Chart Watch: Columbus Day Special
My weekly report on the latest campaigns topping the charts
Happy Columbus Day! Did you know today wasn’t a national holiday until well into the 20th century? It was unofficially celebrated in many places before that (going back to the 18th century), but it wasn’t until 1937 that President Franklin D. Roosevelt made it a national holiday. Then, as now, the holiday was politically controversial. Back then, the issue was anti-Italian and anti-Catholic discrimination, so President Roosevelt made a statement by honoring the Italian-born explorer.
Of course, Columbus has been honored many times. As fellow Substacker Scott Alexander notes:
We’ve used the name for our national capital district, two of our state capitals, the largest river in the Pacific Northwest, an Ivy League university, three spacecraft, and the mythical goddess of American democracy - not to even mention the Columbian Exposition, revolutionary Gran Colombia, (beautiful) British Columbia, and the modern country of Colombia.
Now back to your regularly scheduled update…
BeActive Plus continues to top the DRMetrix chart at No. 1,1 which is no mean feat given the brands with which it’s competing (Bell+Howell, Copper Fit). This is the campaign’s fifth week at No. 1 since I wrote about it in early Sept, and it was No. 1 at least twice before that. Add in a few No. 2 appearances, and it has been topping the charts for nearly three months now. That’s what I call “Old Gold”!
Here are some other campaigns worth highlighting.
Campaign: Angel View
Marketer: BulbHead (Telebrands)
Producer: KERRmercials
This project first tested in February and has now been on the charts for more than two months, coming in at No. 29 this week (Week 41).
The item is similar in concept to XtraView Mirror, an item Allstar tested in 2015 that did not roll out. Several sideview mirrors have also been tried: Tristar’s Clear Lane Mirror (2015) and Ontel’s Total View mirror (2010) come to mind. Telebrands even gave the former item a second chance under the name “Green Zone” in 2016.
Bottom line: This has not been a profitable area of focus for DRTV, so I’m surprised to see this one doing well. If that continues, and the campaign makes my annual True Top 50, I may have to reconsider the viability of this category.
Campaign: Calming Heat Sauna Wrap
Marketer: Allstar Products Group
Producer: Hutton Miller
Here’s another project that tested earlier in the year (March) and appears to be rolling out now. In this case, that makes sense given the cooler weather of both periods. People use saunas year-round, of course, but getting sweaty-hot seems more appealing these days than it did in, say, August.
I’ve tracked at least a dozen tests under the Calming brand since Allstar had its first success with Calming Comfort in 2018. Two years later, they had another hit in Calming Comfort Calming Heat2 and have built quite the successful line at retail since then. This looks to be the next addition.
No. 11 on the 2020 True Top 50 and also No. 41 the following year.