FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Barry Marketing Group Receives Fourth Best Productions Award

NEW YORK, NY, April 17, 2012 — For the fourth consecutive year, the Barry Marketing Group has been selected for the 2012 Best of Salt Lake City Award in the Television Film Production category by the U.S. Commerce Association (USCA). The Barry Marketing Group specializes in producing both general advertising (retail) and direct response (infomercial) television and radio campaigns.

The USCA “Best of Local Business” Award Program recognizes outstanding local businesses throughout the country. Each year, the USCA identifies companies that they believe have achieved exceptional marketing success in their local community and business category. These are local companies that enhance the positive image of small business through service to their customers and community.
Nationwide, only 1 in 250 (less than half of 1%) 2012 Award recipients qualified as Four-Time Award Winners.
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About U.S. Commerce Association (USCA)
U.S. Commerce Association (USCA) is a New York City based organization funded by local businesses operating in towns, large and small, across America. The purpose of USCA is to promote local business through public relations, marketing and advertising.
The USCA was established to recognize the best of local businesses in their community. Our organization works exclusively with local business owners, trade groups, professional associations, chambers of commerce and other business advertising and marketing groups. Our mission is to be an advocate for small and medium size businesses and business entrepreneurs across America.

SOURCE: U.S. Commerce Association

CONTACT:
U.S. Commerce Association
Email: PublicRelations@uscaaward.com
URL: http://www.uscaaward.com

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The average costs nationally to produce a long-form show (28.5 minutes) are $136,250 to $758,700, not including talent fees. Production costs for a short- form show (:30 seconds to two minutes) nationally are $34,760 to $332,810. Again, those costs don’t include talent fees. Briefly, some of the other key variables are: producing on film or video, shooting on location or sound stages, designing and building a set, number of shoot days, travel and crew size. Careful and detailed analysis of the product, the target market and the short term and long-range goals for the campaign will dictate many of these elements and ways to save on production costs.

Another expense to be aware of in planning your budget is the on-air media test. We generally recommend (depending on the time of year) a national two week test of $7,500 per week for short-form and about $25,000 per week for a national long form test. Local tests, which can be less expensive, are also less accurate. That is a concern if the objective is to see if the show can be ramped-up nationally. Also, you will need to budget for set-up fees for the call center, fulfillment house and credit card processing function as well.

Although everyone hopes they can do an infomercial that’s cheap, fast, and high quality, our experience is that you can only have two out of these three desires. So, how can you save money on infomercial production? Again, a careful look at the many variables in the production (keeping in mind the critical elements for success and your objectives) may identify areas to save money without compromising the success of the show. Because talent fees can substantially add to the cost of an infomercial, consider carefully whether your product actually requires a high profile and high cost celebrity spokesperson, before spending that money where it may not be necessary.

Profit sharing, or an equity position, with a production company is sometimes a possible way to save up-front costs, when a company is willing to discount their fees. We always advise including your attorney in any partnering agreements.

Launching a direct response (infomercial) campaign involves a substantial investment and requires detailed planning. But as we all have seen over the years, the right product, presented and managed properly, can be very successful. Care should be taken to run a complete product marketing analysis and detailed financial metrics before investing time and money in an infomercial campaign.

Located just an hour and a half flight from Los Angeles/Hollywood, many high-profile feature films, most recently Mission: Impossible 2, the High School Musical franchise, American Pastime, Daddy Day Camp, Forever Strong and several scenes in Pirates of the Caribbean: At Worlds End, and most recently 172 Hours- plus many television shows- are filmed in and around the Salt Lake City area.

As a Right-To-Work state, and one with extremely diverse geography, feature films and commercials made in Utah are often more cost-efficient than those produced on either coast. However, since Utah has become known as “Hollywood’s Back Lot,” production qualities are very high; consequently, Utah has hosted the production of many award-winning and record-breaking infomercials such as Total Gym, Little Giant Ladders, Bowflex, and countless others.

“Over the years, we have been involved in so many award-winning and record breaking direct response campaigns, that we are continually asked to “fix” existing shows – many from major Direct Response production companies,” said Bill Kittel, company president. “In addition to the Little Giant Ladder campaign, our team has been involved in productions for The American Credit Foundation, HealthRider, BowFlex, TV Guardian – The Foul Language Filter (with MaryLou Retton) and many others.

Since we receive so many requests to help fix existing shows, it seemed to make sense to add a new marketing service, Infomercial Triage. Our team reviews the show and then looks at what it will take to make the show profitable,” Kittel added. “Sometimes shows need ‘major surgery’, but often minor ‘out patient procedures’ make all the difference in profitability.”

Barry Marketing Group is a full service advertising campaign management agency, with film, video and print production, media buying and internet marketing services.

We are often asked if infomercials can be any different lengths than those mentioned above. The short answer is not really – because there generally has not been enough odd-timed commercial inventory available, either from networks or local broadcast stations, to build a successful national television campaign.

Looking towards building a national campaign is important, because with today’s media costs, and business environment, it is a very long-shot to introduce a new product just locally and very difficult to sustain a long term positive cash flow with just television. So, in most cases, the objectives should be to build a national brand, and launch national retail distribution. That is why careful consideration should be given to the production length in order to be able to ramp-up the media airtime and generate national exposure.

But length of the production is just one of dozens of elements involved in properly launching a new product – any one of which, if not done correctly, can derail an otherwise successful campaign. In this series we will explore each of those elements in detail, and how to implement them correctly.

The first and foremost of these is Product. In our next discussion, we’ll explain why the product is always the STAR, how to determine if your product may be a winner, and some ideas on ways to increase “the odds” of having a winner.

So, as the saying goes: Stay Tuned.

