Chart Watch: The Return of BeActive
My weekly report on the latest campaigns topping the charts
From a DR perspective, it was a pretty boring summer. Every time I opened the weekly DRMetrix chart, I saw the same brands and campaigns — often just rearranged. You know the names: Copper Fit, Granitestone, etc.
Recently, though, there have been a few new entries. Something to talk about at last! The biggest news is the return of BeActive. The original was a hit in 2014. Eight years later, BeActive Plus is No. 1 on the charts. 1
Campaign: BeActive Plus
Marketer: Top Dog Direct
Producer: Hutton Miller
This is a classic Old Gold strategy. The problem (sciatic pain) hasn’t gone away, so the marketer simply waits the old “7-10 years” and brings back their successful solution for another great run. The only reason we don’t see more of this strategy is that these days, the situation at retail is markedly different than it was before.
In the past, retailers would “stack ‘em high and blow ‘em out the doors.” Today, DRTV products tend to be part of slower-selling branded lines. That’s good because it makes the tail longer, but it also makes the peaks lower and Old Gold resurrections less likely. Products don’t really disappear from the market these days.
Another interesting campaign that popped up recently is Ready Rocker, which comes from a company that appears to be new to DRTV. Wisely, they hired one of the best in the business to create their commercial: Hutton-Miller. This alone helps explain why an atypical DRTV product is now in the top 20 2 on the DRMetrix Weekly Rankings.
Campaign: Ready Rocker
Marketer: Rocking Inc.
Producer: Hutton Miller
One of the things I’ve been doing for almost two decades is helping companies decide what products are right for DRTV, and I can tell you that I would never advise doing a product like this. In fact, I would probably use it as an illustration of an item that violates one of my top criteria: The item should be “mass market.”
Experienced DR marketers know what I mean. We’re always looking for those one-per-household products. This product mostly appeals to people with babies and small children. How many of those can there be? The Internet says there about 23 million children in the US who are 0-5 years old. That’s less then seven percent of the population — and that’s not accounting for households with multiple children.
Then again, my criteria aren’t about guaranteeing success or failure. They’re about increasing or decreasing the odds of success. Just like it’s possible to win big money on scratch-offs, it’s possible to find success with a product that only appeals to a certain segment of the population. After all, we only need a few million people to buy our products to have a hit, and our way of managing media allows us to zero in on those prospects quickly based on the only metric that counts: response.
The commercial also does an excellent job of tapping into something everyone knows to be true — rocking babies works! This is generational folk wisdom we’ve all experienced firsthand, so there’s no need to over-sell it. Just give people a little research and science to assure their left brain that mother knows best, show lots of peacefully sleeping babies and relaxed parents for right-brain appeal, and anyone struggling with a fussy kid will be sold. This spot strikes exactly that right balance.
Speaking of Hutton-Miller, what’s going on people? Are John, Peter and the gang the only guys doing anything interesting in this business? They’re responsible for both of the creatives in this post and also one of the two commercials in last week’s post (Return of the DR Duel?).
Let’s get busy, folks! I want to see some new tests and rollouts from the rest of you in the coming weeks. Summer’s over. No more slacking!