Description: A security device for garage doors
Main Pitch: "Protect your home and family from burglars"
Main Offer: $19.99 for one
Bonus: N/A
Starring: Gerald Honeywell, former "police major"
Marketer: Telebrands
Website: www.GarageBull.com
Prediction: Unlikely to succeed
The fate of this campaign is sealed with the phrase, "Now there's a new trend ..." When I studied the 'Old Masters,' I learned that two minutes isn't enough time to both educate and sell a prospect. While this creative does a good job of getting its lesson across quickly and clearly, it's the cognitive limits of the viewer that will be the problem. Learn, internalize and decide to buy in the space of a commercial break? Sorry, not going to happen -- and that's even assuming people accept this is a real trend.
This project also has a few other serious flaws. For one, it tries to sell on fear, which we know works about as well as selling prevention (and this a prevention item, too!) There is also the matter of market size. Millions of homes have garage doors, but this certainly isn't a one-per-household opportunity.
Finally, there's the spokesman. He does a decent job for someone who obviously does not have pitch experience, but I wonder about the strategy. What's better? Being able to flash "former police major" on the screen at the opening of your spot, or using a professional pitchman you know can deliver the goods?
I recognize it's not quite the rhetorical question I make it out to be, so I invite your comments.
