Dec 18

Response December: A Beauty, CE Tools and the Big Top 50!

Mally Roncal shimmers on the cover of the December Response.

Mally Roncal shimmers on the cover of the December Response.

The December issue of Response is now available online, and I’m happy to say we closed out the year with a strong book, hitting two key vertical markets — beauty and consumer electronics. Let’s take a look at some of the key pieces to the issue!

  • The story behind celebrity make-up artist Mally Roncal’s incredible foray into home shopping and DRTV isn’t all glitz and glamour. Certainly, while Roncal parlayed her stellar work for such celebrities as Beyoncé, Rihanna and Angelina Jolie — among many others — into the now-powerful Mally Beauty brand of cosmetics, her background growing up in suburban New York City was far from glamorous. It did, however, prepare her to take the airwaves by storm from her first appearance on QVC in 2005. With the help of DRTV production veteran Bob Caudill, our story on Roncal and business partner Don Pettit showcases two people who truly love what they do. Here’s the link again, if you missed it above: Looking Beautiful, Feeling Beautiful
  • In a feature written by long-time Response contributor Bridget McCrea, we dig into the ways certain consumer electronics products are helping consumer electronics marketers utilize the tenets of direct response to sell their products. With the rise of smartphones and tablets as both marketing outlets and shopping devices, it’s our goal to continue to keep our readers abreast of the ever-changing technological landscape. If you missed the link above, here’s the story: CE Sells CE
  • One of our most eagerly awaited stories every year is the IMS ranking of the top 50 DRTV spots and infomercials of the year. Put together by Sam Catanese and his crack research and analysis staff in Philadelphia, this is the best-known annual ranking of DRTV success — and it’s appearing exclusively in the pages of Response for the 11th consecutive year! You don’t want to miss it, so — again — here’s the link: IMS Top 50 Infomercials and Spots of 2012
  • Our latest analysis of the DR industry’s quarterly media billings results takes a look at the DR radio space. Second-quarter 2012 results — from Response‘s partnership with Kantar Media —  continue the strikingly good news for 2012 thus far. The total of more than $11.2 million spent represents the best second quarter 2008. For a full look at all the categorical and outlet results, here’s the link: 2Q 2012 DR Radio Media Billings Jump 15.1 Percent
  • Finally, my Editor’s Note takes on a personal bent as I discuss my thoughts on the creeping shopping frenzy that’s become known as Black Friday. With the event spilling over into Thanksgiving night, the irony of watching retailers and consumers take part in a festival of greed on the day we’re supposed to be giving thanks for more important things was just a little too much to take. If you missed the link above, here’s my take: Giving Thanks … and Slowing Down Greed

Thanks again for reading and interacting with Response! Wishing you all a very happy holiday season, and all the best in 2013!

Sep 19

Response September: Spyders, PajamaJeans and Advisors … Oh My!

Response‘s September issue was a busy one for me. Lots and lots of “By Thomas Haire” to be found in this month’s issue. Let’s take a look!

Ryan Campbell of hardware products leader Spyder Products graced the September cover.

  • Our cover story on Spyder Products and its general manager, Ryan Campbell, came to us via one of the magazine’s longest-term friends and advisors, Doug Garnett of Atomic Direct. Doug’s expertise in producing quality DR work for top-shelf hardware brands is no secret, and the work he’s done for Spyder, which is a pure DR-to-retail play involving mega-retailer Lowe’s, is no different. Spyder is a young company, but has had great success with its power tool accessories, and Campbell could not speak more highly of the importance of DRTV to that success. If you missed the link to the story above, here it is again: Spinning a Winning Web
  • September means it’s time, once again, for Response‘s Annual State of the Industry Report. For the 17th consecutive year (and my 11th since joining the magazine), we surveyed our esteemed Advisory Board with more than a dozen questions about the DRTV space — past, present and future. We got some great input this year and, as always, we extended the piece that appeared in print into the full set of unabridged answers online. This story is always one of our most intriguing and most read. Here’s the link, again: State of the Industry 2012
  • Our DRMA Spotlight returned after a short hiatus and features one of the hottest DRTV marketers around: Hampton Direct. With its founder Steve Heroux at the helm, Hampton’s product winning streak over the past 4-5 years has been stunning: Twin Draft Guard, Total Pillow, PajamaJeans, Wonder Hanger, InstaHang … the list goes on and on. We were lucky enough to sit down with Steve both for the print interview that’s featured in the magazine and for a video interview that can be found on our DRMA website. For the print story, once again, click here: Extending a Long Winning Streak For the video interview, in case you missed the link above, click here: DRMA Spotlight Video with Steve Heroux
  • The September issue also featured our latest analysis of the DR industry’s quarterly media billings results, this time in the DR radio space. With numbers courtesy of Kantar Media, first-quarter 2012 showed a 7.7-percent slide from the same quarter in 2011 — which was a spectacular quarter. The good news is that these billings mirror the pre-recession numbers of 1Q 2008, which hopefully tells us that radio has finally bounced back from a prolonged slide. For a full look at all the categorical and outlet results, here’s the link: 1Q DR Radio Billings Slip 7.7 Percent
  • Finally, my September Editor’s Note discusses the continuing commitment of the DRMA and Response team to drive unity across the DR community. With our DRMA Marketer of the Year event last week in Las Vegas again setting the industry abuzz, we’re proud to be the industry’s partner, and proud of our status as a for-profit business working for the sake of other for-profit businesses. It’s a heady time to be involved in direct response, and we’re excited to have been a part of the growth for the past decade and look forward to being a part of it for at least the next decade! If you missed the link above, here’s my take: A Commitment to Marketers and Service Providers Drives Our Business

Thanks again for reading and interacting with Response!