Naked Windshields No More
Promising Products Roundup (W50)
I’m making this feature available to all subscribers this week as a free sample of my work. If you like it and want to keep getting access, you’ll need to become a paying subscriber by clicking the button at the bottom of this page.
In other news, there isn’t enough happening this week to publish a Chart Watch or Testing Now update, but there is one campaign worthy of note. IdeaVillage’s Copper Fit Core Shaper bust into the DRMetrix top 201 last week after testing just one month ago. Paying subscribers can click here to read about the history of the category.
Best Item This Week
Retractable Windshield Cover (Pinterest)
One of the under-the-radar duels of last year was Ontel’s Brella Shield vs Allstar’s Brella Shade. (The former was No. 40 on my 2021 True Top 50.) The success of these items showed that consumers were still looking for a solution to that ‘burning hot steering wheel’ problem. Basic sun shades were too cheap and common, so someone wisely innovated a little and — voila!
Is this another such opportunity?
Other Items of Note
Windshield Protector & Mirror Covers (QVC). Speaking of windshields, snow covers have always done well on the shopping channels during this time of year, yet most of the DRTV attempts (Tristar’s Frost Gone, Telebrands’ Frost Off, Allstar’s Window Shield) haven’t gone very far. Seasonality isn’t as much of a limitation as it used to be, so maybe now is the time to make one of these work? The update here is that now the item has “mittens” for the side mirrors.
Flashlight Toolkit (QVC). I’m a big fan of the kitchen toolkit. As a father of three, I use mine all the time. I also have a cabinet full of flashlights. This product neatly combines the two, saving space and putting two critical household items at your fingertips.
Fun Item of the Week
Snail Mucin Sheet Mask (Amazon)
If you watched the original Ghostbusters and found yourself admiring the radiant look of Bill Murray’s skin in this classic scene…
Then have I got the product for you! It’s a wonderful skin-hydrating mask infused with natural snail mucin, aka mucus, aka slime. The Amazon listing would also like you to know that “no snails [were] harmed” in the making of these masks. Apparently, they used free-range snails humanely milked for their slime or something.
You laugh, but should you attempt this it would not be the first time. Back in 2007, Telebrands tested a commercial pitching a jar of the stuff with the catchy tag-line: “Turn back time with slime.” True story.2
All joking aside, this mask is somehow trending. It was No. 8 in Amazon’s “Movers & Shakers” last week. We’ve seen other weird beauty items grab attention (e.g. that serum featuring spider DNA), so maybe it’s just that some people will try anything to look younger?
For a limited time, you can take advantage of my holiday special and get full access to The SciMark Report for half off the regular price. But hurry: Offer ends January 1.
It was No. 16 on the DRMetrix AdSphere™ Weekly Marketer report for Week 49, 11/28/2022 thru 12/04/2022.
Sorry, but I don’t have a commercial for you. I only have these old blog entries.