George Foreman Grill

When the George Foreman Lean Mean Fat-Reducing Grilling Machine was first introduced, not only did retailers embrace the product, but they purchased a record number of units and had high hopes for the product. It was our job to purchase the infomercial time to market the product. The client didn't really care much about making money on the infomercial, because they already had retail distribution. The goal was to drive retail. On the surface, this seemed like a home run and we were naturally excited. Then it tested and it didn't perform as well as expected.

For the first nine months, we had to beg, borrow, and steal to keep the infomercial on the air. Each passing day, we thought, would be our last . . . but luckily, that day never came. We asked for every favor, we pulled every string in the hopes that if we kept it on the air long enough, something would happen. Then it happened. George Foreman started fighting again. He came out with a cookbook. And the client reduced their cost, so we were able to drop the price from $99 to $69. It was that combination that made the magic happen. George Foreman became the third highest paid sports celebrity endorser behind Michael Jordan and Tiger Woods, while Salton went from $70 million in sales to over $700 million.

The biggest misconception clients have is that if you put a direct response commercial on the air, it will sell. That is the farthest thing from the truth. Media is a critical element to any direct response campaign. Success in media comes with two things, experience and relationships. We have 24 years of experience and have worked with every major (and some not so major) cable networks, and have purchased time on over 600 local broadcast television stations in the U.S. and Canada.