All the primary things are out of the way. You’ve articulated a problem. You’ve presented your product as the perfect solution. You’ve explained its key benefits (and features) and made the case for why it’s different than any other solution on the market today. Now what?
We’re halfway through my 10-point formula for scripts that sell, which means we’re getting into the body of an advertisement. It’s tempting to treat this part of your creative like coastal elites treat “flyover country” — something to get past quickly on your way to the CTA. But that would be a mistake.
Before I explain why, let’s recap. So far we have covered:
The “skeptic’s question” and why you should ask it early (and often)
The three questions you must answer before prospects lose interest
The “Wizard of Oz technique” for setting up and paying off a problem opening
Why emphasizing benefits is much more important than just listing features
However, as mentioned last week, that only gets us about a quarter of the way through the typical DRTV commercial. So what do creators do with the rest of their time? Well, in the ‘middle minute’ we go beyond the core pitch and try to broaden the product’s appeal by showing other uses and connecting with every possible customer.
The founder of our craft, Alvin Eicoff, was big on this. He only had nine items in his formula, but he dedicated one of them to emphasizing this point:
Don’t forget to demonstrate secondary benefits.
“By spelling out these secondary benefits, a product is automatically made more attractive to a wider range of viewers.” - Alvin Eicoff
Incidentally, astute readers will notice that Eicoff wrote “secondary benefits,” not “secondary features.” He’s talking about exactly our topic: making a product appealing to more people, not bewildering them with more features.
OK, that’s not totally fair. Sometimes products do have secondary features that are worth talking about. But talking about too many gets into what I call the ‘Swiss Army knife problem.’ That is, in shorter formats there just isn’t enough time to explain multiple features adequately without creating confusion. And (say it with me) confusion is a sales killer.™
Let’s say you have a normal product. It has some secondary features, but you want your main focus to be secondary benefits. What do you do? To answer that, let’s pick a commercial from the DRMetrix Top 10 and break it down.
Chart Watch👁️
AquaCare
Pitch: “Antimicrobial nozzles...inhibit the growth of mold, mildew and bacteria”
Offer: $29.99 for one with stainless steel hose & low-reach bracket
Marketer: Interlink Products International
Producer: Hutton Miller (🏆 2022 True Top Producer)
This commercial first aired in March of 2021. Two and half years or 132 weeks later, it’s still going strong, coming in at #6 last week.
I didn’t post any comments when I originally added this campaign to The Library of DRTV, but if I know myself I would have been skeptical. Ten years ago, I wrote the following about another showerhead called Power Shower:
I would never green-light a showerhead for DRTV … no matter how great it performed on camera. The category is way too crowded with every option under the sun available at the local big box.
What has changed? Well, a lot actually. For one thing, those big boxes aren’t what they used to be. Indeed, one of the stores I was thinking about back in 2013 (Bed Bath & Beyond) has closed its doors. Related: Amazon has taken over every category — and also the world. That’s bad news for the old DRTV-to-retail model, but clearly good news for products like this one. The shelves may be virtually limitless now, but at least you can get on them and compete for sales.
Of course, the product does have a critical advantage: the industry’s top producer created its commercial. Speaking of which, let’s get back to our topic today and see what the Hutton Miller team did with the ‘middle minute’ of this chart-topping hit.