Infomercial Consulting

Salt Lake City, UT — Infomercial Consulting, a leading full service direct response consulting company, today announced that the television production of an infomercial, produced in cooperation with The Barry Marketing Group, has been awarded four Telly Awards. The production, for the CarMD direct response campaign, won two awards for Videography and Cinematography, and one each in the automotive and miscellaneous products categories.

The 30th Annual Telly Awards, honoring the very best television commercials and programs, as well as the finest video and film productions, received over 11,000 entries from all 50 states and 5 continents.
For the CarMD infomercial, Infomercial Consulting coordinated the writing, directing and producing of the half-hour infomercial, and consulted on the web site development, internet marketing, shopping show exposure and retail distribution.

About Infomercial Consulting
Infomercial Consulting provides full service consulting on all aspects of national and international direct response marketing and sales. For more information visit http://www.infomercialconsulting.com.

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Salt Lake City, Utah, April 4, 2010 - - Launched in October of 2009, the CarMD Infomercial campaign created by Infomercial Consulting, in partnership with The Barry Marketing Group, is generating a positive media efficiency ratio (MER) of “more than 2:1 and, at times even more than 3:1,” according to a Corporate Case Study article in the March, 2010 issue of Response Magazine.

“Our consulting service, together with The Barry Marketing Group who produced the infomercial, spearheaded the initial product evaluation, creative concept and infomercial scripting,” said Bill Kittel, co-founder. “We are also assisting CarMD with media strategies, public relations, Web site development, shopping channel exposure, their retail launch and international sales.”

Infomercial Consulting provides full service consulting on all aspects of national and international direct response marketing and sales.

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Salt Lake City, Utah —Infomercial Consulting, a Utah-based direct response consulting service, will be assisting Barry Marketing Group on the new half-hour television Infomercial for CarMD. The Los Angeles based manufacturer of an automotive diagnostic system, features an easy to use code reader, PC and Mac software, an extensive technical database and live automotive customer service.
In addition to consulting on scripting and production of the television infomercial scheduled to be launched in October, Infomercial Consulting will be advising CarMD on packaging, manufacturing, credit card processing, fulfillment, media buying and analysis, customer services, national and international retail distribution, integrated marketing strategies and the entire marketing campaign.
Infomercial Consulting advises selected clientele on all aspects of direct response marketing, manufacturing and distribution.

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While we have worked on many Direct Response (Infomercial) products over the years, I more often than not advised those with new products who come to us . . . “DON’T DO AN INFOMERCIAL!” To some (especially many companies in the “DR industry”) this seems like very strange advice, coming from someone who earns his living helping people create infomercial campaigns.

First of all, most people new to the Infomercial industry are not aware (or worse, don’t believe) that a Direct Response (DR) campaign is an expensive, high-risk and if managed properly, a very long-term process. The days of cheap air time and very inexpensive productions are long past. Years ago the stations and networks realized how valuable their “off peak” airtime was, and because of increased demand, dramatically raised their prices. Also, the viewers have come to equate high production values with high quality, credible products and services, so production costs have risen as well.

Secondly, even with a great Infomercial, there are many “back-end” elements that are equally critical to the success of a DR campaign. In addition to the obvious manufacturing issues, these include merchant accounts, credit card processing, fulfillment, media buying, call center selection and management, to name a few.

The DR Industry over the years has attracted many “sharks” – some are even “household” names in the industry who only knock-off other people’s products. There are others who provide funding for a (usually very large) “piece” of the sales or equity in the company. Some even claim to be responsible for the success of campaigns that they had little or nothing to do with.

While everyone has heard of the Infomercial “hits” over the years (Ronco Products, Ginsu® Knives, HealthRider, Bowflex®, Little Giant® Ladders, Cash4Gold and etc.) many have not heard of the hundreds of failures.

My advice to most companies who, despite all warnings, are still thinking of embarking on an Infomercial campaign: be cautious. Be very cautious.

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There is no doubt (as I stated in my recent interview with Sinead Carew of Reuters news service) that television infomercial “pitchman” Billy Mays, who recently passed away, was an enthusiastic, and very effective “pitchman”. He will be greatly missed.

However, the continuous airing of the spots hosted by Billy has become an ongoing controversy. The controversy seems to center around whether or not it is appropriate to continue airing his infomercials (mostly the short form spots).

Some feel that it is wrong and even unethical to continue airing his commercials. Also it casts yet another negative light on an industry which continues to have a questionable reputation. Many are asking; Are his clients (or his estate) simply trying to take advantage of the media awareness generated by his death? Do they really need to make sales that badly? If not, why are they running his commercials at such high frequency levels?

Others wonder if there might be a backlash. Will viewers be turned-off by what may be perceived as trying to “squeeze” yet one more sale out of Billy’s pitches? Will a lower MER cause his commercials to be pulled off the air?

A case could be made that we are still selling Michael Jacksons songs and (last time I looked) DVDs of Charlie’s Angles (Farrah Fawcett) are still being sold, but somehow those seem different.

Maybe the answer to the question about whether or not Billy should continue pitching (or not) will ultimately be determined by the viewers – as is always the case in Direct Response.

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Salt Lake City, Utah - - - Troy Dunn, star of the hit Television series, The Locator, has just signed a representation agreement with Bill Kittel who also consults on infomercials and direct response marketing and advertising campaigns.
“Troy is a best selling author, talk radio host, dynamic public speaker and a rising star with The Locator - WE’s highest rated program”, said Bill. “I am excited to be working with Troy. Not only is he a great personality, but The Locator is a very exciting, entertaining show, and one of the few family-friendly programs on television.”
Bill will coordinate Troy’s personal appearances, product endorsements and product placements in The Locator.

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Over the years, I have had so many people ask me for help with their Infomercials and Direct Response Campaigns, that I have decided to begin posting some of the lessons I have learned (sometimes the hard way . . . ) in over 35 years of experience in both general and direct response marketing and advertising.

Hopefully my thoughts will help others to avoid some of the mistakes (often nightmares) I have heard about when companies jump into an Infomercial campaign without any experience. Maybe eventually the reputation of the entire industry will improve with fewer people being taken advantage of and more success stories.

In future posts, I will be discussing many of the myths and pitfalls of doing an Infomercial or direct response campaign, and giving you a “fly on the wall” view of the direct response industry. In addition to outlining many of the secrets to DR success, I will also be sharing things to avoid in doing an Infomercial campaign.

So . . . as they say: stay tuned!

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