My SciMark Report in print for March is now available on the Response Website.
Intense head-to-head competition continues to be an industry trend, but this month I write about a first: two simultaneous duels by two marketers ... who also happen to be related.
The products: Hurricane Spin Scrubber vs. Turbo Scrub and Air Hawk vs. Air Dragon. Clorox ScrubTastic is also highlighted.
The ERA reports that industry veteran Arline Kramer passed away Monday night while attending the Chicago Housewares show. She was 58.
"With more than 25 years in the industry, Kramer specialized in live shopping and global distribution of direct response products, helping launch successful brands such as InStyler, Magic Bullet, Powertek and Woof Washer 360," according to the ERA article. "Known as the 'Product Queen' for her ability to build sales, she was responsible for more than $1 billion in revenues."
My condolences to Ms. Kramer's family and her friends in the industry.
People outside the industry think 'As Seen on TV' is a brand and that all of those 800-number products they see on TV come from the same company. They see the same logo on every package, and the category name over the top of mall kiosks and stores, so they can't be blamed for making that assumption.
Of course, industry insiders know there is no such company and that we all share the 'As Seen on TV' brand. (We can thank TV Guide and AJ Khubani for the logo.) But have you ever wondered how much advertising support "our" brand is getting?
Thanks to AdSphere,™ we now have an answer to that question: $315,559,760.19.*
For the details, and to see how much the entire industry spent in 2016, check out the latest press release from DRMetrix.
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* That's just on the 92 national networks that AdSphere monitors. Add broadcast, satellite, local & so on, and that number is even higher.