How can that happen? Well, often it boils down to emotion and/or lack of objective and accurate research. Inventors ask friends and family their opinions, and since the friends don’t want to disappoint the inventor, they usually tell the inventor what they think the inventor wants to hear – “ . . . oh, it’s great! I want to buy one.” and etc. This “friends and family” focus group research often leads to false conclusions.

We have had many new products come our way over the years that we have advised against spending the time and effort to market. Because we see so many, we developed our proprietary Comprehensive Product Analysis (CPE)© to help take some of the guesswork out of introducing a new product, and also to help define preliminary marketing directions for products that should move forward.

The primary elements for a successful product include quality manufacturing, attention-getting packaging, and mass (or very strong niche) marketability. The marketability of a product leads to several additional questions: What problem (or problems) does it solve? Are the problems obvious to the target market? What are the primary and secondary target markets? And . . . can the ability to solve the problems be effectively demonstrated?

Even with all of these elements in place, a great product can still struggle with generating enough sales volume to justify an ongoing direct response television campaign. In such cases, more often than not, the problem is with the pricing, which we will cover in our next discussion – Pricing and The Offer.

Effective positioning often requires either primary or secondary research. Care must be taken in identifying and effectively using the features and benefits of the product.

In addition to appealing to a large target market (see our discussion on Product), a successful direct response product needs to solve a real, or readily perceived, problem, or better yet, multiple problems. These benefits to the consumer should be easily explained and demonstrated. Again, the results of formal research, such as surveys or focus groups, can be helpful in determining the most compelling benefits and how best to present them.

Timing is another key issue in positioning. In addition to seasonal impacts on potential sales, current marketing trends and current category competition should also be carefully analyzed.

Understanding all of these elements of positioning are critical in developing the Unique Selling Proposition which needs to be clearly presented in order to let viewers know why they should “call now!”

In our next discussion, we will cover the “nuts and bolts” of the infomercial production – what we refer to as Presentation.

While these may seem very simple to determine, there are a number of issues to keep in mind. Obviously the first is profit against the COGS (cost-of-goods-sold) number. The COGS number is the total cost – including packaging – to produce the product. It should also include the estimated DR cost-per-sale amount (call center and media). Then add the cost of the credit card processing, fulfillment, and lastly, estimated product returns. Anything the consumer pays above that is the profit. This detailed process is where some are surprised about the cost of a direct response campaign and many often get into trouble if they have not completed a proper analysis.

Also, on the positive cash flow side are the shipping and handling fees. Often in the Direct Response industry, shipping and handling (S&H) fees are significant profit centers for the advertiser. However, viewers often believe those fees are “a given”, and only see “Plus S&H”. They usually don’t add that to the price of the product when making a decision to buy. Obviously the “actual” average shipping costs nationally must be estimated prior to establishing the “published” Shipping and Handling fees to be charged. These costs are subtracted from the gross S&H fees, resulting in an additional profit
Important things to consider in crafting the offer (or offers) are what product elements are included. This typically is the “but wait, there’s more” part of the CTA (call-to-action – we’ll cover this in our discussion on the critical Presentation elements). The more, the better, is the rule in terms of offers and don’t forget, those can also include a special payment plan.

While many production companies believe they have a “gut feel” for the best price and offer, we believe that is merely a good starting point. The best plan is to test multiple prices and offers. The viewing audience/customer will determine, by their purchases, what the correct price and offer is. Also, the call center (or centers) can be an invaluable resource in helping to determine what the optimal price/offer combination may be.

Once the campaign is on the air, careful testing of several price points and offers and ongoing analysis is required to determine (and track) what the optimal price point and offer combination is, in order to maximize sales. And remember . . . those will probably change as the campaign matures.
In our next discussion we will cover how to maximize the revenue in a direct response campaign by proper product Positioning.

Later . . .

As we have mentioned, the product should always be the star in every marketing strategy. While this may sound obvious, many times that is not the case. Often, the focus of the advertising campaign is on being clever, being memorable, being funny or spotlighting the celebrity/host. While all of these elements can help to capture attention, they must immediately be followed up with a strong focus on the product. Otherwise, we remember only the star or the cleverness, and have no idea about, or compelling interest in, the actual product.

It is the job of the direct response ad (the production) to do BOTH: catch the audience’s attention and then focus that attention on the star of the show- Product Presentation – in a way that motivates viewers to take action – make a phone call or order on line. This is accomplished with a well-written script, that both entertains and “sells”, delivered by a compelling host.

Our research over the years has shown that testimonials (when done correctly) are one of the most effective elements at driving calls. The challenge is doing them correctly. That is the area where most productions fall short.

Then there is the Call to Action (CTA). A well-crafted CTA provides the motivation that gets viewers to make the call or visit the web site.

Once the infomercial is completed, it’s time to test. That’s where media buying comes in, and we’ll discuss that next.

Since there generally are no accurate ratings for direct response, it is critical to run in networks, stations and day parts that have proven successful for products either in the same category or targeting similar target markets.

The test phase is usually crafted to mirror what a full national rollout of the show would be. In other words, it should be an accurate mix of national networks and local broadcasts.

The budget for the test could vary depending on the season and the geographic markets targeted, but it generally runs about $75k for long form (28.5 minutes) and $35k for short-form spot and should run at least two weeks. Budget plans should also include testing several prices points and offers to determine which ones generate the highest returns.

Careful analysis of the test result will determine whether (1) the product is not a DR product, time to cut your losses and bailout, (2) further testing (again prices point, offer, up-sells and etc.) is need, or it’s time to move to a full national rollout. Again, this analysis should be made very carefully and objectively. (See InfomercialConsulting.com) Over the years we have seen examples of products that kept running too long and others that quit too soon.