Description: A multi-purpose cleaning sponge
Main Pitch: "The biggest technological breakthrough in stain removal in years"
Main Offer: $14.95 for 12
Bonus: 12 more, plus 2 scrubbies & 2 shammies (just pay P&H)
Starring: The ubiquitous Marc Gill
Marketer: Harvest Direct
Website: www.BuyShabam.com
Prediction: Unlikely to succeed
Poor Marc Gill has gone from speaking French to speaking Ebonics in the space of one month!
(I'm teasing, Marc. You know I'm a big fan.)
Moving on, I'll start with the positive: the creative. It's really good, and it's not just Marc. Whoever came up with the idea of having him start the spot by writing directly onto the screen -- thereby doing the key demos 'in your face' -- is brilliant. (That's assuming it's an original idea, as you never know in DR.) If only great creative were all that was needed to sell a product, this would be a guaranteed winner!
Of course, it's not. And this product will ultimately fail because it has already been done and you can buy it everywhere. As a general rule, going up against a billion-dollar P&G brand is never advisable.
(Author's Note: I didn't bother to address the argument that "this product is different/better" because I have too much respect for the players involved to believe they used that as a rationale for going forward. There must be some other rationale of which I am unaware.)
