Tag Archives: HSN

Dec 21

Response November: Winners, Travelers, and Home Shoppers

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Response November 2015With travel and year-end projects taking precedence, I’ve fallen behind on my Response recaps. So, this is the first of two Response-filled blog posts during Christmas week — a look at Response‘s November issue. With our DRMA Marketer of the Year event shifting to early October, our cover story on the three finalists also shifted back one month to this issue. Additionally, we covered the travel and home shopping spaces, while adding a new feature on the business solutions market — a vertical that’s growing thanks to the combination of online and offline marketing. Let’s take a deeper look at some of the issue’s top pieces.

  • In an intriguing bit of timing, DraftKings‘ victory in the annual industry-wide vote for DRMA Marketer of the Year was announced in Las Vegas on Oct. 7 — the same week that initial stories of one of its employees winning $350,000 on competitor site FanDuel surfaced. Since then, the intrigue around the two daily fantasy sports (DFS) sites has continued to build, with legal challenges slowing the companies’ advertising, but fantasy sports players continuing to flock to the services in record numbers. DraftKings was a deserving winner in the competition, as voters responded to its overwhelming TV and online marketing efforts with a similarly overwhelming number of ballots. The trio of 2015 finalists — also including SharkNinja (formerly Euro-Pro) and TELEBrands — represents, one might say, the past, present, and future of the performance-based marketing world. If you missed the link above, and want to read more about the three finalists, click here: Crowning the New ‘Kings’
  • Travel marketers have been long-time believers in direct response — well before the transition into the omnichannel, performance-based efforts that dominate today’s landscape. For years, we’ve covered this space as it exhibited leadership in how best to combine online and offline methodologies that could be effective for marketers of all types of products and services. This feature is no different, as we’ve caught up with top-level travel marketers from the resort side (Atlantis Paradise) and from the local travel bureau perspective (Nassau Paradise Island Promotions Board and LasVegas.com). If you missed the link above, click here to read how performance-based methods are driving travelers to locations around the world: Leveraging the Power of ‘Book Now’
  • Perhaps no part of the old-school direct response universe has been forced to adjust as rapidly as the home shopping space. From the leaders — HSN and QVC — to smaller start-ups, the direct connection these networks have to their viewers and shoppers has changed immensely with the expansion of digital marketing. More impressively, their embrace of this change — celebrating innovation rather than cowering in fear — should be a model for all marketers. What’s new in the space? If you missed the link above, click here: Lights, Camera … Creativity
  • Our monthly direct response TV and radio media billings recap returns to short-form DRTV for second-quarter 2015 results, which — thanks to some measurement changes by Kantar Media — were a bit shocking. While the quarter shows a frightening 39-percent decrease from 2Q 2014 results, the bulk of that can be ascribed to a change in rate estimates for U.S. Hispanic space. So, where the other four TV media outlets showed a more palatable 9.2-percent decrease, the Hispanic space plummeted more than $330 million. For a more in-depth explanation from Kantar and a full look at 2Q 2015 short-form DRTV media billings, click here: Kantar Methodology Shift Is the Culprit in 2Q Short-Form DRTV Decrease
  • Finally, you might have noticed a recent change to the magazine’s tagline. Response is now “The Magazine for Performance-Based Marketers.” Similar changes have been made to the DRMA (“The Alliance for Performance-Based Marketers”) and Response Expo (“The Event for Performance-Based Marketers”). Why? It’s all in this month’s Editor’s Note: Join the Performance-Based Marketing Evolution

Thanks again for reading and interacting with Response!

Jul 11

Response June: Magic Minerals, Home Shoppers and Mobile Solutions

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Response JuneThe June issue of Response has been available online for just more than two weeks now — but if you haven’t taken a look yet, suffice it to say, there’s plenty of content you might want to take a glance at. Let’s take a look at the issue, including the cover feature on cosmetics industry legend Jerome Alexander, our annual look at the home shopping market and more.

