In fact, they’ve become so popular (and successful) that they’ve landed their own TV show on the Discovery Channel<\/strong>…where they are taking the dreams of struggling entrepreneurs and (hopefully) turning them into reality.<\/p>\n Coming from the direct response world as I do (as a burned-out, former copywriter), I appreciate how well they orchestrate direct response principles in their ads.\u00a0 Again, particularly with video, where they DEMONSTRATE<\/strong> problems, solutions and benefits without wasting a second of time on anything else.<\/p>\n And again, coming from the world of direct response, I also know from multiple, first-hand experiences that there are two universal truths:<\/p>\n 1.<\/strong> Direct response advertising…when done correctly…can be devastatingly effective<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n 2.<\/strong> The corporate world is terrified<\/strong><\/em> of direct response style advertising<\/p>\n By terrified, I mean it scares them to death to use these sometimes “unprofessional”, “crass” and “loud” advertising techniques.\u00a0 In the corporate world, image and brand rule.<\/p>\n So much so, that people willingly avoid direct response techniques…even when they know they can be worth a king’s ransom…just to keep their image intact.<\/p>\n And that’s fine, I have no problem with it.\u00a0 It’s a free world (at least where I live).<\/p>\n But it’s also funny how…when push comes to shove…human nature always wins out.\u00a0 That’s another way of saying that greed (or desperation) trumps authenticity.\u00a0 I’m specifically talking about the current, global financial meltdown.<\/p>\n You see, while banks are begging for bailouts, retailers are slashing prices and industry giants are trimming workforces…the late-night infomercial industry is thriving<\/strong>.\u00a0 Corporate advertising?\u00a0 Down 2.6% from last year.\u00a0 Direct response advertising?\u00a0 Up 9.2% over the same period.<\/p>\n And something funny is happening.\u00a0 Image-conscious corporate America…always the first to thumb their nose at the direct response industry…is now embracing<\/strong> that industry.<\/p>\n Yes, they are now turning to direct response style advertising.\u00a0 It seems they noticed that guys like Billy Mays and Anthony Sullivan know how to flat-out sell products.\u00a0 Something that simply cannot be done with corporate, image-conscious techniques.<\/p>\n “It’s like this recession has caused corporate America to come alive,” says Tim Hawthorne, chairman of Hawthorne Direct and a direct response television veteran. “We’re getting a huge volume of inquiries from big companies, more than we ever have.”\u00a0 And Billy Mays himself will be pitching for Arm & Hammer<\/strong> in national TV spots.<\/p>\n The corporate world and direct response.\u00a0 Who would have ever thought?<\/p>\n Now here’s a look at a few of those “as seen on TV” products we’ve all laughed at…and the numbers they’ve produced:<\/p>\n Hi Billy Mays here for…OxiClean, Orange Glo, Kaboom, Mighty Mendit…and the list goes on.\u00a0 If you own a television, then at one point or another you’ve seen the 50 year-old, black-bearded Mays pitch these products. And you’ve probably laughed.\u00a0 But a better idea might be to learn. That’s because Billy Mays and his sometimes partner […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0},"categories":[19],"tags":[206,205,16],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/webvideouniversity.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/282"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/webvideouniversity.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/webvideouniversity.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webvideouniversity.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webvideouniversity.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=282"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/webvideouniversity.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/282\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/webvideouniversity.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=282"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webvideouniversity.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=282"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webvideouniversity.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=282"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"http:\/\/webvideouniversity.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/04\/blog_drtv1.png\")
Thigh Master<\/strong> – $100 Million in sales<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/webvideouniversity.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/04\/blog_drtv2.png\")
George Foreman Grill<\/strong> – $100 Million in sales<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/webvideouniversity.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/04\/blog_drtv3.png\")
Ronco Showtime Rotisserie & BBQ<\/strong> – 1.2 Billion in sales<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/webvideouniversity.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/04\/blog_drtv4.png\")
Snuggie<\/strong> – $80 million in sales (estimated)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"