The Snuggie infomercials have been the subject of over 200 Youtube parody videos! The Snuggie is a blanket that can be worn. It has sleeves and is long enough to cover from shoulder to toe. Essentially it is a big huge robe that is worn when sitting laying on your couch, in bed or just relaxing in a chair. The quirky product has caught the eye of many. During Obama’s inauguration, one broadcaster witnessed a spectator wearing one. Ellen DeGeneres wore one on her talk show. It has been the subject of many jokes but the person truly laughing is Scott Boilen, the man responsible for Snuggies success.
This DRTV ad has sold over 4 million products and generated $40 million in sales. All this money for a blanket! It is questionable if this success would be in the same range if not for the quirky, memorable infomercial. Some say absolutely not. The popularity of this unorthodox product is large in part because of the silly way it is promoted in the infomercial. The commercial shows someone who just cant seem to get warm by using a regular blanket. Thousands of years people have covered up with a blanket, but now the Snuggie does it better! The infomercial impact has generated laughs, but it has hugely generated revenue!
Why put a time limit for a sale on a DRTV advertising? There are many companies out there that are putting time slots on sales through direct response tv commercials. The call to action can be something such as this: ‘for the next 5 hours, eggs will be half price’. So for the viewer and the store, there will be results. The viewer responds by either visiting or not visiting the store for the sale. The store benefits by seeing the results for that period of time.
The retailer sees the results within the 5 hours and will know if their ad is being effective. So they will know if the commercial is reaching the right audience, if the audience is responding, and especially if the sales are increased by the DRTV ad. This is a new approach to push a sale through direct response.
The benefits of infomercial marketing are always expanding. People tune into infomercials for a number of reasons. They can see how a product works, see examples of how it makes life easier for an individual or their family, or the viewer simply just wants to see the host of the infomercial ramble on about the product. This could be because the host is often a character of note; someone entertaining no matter what they are pushing in their sales pitch. Some hosts are loud and boisterous, some are silly and say foolish things that are a surprising element to a commercial. There are other hosts who have proven results, such as supermodels, that people just want to pay attention to because of their good looks. No matter what the reason is that these spokespeople are watched for, they are watched! This means your product is being branded each viewing. And what is more important than that?
This past year, the Ped Egg was noted to be one of the most successful infomercial campaigns. It is a product that is designed like an egg; one side to hold on to, the other to rub dead skin from your feet. It is a product that has been widely reviewed as being something well worth paying the 10 dollar cost. It is proven to work and not just through the testimonials on the infomercial. Word of mouth has also assisted in its sales, but reinforced when customers view the infomercial. It is safe and gental, but does the job. It is a product that enitially had great success becuase of an infomercial.