  • With a 40-year run as a leader in the cosmetics world, Jerome Alexander’s history speaks for itself. Whether it’s his track record of placing products in high-end retailers like Neiman Marcus and Bloomingdales, or his recent two-decade run of success in home shopping both in the United States and abroad, Alexander’s seen just about every side of the product and marketing business. And now, after some time away from the U.S. retail space, Alexander has introduced his successful Magic Minerals line in some of the nation’s biggest retail outlets. But the most intriguing facet that I heard when Lindsey Carnett of Marketing Maven PR pitched the story was the reversal of a traditional DR/retail campaign — that is, Alexander gambled on the product’s success overseas and in home shopping to gain new retail acceptance in the U.S. He then began selling his product at retail prior to connecting with a group of industry vendors to create a new DRTV campaign expected to debut later this year. If you missed the link to the story above, here it is once again: Finding the ‘Magic’
  • A story that’s been on the editorial calendar each year since I joined Response in 2001, our look at the home shopping space has actually gotten a lot more interesting in recent years. Why? Most likely because the sector’s behemoths — QVC and HSN — are using some of the most creative combinations of TV, traditional online and mobile marketing in the entire world. Not only that, but even niche players like Jewelry Television are also making huge strides to become the “where you want, when you want it” type of online retailer that’s making so many waves today. Want to hear more about it? If you didn’t click the link above, here’s another chance: Mobilizing the Home Shopping Space
  • Whether it was a tragic quarter of epic proportions or Kantar Media’s measurement efforts slipped, 2013’s final quarter of direct response TV and radio media billings results proves no better for the DR radio market. Fourth-quarter billings dipped more than 62 percent from the same quarter in 2012 — with almost penny attributable to a shocking loss in the local radio space. Yes, that’s the same sector that had been carrying Kantar Media’s DR radio results for much of the year, causing concern that there might be a blip with Kantar’s local radio reporting for the quarter. Radio’s fourth-quarter troubles were also almost wholly responsible for 2013’s decrease in total billings in the space. For more on 4Q DR radio billings from Kantar and Response, click here: DR Radio Billings Lose Frequency in 4Q 2013
  • Finally, my Editor’s Note begins with a personal story about using mobile technology to help close a sale before pivoting to talk about mobile’s growing importance to marketers, retailers, regulators and — most importantly — consumers. To read my full take, here’s the link once again: Consumers Drag Marketers Into Mobile Future

Thanks again for reading and interacting with Response!

Apr 09

Response March: Puck’s New Baby, Billick at Expo, and My Kind of Town

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The March issue of Response has been available online for a couple of weeks now, but with Response Expo less than three weeks away, you can imagine how crazy things are around the office! The good news is that I finally found a few quiet moments today to give you an inside look at the issue, including the cover feature highlighting Wolfgang Puck’s new pressure oven, the announcement of Response Expo’s latest top-notch keynoter and more:

  • In late 2013, one of the best PR folks in the biz, Andrea Pass of Steinreich Communications, let drop that she may be able to finagle a cover story for us on Puck, the celebrity chef best known for his legendary Spago in Beverly Hills. Working with Tim Pearson at Direct Holdings Global (formerly Time-Life), the Puck team was about to debut a brand new item, never seen in the housewares world: a combination pressure cooker/oven. Skip ahead to the morning of February 4, and I found myself inside Spago, watching the photo shoot for our cover and waiting to interview Puck for one of the more interesting stories I’ve worked on in some time. Puck was thoughtful, personable and funny — and very well-informed about the business — during our 20-minute chat over an iced green tea (him) and a cappuccino (me). Between the chef (who is also one of HSN’s most decorated product purveyors), Pearson and brand new media U.S.’ Patrick Raymond, who produced the video assets for the DR campaign, this is one of the more well-rounded cover stories I’ve been able to put together in some time. Oh, and the turkey you see Puck pulling out of the oven when you click through to the story? Cooked perfectly — 14 lbs., in just 55 minutes! And quite tasty. If you missed the link to the story above, here it is once again: Puck’s Housewares Masterpiece
  • Once again, our Field Reports news section is a hearty one this month, led by a special Q&A with 2013 DRMA Member of the Year Kristy Pinand-Dumpert of Concepts TV Productions in Boonton, N.J. Additionally, the section includes the announcement of our Response Expo 2014 keynote speaker: former Super Bowl-winning football coach and current analyst and speaker Brian Billick. We’re so thrilled to have Billick, a spectactular speaker on teamwork, team building and turning your staff into something greater than the whole of its parts, kicking things off in San Diego on Tuesday, April 29. It’s just one more reason to attend the Expo! If you missed the link above to these two big stories (and more), click here to take a look: Field Reports March

  • Housewares fell on St. Patrick’s Day weekend in Chicago.

    There’s no doubt: 2013 was a down year for direct response TV and radio media billings results. Third-quarter DR radio results continued the trend, slipping a little more than 5 percent from the same quarter a year ago. The key: a drop in spending on the top 10 campaigns. Only an increase in spending on lower-end campaigns helped keep the floor from falling out. For more on 3Q DR radio billings from Kantar Media, click here: 3Q 2013 DR Radio Media Billings Slip 5.4 Percent

  • Finally, my Editor’s Note leaned heavily on the industry’s long-term successful work in the housewares space. After all, March means two things to long-time readers of Response: a visit to Chicago’s International Home + Housewares Show, and a great time at our annual DRMA Chicago Reception. The housewares market, much like the healthcare market we covered in February, is clearly one of the verticals that has embraced the combination of direct, digital and data-driven marketing methods with great success. For more of my thoughts, here’s the link once again: Housewares Finds Plenty of Green Using Direct Concepts

Thanks again for reading and interacting with Response!