Review: Go Booster

Description: An inflatable car seat
Main Pitch: "Weighs less than 2 lbs," "small enough to fit in a handbag or suitcase"
Main Offer: 3 pay of $19.95
Bonus: Free travel tote and cover
Marketer: National Express
Website: www.GoBoosterSeat.com
Prediction: Bomb

I often talk about "segmenting a segment." This product goes beyond committing that violation. Call it "segmenting a segmented segment." Its primary target seems to be parents (a minority segment of DRTV buyers) of toddlers (getting smaller) who travel enough with their kids to need a temporary booster seat solution (we're down to a few dozen people now). You can always tell a marketer is stretching when they make naked pleas such as, "Your child may be too old for a car seat, but she still needs a boost."

Making things worse, it seems these parents (or their children, apparently) must have good lung capacity and a lot of patience to use this product. Speaking as a father of two toddlers, this narrows the segment to near zero. I can just see it now: "I know we're already late to Disney World, kids, but hang on while daddy blows up this booster seat."

Oh, and did I mention this thing costs $60? I'm sure there was a rationale there somewhere, but I have no idea what it might have been.

Review: Stack Mates

Description: Nesting food storage containers
Main Pitch: "Keeps your cabinets clutter free with no wasted space"
Main Offer: $10 for a set of five
Bonus: 2nd set of five (just pay processing)
Marketer: Telebrands
Website: www.BuyStackMates.com
Prediction: Unlikely to succeed

Speaking of Smart Spin, here's another solution to the problem of lost lids and crowded cabinets. Actually, this product and spot are more reminiscent of Wow Containers. From what I understand, that campaign had a decent run, but didn't do well enough to warrant a similar attempt so soon. Plus, Wow Containers had a great primary benefit this product does not: They could be mixed and matched to accomodate almost any portion of food.

Review: Can Handler

Description: A spinning can organizer
Main Pitch: "Rotates so you can easily see every can and quickly grab the one you need"
Main Offer: $10 for one
Bonus: 2nd one, spinning Packet Handler (just pay processing)
Marketer: Telebrands
Producer: Blue Moon
Website: www.GetCanHandler.com
Prediction: Unlikely to succeed

I continue to stick to my "one is an outlier, three is a category" rule. So far, I've only seen an outlier in the kitchen organization category: Merchant Media's Swivel Store (which was also produced by Blue Moon). Hit #2 has yet to present itself, lending credence to my hypothesis that "spices might be a special case."

(I don't count Smart Spin because it preceded Swivel Store by long enough to suggest it may also have been an outlier. But even if I did count it, we'd only have two, not three.)

Further lowering the odds for this one: Several can organizers have failed on DRTV. I remember a u-shaped one for soda cans that went inside a refrigerator, and a Ferris Wheel-like contraption that bombed for two different marketers.

Incidentally, some day I will do a feature on the best (or worst) double-entendre names in DR. Kitchen Quicky will likely top the list, but Can Handler will definitely make the cut!

Ogilvy on DR

I'm a big fan of David Ogilvy (his books have a permanent place on my bookshelf), so I was delighted to receive a link to this video the other day (HT. Bill S.). Enjoy!

Review: I.M Rings

Description: Workout rings
Main Pitch: "Use the body you got to get the body you want"
Main Offer: $14.95 for rings and anchoring system
Bonus: 7 Extreme Workout DVDs
Starring: Jake himself
Marketer: Body By Jake
Website: www.OfficialIMRings.com
Prediction: Unlikely to succeed

I confess to not understanding this category very well. What makes its target audience buy and how the DRTV-to-retail model works appear to be different than with other categories. Based on what I've seen, however, the products that break through tend to present a strong "reason to believe" the system will deliver the promised 'get ripped' results. (It also helps to have an MMA star attached to the product.)

This item doesn't credibly present such a reason. Maybe that's because working out with rings is an unusual behavior you don't see in your local gym -- versus, say, people working out with Tower 200-like cables.

As for the spot, I found it long on motivational platitudes and short on product features. Then again, it's hard to spend a lot of time talking about a pair of rings.