New This Week: Invisi-Lifts, Invisible Shield, Insta Bag and more

Here’s a quick update on the latest DRTV commercials to air:

1. INVISI-LIFTS ($19.99) are transparent adhesive strips that provide an “instant breast lift.” The offer includes 10 strips and 10 nipple covers – then they double the offer to 20 and 20. The bonus is a three-pack of sunless tanning cloths. www.BuyTheLifts.com
Product (D7) Score: 4 out of 7 (What’s “D7”?)
Comments: This is a mass-market product that solves a common problem for women, two important strengths when considering a product for DRTV. However, this product also has several weaknesses that will make it a tough sell. One is the value: $20 for a set of adhesive strips is pretty steep. This offer has a perceived value of $10 tops. Another issue is credibility: Will it stay stuck? is the big question that will generate doubt in women’s minds and kill the sale.

2. INVISIBLE SHIELD ($29.95) is a clear protective cover that goes over iPods, PDAs and other electronic devices. The slogan: “Scratch proof your digital life!” The offer includes a lifetime guarantee. The bonuses are a microfiber carrying case and a dashboard stick pad. www.InvisibleShield.tv
Product (D7) Score: 5 out of 7 (What’s “D7”?)
Comments: This product has a lot going for it: It’s unique, appeals to a large market and solves a problem. The stakes are high when you spend $300 on a device, and a little extra insurance isn’t a bad idea. However, this product is not right for DRTV for one major reason: The target demographic. DRTV buyers are typically 50+. Heavy iPod, PDA and electronic device users, well, aren’t. In addition, the price is $10 too high for the value-conscious DRTV buyer.

3. INSTA BAG ($14.99) is a luggage-style folding bag with wheels. The main claim: “It goes from tiny (pocketbook size) t0 huge (24x12) in seconds” and can “hold over 30 lbs.” The bonus is the ThermoBag, which is a soft cooler for drinks. www.BuyInstaBag.com
Product (D7) Score: 6 out of 7 (What’s “D7”?)
Comments: This product only has one weakness. Otherwise, it meets all the criteria for a successful DRTV item. Unfortunately, that weakness is a significant one: It doesn’t solve a common/frequent enough problem. This is one of those products that seems great until you try to imagine when and why someone would use it. The usage occasions just aren’t strong enough.

4. SMART MONEY CLIP ($19.95) is a metal money clip with a credit card holder on the back. The bonus is the Smart Pocket, a pocket that clips onto your belt. www.SmartMoneyClip.com
Product (D7) Score: 3 out of 7 (What’s “D7”?)
Comments: This product is easy to understand, appeals to older people and is credible. It is not, however, a DRTV product. Two big problems are its uniqueness (money clips are everywhere) and its perceived value (they cost about half the price).

Sources: “New Spots for Week Ending 8/24/07,” IMS

New Items: Epil-X, Fix It!, Open Smart and more

Only one review this week, but (drum roll, please) … We have a winner!

For the first time since I started my new system of evaluation, I’ve come across a product and commercial that meets nearly every one of my criteria (see #1 below). It’s quite an impressive feat, and I predict the item is going to be one of this year’s big DRTV hits!

1. EPIL-X ($29.95) is a hair inhibitor cream. Women rub it on and it keeps their legs, lips, arms, underarms and bikini lines smooth and hair-free for up to four weeks. It’s also enriched with Vitamins E and C. The main claim: It “penetrates deep down to the hair follicle and inhibits the roots ability to re-grow.” The bonus is an instant hair remover cream. This is a Monte-Brooks production. www.EpilX.com
Product (D7) Score: 6 out of 7 (What’s “D7”?)
Strengths: There are a lot of them! This is a unique product that’s easy to understand and solves a major problem for women of all ages. I’m also going to write that it’s credible, even though I was on the fence about that. In my opinion, the commercial works hard enough to overcome this potential barrier.
Weaknesses: The only problem I can see: It’s $10 above impulse pricing. If this hurts the campaign, they’d be foolish not to drop the price to $19.99.
Commercial (T&T) Score: 9 out of 10 (What’s “T&T”?)
Comments: Almost a perfect score! This commercial has a solid problem opening; loads of credibility with its references to clinical trials and testimonials, including one from an aesthetician; great demos, including an ugly-but-powerful magic demo of the bonus being used on a man’s leg; a great side-by-side comparison scene; a nice animation that clearly explains how the product works; and so on. The offer is a little weak, but only because of the price point: The bonus makes sense and meets all the criteria. In fact, the only reason I couldn’t give this spot a 10 out of 10 is because there’s no value comparison.

