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Peter Koeppel is Founder and President of Koeppel Direct, a leader in direct response television, online, print and radio media buying, marketing and campaign management. With a Wharton MBA and over 25 years of marketing and advertising experience, Peter has helped Fortune 500 companies; small businesses and entrepreneurs develop direct marketing campaigns to increase profits.

Peter started Koeppel Direct in 1995 and has built it into one of the leading direct response media-buying firms in the U.S.

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Infomercials: Revolutionary Political Tool?

Written on
August 27th 2008
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by Peter Koeppel  |
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ads_have_value_small.jpgADOTAS EXCLUSIVE — According to a June 22nd New York Times article by Jim Rutenberg and Christopher Drew, “Senator Barack Obama is drawing up plans for extensive advertising and voter-turnout drives across the nation.”Apparently, that advertising drive has begun and it includes infomercials. According to an August 12th Advertising Age article, the first Obama infomercial recently aired in the wee hours of Sunday morning on the Ion Television network. Apparently, the thought behind the infomercial is (and was) to help voters who may be undecided, or whose loyalty may be wavering, feel more comfortable with the Senator.

By using an infomercial to get his message out, Obama may well be on to something big. This, of course leads me to ask just how effective will infomercials be for determining the course of this election?

Let’s take a look.

Studies show the right infomercial can be more effective than other types of advertising. According to a study conducted at Southern Illinois University Carbondale (SIUC), infomercials can be more effective than trying a sample or a short ad for selling products.

Siva Balasubramanian, a professor in SIUC’s College of Business and Administration, has found that infomercials compare favorably to the use of both standard advertising and trial samples when it comes to producing results.

By allowing viewers to spend more time with the product, they feel almost as though they’ve experienced the product for themselves. An infomercial also allows viewers to gather more product information and may answer questions that they have.

If infomercials are effective for selling products to consumers, it only makes sense that they could be effective for selling voters on candidates.

Infomercials are big, big, big. Even Fortune 1000 companies are embracing infomercials. According to a June 2005 CNNMoney.com article, 20 percent of all new infomercials come from name-brand firms. And why shouldn’t they? The rewards from a successful infomercial can be enormous – a single successful infomercial can earn as much as $50 million, according to the same CNNMoney.com source.

Infomercials are not just for small companies or start-ups any more. Even well-known companies such as Apple, Microsoft, Rubbermaid, and Sears have used infomercials to promote their products.

It’s only logical, then, to believe that if an infomercial can generate dollars, then it should be able to generate votes as well.

Experts recommend infomercials for political candidates. James McPherson, author and Whitworth University professor, definitely thinks that candidate infomercials are a good idea.

In this recent post from his Media & Politics Blog, McPherson thoroughly explains the benefits that a candidate (and particularly Obama) could gain by judicious and careful use of infomercials. In particular, he explains why infomercials are excellent vehicles for presenting ideas. McPherson even goes so far as to list 25 potential topics that could be covered by an infomercial.

McPherson, and many others, feel that the voters don’t fully understand the issues. And you know what? They may be right: A typical non-infomercial advertising format allows minutes, or even seconds, for a candidate to get his or her message across. Often, that limitation allows the candidate to do little more than push a slogan or get a sound-bit in there.

With its longer format (most infomercials fall roughly between 28 and 60 minutes in length), the use of infomercials definitely gives political candidates the time to fully explain ideas and ideologies. Educating and informing the voters is something that all candidates should support.

Candidates already have TV advertising in their budget. Both major political candidates for the U.S. presidency already have television advertising in their campaign budget. The New York Times article estimates that Obama’s campaign budget for the rest of the year could top $300 million. The same source indicates that McCain’s budget (under public finance restrictions) is limited to $84.1 million.

The cost of an infomercial is relatively cheap compared to other forms of advertising. Infomercial time is typically available for much lower rates than traditional advertising. In fact, only about $500,000 would be needed to create and distribute a test pilot of an infomercial.

With all of that money going into the campaign, much of it earmarked for advertising, why shouldn’t some of it be spent on voter-education infomercials that help the public understand what the candidates truly believe? The candidate (and the voters, too) who miss out on the infomercial opportunity may miss out on the election as well.



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Reader Comments.

We certainly can attest to the success of infomercials!

Posted by Brian Olson | 11:33 am on September 2, 2008.

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