In the Direct Response industry, the term Infomercial generally refers to “long–form” (28.5 minute) direct response television advertising. However, for our purposes, we will also include “short-form” (:30, :60, :90 and two minute) direct response television commercials. In other words, pretty much any television production that is designed to generate a phone call or web visit to create a direct purchase, or contact, from a potential customer.
We are often asked if infomercials can be any different lengths than those mentioned above. The short answer is not really – because there generally has not been enough odd-timed commercial inventory available, either from networks or local broadcast stations, to build a successful national television campaign.
Looking towards building a national campaign is important, because with today’s media costs, and business environment, it is a very long-shot to introduce a new product just locally and very difficult to sustain a long term positive cash flow with just television. So, in most cases, the objectives should be to build a national brand, and launch national retail distribution. That is why careful consideration should be given to the production length in order to be able to ramp-up the media airtime and generate national exposure.
But length of the production is just one of dozens of elements involved in properly launching a new product – any one of which, if not done correctly, can derail an otherwise successful campaign. In this series we will explore each of those elements in detail, and how to implement them correctly.
The first and foremost of these is Product. In our next discussion, we’ll explain why the product is always the STAR, how to determine if your product may be a winner, and some ideas on ways to increase “the odds” of having a winner.
So, as the saying goes: Stay Tuned.