2. SIMONIZ FIX IT! ($19.95) is a scratch removal kit for cars. The main claim: “Restore(s) the paint to its original shine ... any car, any color.” The offer includes a bottle of the formula, a battery-powered buffer with multiple heads and a microfiber towel. The bonuses are a bottle of Fix It! Home Formula and the Simoniz Turbo Vac for cars (just pay S&H). This is a Billy Mays commercial. www.BuyFixIt.com
Quick Comment: I didn’t give this one a full review since I just did a scratch remover last week (see my review of Quixx). But I will mention that the offer for this product is much bigger than the offer for Quixx, and some of the demos are better as well. That said, I think this is a tough sell for the same reasons I mentioned in the Quixx posting.

3. OPEN SMART ($19.95) is a set of tools for opening packages and cans. There are four tools: One for opening clamshell packages, one for sealed bags (e.g. bags of chips), one for CDs and DVDs, and one for soda cans. The bonus is a fifth tool for opening ring-pull cans (e.g. cat food cans). It’s curved so you can pop the tab and peel off the lid in one motion. www.OpenSmart.tv
Quick Comment: This commercial impressed me because the producer managed to explain five products clearly in a two-minute spot. As for the products, I just don’t think the value is there. Yes, these tools solve a problem, but the pain doesn’t seem great enough to create a strong impulse to buy.

4. LICE XTRACTOR ($29.95) is a vacuum-combing device for removing head lice. The offer includes six filters and six combs. www.LiceXtractor.tv
Quick Comment: Head lice is a problem that very few people have (thankfully). They try to say you should buy it to be prepared, but we know prevention doesn't sell. And the price of this product is too high for DRTV. Sorry, guys, but this one doesn’t have a prayer!

5. CELL STATION ($19.95) is a way to stick your cell phone to your dashboard for hands-free use. It’s essentially a strong magnet that grabs and holds a magnetic strip you stick on the back of your cell phone. The offer is buy one, get one free. The bonus is free shipping. www.BuyCellStation.com
Quick Comment: This isn’t a bad idea for an impulse item. What hurts it is the perceived value. I can see people picking this up at checkout for $5, but I can’t see them calling to order it for $20 (even with a BOGO offer). Also, many people are reluctant to stick something to the back of their phone, an important barrier to purchase.

Sources: “New Spots for Week Ending 8/17/07,” IMS

Banner Blindness: See For Yourself!

Web usability guru Jakob Nielsen just posted a fascinating new article about the latest empirical evidence for “banner blindness.” What’s that, you ask? It’s the tendency of people surfing the Web to unconsciously ignore anything that looks like an advertisement.

Nielsen’s proof is a fascinating new eye-tracking study he just completed. Such studies have people wear a device called an “eye tracker” and perform a common series of tasks, such as surfing the Web. The tracker then registers where a person’s eye focuses, and for how long.

One neat result of these studies is something called a “heatmap,” which uses temperature colors to depict where a person focused on a particular page. On Nielsen’s heatmaps, for instance:

• Red represents “where users looked the most”
• Yellow (getting cooler) “indicate[s] fewer views”
• Blue (cold) represents “the least-viewed … areas”
• Gray is “areas [that] didn't attract any fixations”

Guess what color banner ads were? That’s right: gray. To see the actual heatmaps, click through to the article and scroll down.

What does this mean for direct-response marketers? It should mean very little. That’s because anyone who tracks his or her marketing ROI should already know that banner ads – except at very cheap CPMs with plenty of make-goods – don't pay. The DR marketer's cost-per-order (CPO) metric alone can tell you many things that other marketers need fancy eye-tracking studies to accept.

Still, such studies are a helpful way to combat the persistent tendency of companies to drift away from scientifc marketing techniques toward unmeasurable schemes fiercely supported with logical-sounding arguments. Argument such as, “Well, even if our direct sales are terrible, we’re still generating awareness and that has to be paying off at retail.”

Kudos to Nielsen for helping to show that this is just what direct marketers have always suspected it was: wishful thinking.

