Description: A ozone-generating device that freshens and deodorizes clothing
Main Pitch: "It's like having a dry cleaner in your closet"
Main Offer: Free for 30 days
Bonus: Wrinkle remover, accessory bag for shoes, pillow sanitizer, 12 scent neutralizers
Marketer: Ambitious Ideas
Website: www.FreshCloz.com
Prediction: Bomb
The two best arguments for this product, in the words of the campaign's Website, are:
- "Reduces the high cost of professional dry cleaning"
- "Doesn't contain Perchloroethylene (Perc.) commonly used by dry cleaners"
Argument No. 1 is the only one that has a shot of turning the average viewer into a buyer. The problem is the product itself is "high cost," especially for an impulse purchase. A "free" trial fools no one these days. People know there's a big credit card hit coming, and the first thing they do is check to see what it will be (in this case, $79.95 on top of $14.95).
Moreover, if people liked the idea of dry cleaning at home to save money, they would buy P&G's Dryel. But a quick search online shows that item is hard to find at retail.
As for argument No. 2, only a minority knows what Perchloroethylene is or cares about what it does (it may cause cancer). But as I have explained in earlier postings, such people (like the so-called "Greens") cannot be reached efficiently using mass media.
There is no other good argument for this product except perhaps the convenience of "instantly" (in 40 minutes) freshening a garment you want to wear. But then, the last-minute types who would need this the most are unlikely to think ahead enough to purchase this device and set it up in their closet "just in case."
