Has 'Text Neck' Made Posture Products Viable?
Chart Watch (Week 48)
Prior to 2019, I considered posture products a waste of time thanks to half a dozen flops and only one success that died quickly. But then people started talking about something called “text neck,” and that seems to have made a difference. This week’s Chart Watch campaign is a case in point.
Campaign: Hempvana Straight 81
Marketer: BulbHead (Telebrands)
This campaign is No. 49 this week and has been on the charts for most of the year. It was originally tested as Hempvana Posture in the spring of 2019. Then it became Hempvana Arrow Posture, rolled out and spent approximately two years on the charts. (However, it didn’t make my True Top 50 in any of those years.)
Related: In early 2020, Telebrands also tried Hempvana AHH Posture, a version with a built-in massager.
A year after Arrow Posture left the charts, Telebrands tested this project. It uses the same problem opening, pitches a very similar solution — and it appears to be working. I’m not sure if this counts as bringing back Old Gold, but it would be one of the fastest resurrections in DRTV history if it does. More likely, it’s an example of what I used to call the ‘pro strategy,’ which I named for the old industry habit of slapping the word “pro” on an improved version of a previous year’s hit and essentially reversing a markdown by having a whole new product launch at full price.
Telebrands’ persistence here is no doubt inspired by Royal Posture, a 2015 predecessor to these products. However, that campaign was a bit of a flash in the pan, and other posture products tested during that period (Posture Fix, Posture Slim, Posture Shirt, Posture Doctor) all went nowhere. Perhaps that’s because “text neck'“ wasn’t a thing back then?
If so, this is an interesting example of the caution we need to have when evaluating product opportunities based on DRTV history. We should always look to learn from the past, so we can resist the call of the Siren.2 But just as many products ideas that were hot in the past wouldn't be nearly as successful today, it's quite possible there are underwhelming ideas from the past that are becoming more viable over time. Food for thought.
We’ve hit the holiday lull, so we’re unlikely to see any new rollouts between now and the end of the year. I could put this feature on hiatus, but it’s the only one accessible to all of my free subscribers. Speaking of which…
Anyway, since this is the only free feature, with what should I fill this space while we wait for the industry to start rolling out new campaigns again? What would you like to read? The answer to a DRTV history question? A smart analysis of a recent trend? Something else?
Post your request in the comments section, or feel free to email me directly. I’ll even give you a shout-out if I take up your request.
Since I embed the commercials, this link will now go to the product website.
“The way DRTV marketers sequentially fail with the same product, oblivious to the fate of their peers, reminds me of sailors under the spell of the deadly Siren,” I wrote in an April 2013 column for Response magazine. Since then, “beware the Siren” — broadened to include categories that keep failing as well — has become one of my ‘Aphorisms of DRTV.’
Perhaps "raising the curtain" a little on how DRTV companies go about testing a product–budget? media selection? That kind of thing.