March 16, 2016

Recline & Unwind

Description: A 5-mode massaging pad
Main Pitch: "Turns any recliner into a spa"
Main Offer: $39.99 for one
Bonus: 2nd one (just pay a separate fee)
Marketer: Telebrands
Watch the spot

I'm excited about this project and several others I have been seeing. It seems people are committed to helping me answer a question I posed on the ERA blog at the end of last year: Is $40 the new $20? Thanks for the help, industry!

As for this particular product, it feels out of time to me. There was a period when massage chairs were all the rage. It may have been as far back as when Sharper Image was still in business. Stores like that one and rival Brookstone certainly used massaging devices as a big draw, especially during the holidays. And many DRTV marketers took that as a cue there might be an opportunity. But aside from the bizarre Air-O-Sage that Igia rolled out in 2003 (Telebrands also did it under the name Air Press Massager), I can't think of any noteworthy hits.

S7 Analysis: Perhaps in no small part because of the Sharper Image and Brookstone wars, I feel like massage is a crowded category. I also have doubts about the needed criterion. If people are going to spoil themselves, I tend to think they'll spring for the real deal. This seems like a half-measure.