90 Days Later: Ab Rocket, The One Touch Jar Opener and more

I wrote about four new items for the week ending May 25, one of which I predicted was going to be a hit. The items were:

1. ROLL-A-QUE (www.RollAQue.com), an aluminum cylinder for cooking hamburgers on the grill "rotisserie" style. I gave four reasons why I didn’t think it would succeed, among them it’s higher price ($29.95) and lack of visual proof that it works. Today, it does not appear on either list.
2. ODOR XIT MAGIC (www.BuyOdorXit.com), an odor-eliminating spray that works on the toughest odors imaginable. I thought the item faced a crowded category, but I loved the creative demos that also doubled as testimonials. Today, it does not appear on either list.
3. AB ROCKET (www.TryAbRocket.com), a spring-assisted ab rocker that provides resistance on the way down and assistance on the way up. I thought it was wrong for short-form, but could be the next ab item in long form. Today, it does not appear on either list.
4. ONE TOUCH JAR OPENER, an automatic jar opener that looks and works like the One Touch Can Opener. I predicted it would be a hit! I wrote: “This product gets high marks in every category. The only weakness I can see, which was shared by the item's predecessor (and didn't seem to matter), is credibility. People may find it hard to believe something small and battery-powered can open tough jars.” Today, it just surfaced at #60 on the Jordan Whitney, but does not appear on the IMS list.

I’ll be keeping an eye on the One Touch Jar Opener to see what happens. If it climbs the JW list and appears on the IMS list, I’ll have correctly predicted my second winner (Huggable Hangers was the first).

New Items: Quixx, Multi-Stripper and that’s all!

There were a lot of repeats this week as several companies went back on the air with a new approach. Among them: Telebrands’ Stick-Up Bulb and Above All’s Forearm Forklifts.

As a result, I saw very few new commercials this week, so it’s going to be a short report!

1. QUIXX ($19.99) is a scratch remover for cars. The main claim: It’s “German engineered” for high performance, so it can “restore your finish to showroom condition.” The offer includes one tube of Quixx Repair, one tube of Quixx Finish, two polishing cloths and four strips of special sandpaper for deep scratches. The bonus is a high-performance wax that seals and protects. This is an Anthony Sullivan commercial. www.QuixxTV.com
Product (D7) Score: 5 out of 7 (What’s “D7”?)
Strengths: This is a mass market product that solves a very painful problem, is priced right for DRTV and is fairly easy to explain. It also holds appeal for older people, especially since many are on fixed incomes and could use a cheap alternative to expensive body work.
Weaknesses: The two problems with this product are: 1) It’s been done before and, as a result, 2) It faces a major credibility hurdle. The following customer review of GS27, a similar TV product from a few years back, is typical of consumer opinions of products like these: “It wasn't that expensive but totally useless. We put it on a scratch or two on our car … It did nothing except leave a white stain on the area.”
Commercial (T&T) Score: 5 out of 10 (What’s “T&T”?)
Comments: What I like most about this commercial, in addition to the solid problem opening, is that it builds credibility from the first scenes. We learn this is a product of “German engineering” that’s been “licensed by European automakers,” an excellent way of tapping into the German reputation for auto excellence. The spot also has great demos of scratches disappearing before your eyes, but sadly there’s no magic demo. With a product like this, I expected to see something amazing. For instance, what if they had borrowed a page from the “Pimp My Ride” playbook and used Quixx to transform someone’s horribly abused car? Speaking of which, there were no before-and-afters – another oversight. Additional strengths: A big offer and a great value comparison. Additional weaknesses: Nothing unique in the features and benefits section, no explanation of how the product works, no attempt to address the objection that these products don’t really work, and no satisfaction guarantee.

2. MULTI-STRIPPER ($19.95) is a electric drill attachment for stripping paint, varnish and rust. The main claim: It’s “tough enough to remove the paint but gentle enough to leave the surface clean and clear with no scratching, no scraping.” The offer includes a “fine tine” attachment for delicate work. The bonus is a pocket saw similar to the MXZ Pocket Saw. www.BuyMultiStripper.com
Product (D7) Score: 5 out of 7 (What’s “D7”?)
Strengths: This is a unique problem solver that’s priced right for DRTV, can be explained easily through demos and appeals to people of all ages.
Weaknesses: The market for people who want to strip wood on a regular basis is limited, and the product’s main claim is hard to believe (see question/objection comment below).
Commercial (T&T) Score: 7 out of 10
Comments: This commercial uses a lot of the T&T techniques. It has a great problem opening, magical demos and compelling comparisons to other, lesser methods. In fact, only a few techniques were overlooked or inadequately represented. For instance, this commercial does have a scene that begins, “The secret is …” But what follows is a weak explanation of how the product works. It’s also missing a value comparison, and an answer to an important question/objection: How is it possible for an amateur to use this without gouging the wood?

3. ZEMELEX (Free Trial) is a male enhancement formula featuring a down-to-earth spokesman with a New York Italian accent (good idea). The main claim: “Feel bigger and perform better than ever.” The offer is a 30-day free trial. The bonus is a stimulating female lubricant for her pleasure. www.Zemelex.com

Sources: “New Spots for Week Ending 8/10/07,” IMS (1, 3); "Vol. XVI, No. 42-B, 08/10/07," Jordan Whitney (2)