McAlister & Miller on NBC's Today show

Top Dog Direct (formerly Media Enterprises) President Bill McAlister and top producer John Miller recently appeared on NBC's Today show to promote the relaunch of Mighty Putty. Top pitchman Marc Gill also has a cameo.

You can watch the video below or here.

 

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Ed Kelly, RIP

I recently learned the sad news that Ed Kelly of National Express passed away before the holidays. He was 53.

Norwalk's The Hour has the obituary.

Our belated condolences to the Kelly family.

HD Vision Night Vision Wraparounds

Description: Night vision glasses
Main Pitch: "Fit over your existing glasses and dramatically improve seeing at night"
Main Offer: $10 for one pair
Bonus: HD Vision Wraparound Sunglasses (just pay S&H)
Marketer: IdeaVillage
Producer: NexTV
Website: www.HDNightVision.com
Prediction: Likely to succeed

This is IdeaVillage's answer to Night View (#9 in this Weekly Roundup from June). Despite the paragraph-long brand name, I think it will do well -- especially at retail, where this distributor will surely dominate.

As for the creative, I found the in-car testimonials to be strange. If they were set up in some way -- perhaps as the DR version of Cash Cab? -- they might have worked better. With no explanation, they weren't very credible, and that defeats the whole purpose of testimonials.

Interesting footnote: Night vision glasses were the original bonus for HD Vision Wraparounds when they were launched back in 2008, so five years later IdeaVillage has essentially reversed the pitch.

Plug Purse

Description: A purse with a built-in phone charger
Main Pitch: "Holds enough power to completely recharge your cell phone"
Main Offer: 2 pay of $19.99 for one
Bonus: 2nd one (just pay a separate fee)
Marketer: Telebrands
Producer: Kerrmercials
Website: www.PlugPurse.com
Prediction: Unlikely to succeed

Purses are a tough sell on DRTV. I think that's because the bar is extra high: In order to get a woman to sacrifice fashion, the function of the purse has to be super-compelling. Allstar hit that bar with the Buxton Bag in 2008, but no other company has been able to hit it since.

As for this item, I don't see how taking a purse and adding a phone charger -- something that has been tried many times on DRTV without real success -- will even come close to hitting the bar. The high price won't help matters, either.

Weekly Roundup

1. Nina Silk. Pitch: "The painless way to twist and lift hair away." Comments: An apparent 'fast fail' (link goes to the spot). One possible reason: It's pitched like IdeaVillage's Smooth Away, which peaked only four years ago and had low customer satisfaction. [ss]
 
2. Amazing Tank. Marketer: Hampton. Producer: Huton-Miller. Pitch: "The kid-friendly aquarium that cleans itself like magic." Comments: This is the HydraQuarium under a new name and with a new creative by the masters of "kid-friendly" DR. [ss]
 
3. Duovet. Pitch: "The dual-temperature duvet." Comments: This was clearly brought to market by someone who knows very little about the DRTV business. [ss]
 
4. Light Up Links. Producer: Hutton-Miller. Pitch: "The building links that light up your imagination." Comments: This has elements of the old Allstar hit Bendaroos and also reminds me of a neat invention from a few years ago called Laser Pegs. Thinking about what made those items successful, I see the same potential here. [ss]
 
5. No Freakin' Way. Pitch: "The game that finds out how much money it would take for your friends or relatives to do some wild and crazy things." Comments: I can't think of another board game that was launched using DRTV ... and there's probably a good reason for that. [ss]