July 30, 2007

90 Days Later: Sticky Nips, Tap ‘N Glow, Slime and more

As promised, each week I am revisiting the DRTV items I covered 90 days ago. Counting backward from this week puts us in the week ending May 4 (when I was still sending out email reports instead of publishing them here). Here’s a quick recap of what I covered, what my comments were and whether any of the items appear on the latest IMS and Jordan Whitney reports …

  1. STICKY NIPS (www.StickyNips.com), adhesive silicone pieces that allow women to change the shape and contour of their nipples. I predicted that it wouldn't work, and it is nowhere to be found on either list.
  2. TAP 'N GLOW TRI-LITE, a cube-shaped Tap Light that has three brightness settings. I predicted it was unlikely to succeed and wrote, "This spot is a great test of a theory of mine: When a DRTV category is saturated, no matter how much better your product is, it won't sell." I argued that the product faced this challenge because most DRTV "customers have already purchased a Stick-Up Bulb, Stick 'N Click or Quik Brite. There aren't enough prospects left to sustain a CPO.” Today, it is nowhere to be found on either list.
  3. MYOTRIM, a diet pill. I predicted that it wouldn't work, and it is nowhere to be found on either list.
  4. PRESTO (www.PrestoNow.com), an email solution for seniors. I wrote, "Obviously, it won't perform in a pure DRTV sense, but the price and ongoing revenue opportunity is high enough that the economics should work.” Today, it isn't on either list. Beyond that, the status is unknown.
  5. SLIME (www.SlimeSystem.com), a beauty cream from Telebrands. The secret ingredient is snail slime. I predicted it wouldn't work because women are highly unlikely to smear slime on their faces. Today, it is nowhere to be found on either list.
  6. EXTRA HANDS (www.BuyExtraHands.com), over-size tongs for tossing salads from Incredible Discoveries. I predicted that it wouldn't work, and it is nowhere to be found on either list.

Of course, it’s easy to predict that an item won't succeed when the odds of success on DRTV are 1 in 20 at best. What I'm really waiting to see is how good I am at predicting hits!