They all have long infomercials that go on and on an on and always end up with repeat after repeat of a telephone number for viewers to call to order their products.
Given the enormous success of these companies (with Verimark now listed, its success is transparent), one would assume that this sort of advertising is extremely successful.
In actual fact, according to Van Straaten, it isn't.
Fifteen years ago, he said, 90% of all Verimark's sales came from direct response to TV ads and infomercials. Today less than 2% of their sales come from direct response.
The remaining 98% comes from retail chains where Verimark has hired a small piece of their floor or gondola space. So, the question is why keep advertising this way? Why keep up the charade of direct response? Quite simply, because it works.
Contrary to popular cynical opinion, long, repetitive infomercials do seem to work. Consumers see the ads but only respond when they actually see what now become familiar products, on the chain store shelves.
The scary part is that if companies like Verimark could possibly get away with not having to produce those costly, long commercials, they would probably do it in a flash. But, all that repetition seems to be absolutely key to getting the message across.
Makes one wonder, doesn't it? If that's the time and effort it takes to convince TV viewers these days, what chance do other advertisers have when all the time they have allocated to their TV ads is a mere 30 seconds?
Danette Breitenbach 18 hours
