Electronic Retailer - August 2011 - 38

by RoN LyNCH

Case Study

t
38

Real truth in advertising
How Cesari Direct was able to increase sales of the Rug Doctor without resorting to fluff.
Today’s consumer is no dummy. In fact, today’s consumer is the most intelligent critic and experienced DRTV producer known to date. Watch out, he can pick apart false or lackluster presentations in an instant and respond with comments such as, “The host is just a paid actor,” or “Those testimonials were bought.” It’s true! The everyday man sitting and watching television as we speak is the producer and you – and your products – are under review. That is of course, if you can get his attention. In our world of multimedia, the average viewer is overloaded with marketing messages – up to 40,000 per week. However, consumers are always looking for ways to improve their lives by gathering new products, ideas and services. They are relentless shoppers, yet judgmental, intelligent television commercial critics. With the overwhelming amount of television ads, we as ad agencies need to find the most efficient way to display the true value of the product. We need to be truthful with consumers in a way that makes them stop what they are doing and listen. So how can we achieve this goal? How do we, as simple as this sounds, come across as truthful and trustworthy? At Cesari Direct, we have several different strategies that we routinely utilize to ensure the truth is being told and garner trust with the viewer. Some of the methods are so obvious they often go overlooked by savvy producers and creative directors. The most fundamental is to tell the truth. No thrills. No fluff. This concept sounds simple, but the fact is, if you stick to the real story of your product and do not embellish its performance, you will help not only your initial sales but reap the benefits of positive word of mouth between consumers. Rug Doctor, LP, is a great example of the reality sells approach in action. Founded in 1972, Rug Doctor had tested traditional 30-second advertisements and other creative methods, such as 10-second spots on “The Price is Right” and “The Newlywed Game,” with the hope of lifting its already successful Might Pro carpet cleaning system out of its kiosk status and into a “must-have” home product. Tim Wall, president and CEO of Rug Doctor, said that traditional 30-second ads gave the company the time “to tell a very small part of the story and increase brand awareness, but it forced us to make claims without the time to show proof.” With this in mind, Wall decided Rug Doctor needed a long-form infomercial to help educate the consumer about the power and the quality of the Rug Doctor and its supplemental cleaning products. In 2005, Wall called Cesari Direct, and we produced and launched an infomercial hosted by Matt Lattimore. The success of this first infomercial was extremely positive. Product sales and machine rentals skyrocketed for Rug Doctor. After the first year of airing, we refreshed the testimonials segments of the show after having established an extensive infomercial customer database. One of the testimonial gems that emerged from our research was Harley Dufek, a home and apartment real estate agent who over the years saved thousands of dollars using Rug Doctor to clean carpets instead of replacing them all together. We anticipated using Harley’s testimonial as a conventional testimonial, but we soon found that his sincerity, honesty and appreciation for the Rug Doctor was a fantastic avenue to connect with consumers. In the second production, Harley, the everyday man, took viewers on a real life, roomby-room demonstration of the Rug Doctor. He removed stains caused by fireplaces, furniture, wine, pet urine and anything one routinely finds in a home or apartment. He utilized no witty slogans, no thrills and, most importantly, no fluff. To put it simply, he was a man with a problem, and Rug Doctor was the solution to that problem. The “television producer,” or consumer, we spoke about earlier sat down and listened. Our goal of driving incremental response for Rug Doctor was achieved with this production. Following the addition of Harley’s segment, Rug

electronicRetaileR | august 2011

Electronic Retailer - August 2011

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