February 06, 2013

Clear TV

Description: A digital TV antenna
Main Pitch: "Why spend hundreds of dollars per year for cable and satellite-only channels when you can watch broadcast television for free?"
Main Offer: $19.95 for one
Bonus: None
Marketer: Tristar
Website: www.BuyClearTV.com
Prediction: Unlikely to succeed

This project should have been killed in a much earlier phase with the asking of a basic question: "Who is the target market for this product?" I can only come up with three answers:

  1. People too poor to afford basic cable (in which case, good luck running their credit cards)
  2.  
  3. People who only watch broadcast TV
  4.  
  5. People who are somewhere cables can't go (like on a boat in the Gulf of Mexico, as shown in this spot)

Market size is key in DR, and when you are patching together small groups in uncommon situations, you should move on to the next product idea.