Tim's Articles By Year

I'm hardly the first to call infomercials the Rodney Dangerfield of advertising, but 25 years after the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) eliminated restrictions on how much advertising TV stations could air in an hour, I feel oddly compelled to tug on my necktie and give my head a quick shake.

Companies turn to social networking sites to find out what their customers want

Online social networking may have started out as a great way to connect with old friends or find a date, but it has since morphed into a valuable business tool that finds companies of all sizes and across all industries using it to find customers, communicate with existing clients and gain market share.

Direct response marketers and their service providers work through the effects of the global recession

Economic times are tough, but the Direct Response TV (DRTV) industry appears to be weathering the storm well, despite the fact that retailers and manufacturers alike are suffering under the effects of the recession. Maybe it's because when times get tight, consumers start comparison shopping. Free premiums and discounts become even more important than ever, and DRTV offers are famous for such deals.

The direct response television industry has become more popular than ever, and the Discovery channel is capitalizing on it with its new show “Pitchmen.” The show takes you behind the scenes of the infomercial world by shadowing the best in the business - Billy Mays and Anthony Sullivan. For Tim Hawthorne, father of the modern infomercial, it reveals a world that he already knows very well. But he also sees it as a revolutionary way to blur the lines between entertainment and advertising.

Why traditional advertising methods don't work in the online viral video space

Depressed that your TV commercial on YouTube has garnered just 79 views after weeks online? You're not alone. If you look at YouTube as a great place to repurpose your TV advertising into shorter bites for everyone to enjoy and respond to, then you're coming at the online video trend from the wrong angle. In fact, marketers who use this approach will quickly find themselves scratching their heads over why no one is watching and/or sharing their video clips.

Keeping your company and clients safe in the burgeoning online video world

Purveyors of music videos, skateboarding dogs and wedding fiascos can get away with posting their videos on YouTube without much thought to the notion of online security, but what about the brand marketer that has a "reputation to protect" both online and offline? Shouldn't the latter be interested in not only how its customers can be affected when downloading or viewing videos, but also in how hackers might alter or affect the company's online presence?

Traditional advertisers bemoan the demise of the mass appointment TV audience, but DRTV veterans shrug unconcerned. Provided that media rates are set by sane GSMs, fragmentation will never destroy the direct response model. We've always built our audience by methodically aggregating comparatively small groups. One thousand clusters of 1,000 consumers respond significantly better than do 1 million viewers you reach all in one shot - so long as historical response data directs your audience targeting and media buys.

Successful DRTV marketers should be entertaining and educating, not just selling

No one likes to be "advertised to," but everyone loves to be entertained and educated. Knowing this, why aren't more marketers taking a page from the large corporations' books and creating commercials that do more than just push products and services on consumers that really aren't watching - or paying attention - anyway?

We've all watched American Idol host Ryan Seacrest's emphatically tell his nationwide audience of television viewers to dial "866" not "800" when picking up the phone to call in their votes. He makes the point several times during the show, doing what he can to keep well-meaning viewers on track for the end of the show, when it comes time to dial.
Why all the fuss over 866 versus 800 vanity numbers?

Hand written letters. Baseball before steroids. Gasoline for a buck. Some smaltz, some regret, some yearning. Conjure up a personal "good ‘ole days" remembrance and you'll get a smorgasbord of associated emotions. For advertisers today, it's probably some longing, some terror -- for the bygone era of a sane number of media options: TV, radio, print and billboards. Today, of course, media seems as hopelessly fragmented as Humpty Dumpty after his fall. But when you manage to wrap your head around all the new options, you'll find your plate packed with choices that should have your DRTV-marketer's mouth watering.