Overview

Every industry has at least one: the "dirty little secret" that only industry insiders are generally aware of. Planes with too many empty seats suddenly develop mechanical problems, requiring you to take the next flight, which just happens to be booked to capacity.  What's the dirty little secret of the electronic retailing industry?

For the past 10 years, I've struck out every time I've pitched testing the one-CTA infomercial. But now it's time we destroyed the myth about the absolutist three-CTA infomercial format.

If anyone ever doubts the power of advertising — of mass media — they only need to visit modern day Africa. Though still rooted in a subsistence farming-based economy, Africa has been "globalized." And it is advertising that powered this change. For good or bad, advertising changes minds, changes lives, even cultures and countries.

Reading the tea leaves of advertising’s future gets more difficult each day. As technological advances enable new options, we experiment enthusiastically. Yet in critical ways, our innovations look strangely familiar. Both the Internet and our portable media devices increasingly resemble interactive variations of television.

In the early 1990s, recognized brands and Fortune 500s like Apple and Barun Nissan embraced long-form DRTV. While enjoying the big budgets and credibility boost that these advertisers brought, DRTV insiders worried that shrinking inventory and higher media rates would force out entrepreneurs. That tide has receded. A February Jordan Whitney "Top 60 Infomercials" report listed only one major brand--Humana--whose Gold Choice show registered at number 60. What changed?

Take a step back and think about what it really takes to educate a consumer on the value of your product using long-form or short-form DRTV. Understand that while the longer format will afford you plenty of time to get your point across, the shorter 60- and 120-minute spots also serve as the perfect backdrop for an educational campaign.

The pull of DRTV is too much for brands to resist. Traditional TV spots have morphed into simple blurs of imagery, while long-form shows provide a platform from which to educate and inform customers about specific products and services.

With annual sales totaling more than $7 billion and an audience of more than 160 million households worldwide, QVC is not just the leader in home shopping networks, it's one of the world's largest retailers. And in becoming so, it has had an undeniable influence on the world of DRTV.

In the most recent Response magazine, our own Tim Hawthorne takes a look at Christmas-time advertising. Our team charted TV for hours and found that nearly 70 percent of all commercials included a web address. Fourteen percent featured 800-numbers. In fact, many DRTV staples now appear regularly in 15- and 30-second spots -- direct calls to action, purchase incentives, and even free samples. Indeed, someday all advertising will be DRTV.