When it comes to the direct response television industry, the trend for 2014 will be producing commercials that are of higher quality coupled with an overabundance of toys.
Great commercials center on the product. The product is king. While various reports note that the success rate for short-form commercials is 1 in 40, others have stated that it is 1 in 20. Yes, the odds are long, however, the vast majority of those failures are for products that don’t fit the DRTV mold. As highlighted in the Scimark Report (scimark.blogspot.com) week after week, companies are throwing their cash in the trash by repeating the same failures time after time. Although not a guarantee of success, following the basic rules can raise your batting average to 1 in 5 at least. My company has been batting .400 ball for the past decade. We concentrate on what we know, venture selectively in new categories like Tag Away, but always try to stay true to the rules. It makes our inventors and product scouts that we sign up happier to know at outset that there is meaningful chance of success at the end of the journey.
All great successes begin with mass appeal. Television is a mass medium.
