Description: A vintage-looking LED lantern
Main Pitch: "The portable LED lantern that easily blows on and off"
Main Offer: $12.99 for one
Bonus: 2nd one (just pay a separate fee)
Marketer: Telebrands
Website: www.BlowLantern.com
Prediction: On the fence
This lantern blows ... on and off, which is a neat point of difference. It also has the same vintage/classic look that helped make Telebrands' Olde Brooklyn Lantern a monster hit and one of my True Top Spenders of 2012. But is that enough?
We now have pretty strong evidence that OBL was an outlier, not a category. That's because every marketer, including Telebrands itself, has tried and failed to replicate its success (eight such attempts are documented here). Although it doesn't make much sense, it appears the campaign was a moment in time that may never be replicated.
On the other hand, most of OBL's followers focused on utility at the expense of style, and that could be the key to the whole thing. This lantern also has some magic to it, which is always a plus on DRTV.
