Wanamaker, Philadelphia Department Store Founder
I don't watch TV ads. At the moment of a commercial break, my fingers do the walking all over the remote control as I surf the dial. My built-in clock tells me within a couple of seconds when it's time to return to the program I was watching.
I admit to one exception—an infomercial that stops me cold and causes me to watch it all the way through, just as I'm stopped by "Casablanca," "The Third Man," "Yankee Doodle Dandy" and "Patton."
I fervently believe that every business person, every marketer, every advertiser should watch this infomercial for four reasons: (1) It's a lot of fun; (2) It makes an incredible offer; (3) It's inspirational; (4) It closes the loop.
The Amazing Ron Popeil
In going around the dials, we've all stumbled on Popeil in his green apron—that good-looking, wonderfully enthusiastic inventor and marketer of rotisseries.
But it's the infomercial for his knife set that should be an object lesson for every marketer and advertiser, indeed anyone in business who has customers, clients and prospects.
Let me say at the outset that the only reason I never bought Popeil's knife set is that I once had a kitchenware catalog as a client and was able to buy some of the world's finest cutlery at a deep discount. But this doesn't make this commercial any less mesmerizing to watch.
In front of a studio audience, Popeil breaks the rules of selling by stating the price of his knife set up front—three low payments of $14.98 each.
He then turns the stage over to an old-fashioned pitchman—a smooth talking old guy in a white chef's outfit and toque—right out of carnival midway, who starts demonstrating knife after knife, slicing, dicing, sawing through bone and tin cans to prove how sharp they are. He shows off knives for carving, paring, peeling, chopping and filleting. Included in the set is a bread knife, cheese knife, chef's knife, cleaver, boning knife, and sportsman's knife.
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