Chart Watch: Today’s Top Categories
My weekly report on the latest campaigns topping the charts
There isn’t much to talk about from last week, so how about a little analysis to start your week? Question: Which category had the most campaigns on the DRMetrix chart last week?1
The answer: “Cookware & Kitchen.” (Pro tip: It’s always Cookware & Kitchen.) The reason is brands. Granitestone and Gotham Steel had nine entries combined with three in the top 10. Spectrum acquisitions Emeril Everyday and PowerXL also made several appearances. Only a handful of singles appeared on the chart in this category.2 They include NutriChopper and the Paragon hit Egg Pod.
OK, so how about the category with the second greatest number of campaigns? Thanks to Copper Fit and the insoles I wrote about last week, that category was “Orthopedic Products.” It was actually a pretty close second with only four fewer campaigns than Cookware & Kitchen. Then we get to “Household Cleaning” (featuring three Fuller campaigns3) and “Automotive,” which is mainly driven (get it?) by Telebrands campaigns such as Angel View and BattleVision Storm.
Fun Fact: Across the 140+ networks it monitors, DRMetrix has identified 374 creatives using QR codes, meaning approximately two percent of national DRTV airings are from creatives using this technology. For more information, check out Joseph Gray’s recent post on this growing trend.
Those are the best categories right now, so what’s the worst? To be clear, any category that appeared on the chart is not a bad one, so I guess what I mean is: What category is underperforming relative to the past?
The answer: “Personal Grooming.” Thanks mostly to Flawless/Finishing Touch, this category was once as dominant as Cookware & Kitchen. Then IdeaVillage sold the brand to Church & Dwight, and DR became less of a focus until it disappeared from the charts. Today, only the ‘brother’ brand to Finishing Touch — MicroTouch — appears on the charts with three separate entries last week.4
Actually, there is one other Personal Grooming campaign that’s charting. In fact, it made the top 50 at No. 45 this week.
Campaign: Bell+Howell VacuTrim
Marketer: Emson
This product is a bit of a late bloomer. Telebrands was the first to test the concept in March of 2019 under literally the reverse of the current name (TrimVac). This project tested two years later, in March of this year, and has now been on the DRMetrix chart for more than two months.
Its success makes sense to me. As my wife can attest, trimming can leave hair everywhere. By promising mess-free grooming, this product purports to solve that common problem while delivering the same benefits of other shavers that have done well on DRTV.
Actually, this is true of most categories (i.e. the chart in general) these days.