I know. I have been saying that television advertising is not a useful scrappy marketing tactic. Guess what, it can be. Television can be scrappy when done right. The Snuggie is the perfect example of a scrappy television marketing campaign. Having spent a few years in the world of DRTV, here's how these kind of marketers make television work for them.
Low production budgets. I bet that the friendly folks spent very little on the actual production of their commercial. The average 30 second television spot costs $335,000. I am going to go on a limb and say that this television commercial didn't cost more than $100,000 to produce.
A focused and common sense media approach. Rather than allocate budget to a variety of different media, the Snuggie folks assumed that television was going to best drive sales and hence set aside a small amount for a media budget - probably around $100k.
So rather than spend $330k on just the production of a tv spot, the Snuggie folks spent $200k to test whether television is the right medium to sell these beautiful blankets. Could you have sold this product by selling via paid search? Probably not.
Can you imagine that text ad?
Blanket with arms and legs
Never leave your couch again. Comfort Guaranteed
Now you can be warm and eat potato chips. Only $19.95
Performance Driven Media Buy - The folks at Snuggie established a target cost per order, which was based on whatever net revenues each sale would determine. Here's how that math works. Average order = $35 - Product Cost + Shipping = $10 - $ allocated to marketing per order = $15. Profit per blanket = $10. Something like that.
Maximize the value of each sale. Why is the average cost per order $35? The blanket only costs $19.95? The way DRTV marketers make this work is by selling you something on the back-end. A second blanket? A box filled with potato chips? Buy maximizing the value of each sale, the Snuggie folks are able to spend more money on media.
Be relevant. Trust me folks, you don't need a Snuggie blanket. But everybody wants to save money on their heating bill right now, and the Snuggie supposedly will help you do that. So can a sweater or a normal blanket, but Snuggie's focused positioning makes that point pretty compelling.
Capitalize on current media conditions. How can people buy that many snuggies? The only thing that true DRTV marketers measure is the cost-per-order. They don't care about running on certain stations, channels or show. So the Snuggie marketing folks don't buy expensive media. They buy remnant media. There is a ton of available inventory.
A strong call-to-action. The Snuggies commercials have a strong call to action. "Call now and order your Snuggie blanket for only $19.95 plus $7.95 shipping. You will also receive a special reading light. And if you call right now, you can get a second blanket and reading light by only paying the additional shipping. If you go to the Snuggie website, you can see that it's built for maximum and quick conversion. The longer someone thinks about buying a Snuggie, the least likely it is that they will.
Looks like they have sold over 4 million Snuggie blankets so far.
Will this ever be a premium brand. Heck no. Will they be around next year? Maybe. But if not, the company behind Snuggie will focus their scrappy DRTV smarts on selling some of their other products - such as Debbie Meyer Greenbags, the Big City Slider Station or the Strap Perfect.
Photo Credit goes to Matt Armendariz
[ratings]
Btw, I am not endorsing this product. At all I did some online research, and it sounds like quite a few customers are having issues with the not-so-snuggie customer service this company provides.
http://www.419legal.org/...-snuggie-blanket-seen-tv.html
The content you have provided is pretty interesting and useful and I will surely take note of the point you have made in the blog.
Today I was browsing the Internet for information on some additional means of promoting my website apart from online promotion which I have been doing. I then came across Web Windows and found that this was the most ideal solution to complement my online marketing strategy. I bought my newspaper ad space here as it has got a readership of millions and what could be a better opportunity than this to get a national coverage at half the cost of the rate card.
I thought this information might be useful for anyone looking for solutions to get more traffic to their website at affordable rates.
I loved your text ad example. Hilarious.
Now, for adventurous consumers, they should make a full-body version that leaves little holes for your eyes, nose, ears and mouth. Breathe, eat, and watch TV while experiencing complete blanket comfort.
i'm can't help agonizing over which is better, either the Snuggie or the Slanket...