Description: A device that tells you when your oil really needs changing
Main Pitch: "People are driving 10- even 15,000 miles without an oil change, saving hundreds of dollars"
Main Offer: $19.95 for one
Bonus: Digital tire pressure gauge (just pay separate P&H)
Marketer: Launch Pad
Website: www.Oilyzer.com
Prediction: Unlikely to succeed
Credibility, the seventh of the D7 criteria, is making a comeback as one of the key factors determining the success or failure of DRTV products. I've seen quite a few items lately that I thought would have been successful -- if only people believed they worked as advertised. This item is one of them.
The issue here: A car is one of the most expensive items people own, and they rely on that car for a number of critically important activities (e.g. getting them to work on time so they don't get fired). As a result, the negatives of having that car's engine damaged (because some $20 TV gadget said it was OK to keep driving with old oil) far outweigh the positives (saving a few bucks with less frequent oil changes).
This is not to mention the legal exposure the marketer of this product faces. Regardless of the facts, all it will take is one customer's engine seizing. Then some enterprising attorney will form a class that seeks to compensate anyone who alleges their car troubles were caused by an indicator that read green when it should have been red. I don't include legal risk in any of my lists of criteria, but if I did this product would definitely fail the category.
Otherwise, this product meets most of the criteria for DRTV success, and the commercial is well written and produced. It's just that pesky credibility problem that's going to sink the campaign. Ask yourself: Would you take the risk?
