Take the long view.: Long-form producers get creative in their efforts to advance the format while battling high media costs.(Long-Form Production)

Publication: Response

Publication Date: 01-JUL-08

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Earlier this year Doug Garnett made a bold move. Knowing full well that multiple products haven't historically sold well via a single long-form DRTV ad, the president of Portland-based Atomic Direct (and a member of the Response Editorial Advisory Board) used the firm's highly successful Drill Doctor info mercial as the foundation for a three-product infomercial. Since consumers rarely just buy or need a single tool, the DRTV production company combined the drill with a general-purpose grinder-sharpener and a hex wrench to complete the triad.

The gamble paid off, according to Garnett. "We put all three in the same half-hour show to make it more efficient, with the end result being two 13-minute segments and one 2-minute segment for the same client," he explains. "It worked out better than the original show." Garnett says combining the three resulted in media cost savings that no single-product show can match.

"In the past we've tested some two-product shows and found that our sales don't go down if we lose five minutes in the half-hour," says Garnett. "What that tells us is that in a half-hour show, you may not need every one of those 28 minutes. So if we can use those five minutes for something else--such as an additional product--then we're definitely increasing efficiencies."

Brands Trending Into Long Form

As Garnett already pointed out, a number of factors are impacting the long-form space right now, not the least of which is the escalating rates for half-hour avails. Whereas in the past marketers were able to snap up remnant time at decent prices, today's companies are hard-pressed to find decent deals for long-form shows. Credit brand advertisers with creating some of the competition for those slots, although the impact is being felt in a much broader sense in the short-form industry.

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