Storymercials

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Storymercials

Hawthorne Direct is a Leader in the Latest Development in Long-Form Advertising

By Paula Fairchild
March, 1998

Tim Hawthorne, chairman of Hawthorne Direct, enjoys the title of "father of the modern infomercial." But since its revival in the early '80s, the infomercial has evolved into a commercial art form, with storymercials leading the way. Again, Fairfield's Hawthorne is in large measure responsible for the latest twist in long-form advertising.

Storymercials are almost too good to be true. They're fun to watch and they sell. Apparently, viewers love storymercials, those half-hour infomercials that look more like a drama, sitcom, or movie of the week.

In a recent survey conducted for Dean Witter Discover Card, comments from viewers about their storymercial "Give Me Some Credit" were very favorable. "Great romance and intrigue. I had to watch it to the end!" "Great presentation! Cute! Not like regular infomercials." "Great show! Made me sign up!" Indeed, the new yardstick for measuring successful storymercials includes higher Nielsen ratings--twice to ten times the ratings of other infomercials.

Essentially, a storymercial is a three-act play which spins a plot around the use of a well-known product. A call to action similar to those used in traditional infomercials appears at the end of each act, giving viewers the opportunity to jot down the 800 number and phone in. Like any other drama, the storymercial revolves around drama, characters, and conflict. "In a storymercial, the product is embedded in the plot," says Tim Hawthorne, chairman of Hawthorne Communications, one of the pioneers in the genre. "It becomes a character whose use solves the dramatic question."

Storymercials started to become hot when Tyee Productions produced ProForm's Crosswalk campaign in 1992, though they're still only an exclusive niche. "About 450 to 500 infomercials are made each year, and a handful of them, about one percent, are storymercials," says Hawthorne. Hawthorne and Tyee virtually own the storymercial market. Between the two firms, and occasionally in collaboration, they have launched ten storymercial campaigns.

The relatively few advertisers who have used storymercials include Apple, Nissan, SLM Fitness, and Discover Card. Typically, the main characters perform better at work or school as a result of using the advertiser's product. As a result, our heroes and heroines make more money, get a promotion, win a trophy or a scholarship, get a better job. . . The message: this product brings success.

Often the personable characters not only succeed professionally, but also grow in confidence, and yes, even find romance. In Apple's storymercial "The Martinetti's Bring Home a Computer," Grandpa finds a sweetheart. Where? In the Opera Lovers discussion group on the Internet, of course, which he accessed using his new Performa. In Discover's "Give Me Some Credit," a Minneapolis couple finds the warm breeze of South Beach, the location of their honeymoon 20 years ago, enough to re-ignite the flame. And Jack and his personal trainer Angie find body building an irresistible formula for romance in SLM Fitness' "Gravity's Edge." Considering much of the cynicism in prime-time TV programming, it's no wonder the upbeat messages of storymercials receive kudos from viewers.

What attracts viewers to the storymercial format is the same thing that attracts the clients--the subtlety and sophistication of the soft-sell. Brand name clients turn up their noses at the notion of hard selling their products. Another viewer tells Dean Witter about their program, "It wasn't pushy.... It was really good advertising that presented Discover Card in a very positive light. It prompted me to call." Storymercials walk the fine line between entertaining and selling.

In 1992, ProForm took the initiative to use a storymercial to feature the benefits of the Crosswalk treadmill. American figure skating icon Peggy Fleming hosted the show. The story begins as Margie Towns, the fictional head of market research, walks into the sleek conference room to unveil the Crosswalk to her board of directors. Like an important piece of art, the treadmill hides under a silvery drape until Margie dramatically slips it off. The board members rise to their feet, applaud, then circle the treadmill ooing and ahhing. Margie and the chief engineer, Bill Hanson, embark on a full demonstration of the machine. Afterwards, they answer all of the objections raised by the board, which they handle with aplomb. Convinced, the board decides to go into full production.

The storymercial's indirect selling approach came through like a winning lottery ticket for ProForm--pulling down $250 million plus in direct sales and establishing Crosswalk as the largest selling treadmill in history.

Delighted with the results of its first storymercial campaign managed by Hawthorne Communications, Apple opted for a second storymercial, "The Kids in Room 116," which began airing in the fourth quarter of 1996.

The show focuses on the bearded Mr. Martin's classroom decked out with the latest Apple computers. Who wouldn't want to go to school with equipment like that? Apple dangles the Performa carrot before every parent who sees how excited their children can get about school. And bingo! The leery parents suddenly see how easy Apple computers are to install and use--and it helps them too.

"The Kids in Room 116" presses all the emotional buttons; viewers beware--Kleenex is in order. Watch Galen, the blonde, curly-haired underachiever, go from Cs and Ds to creating a sophisticated Web site. Eavesdrop on Mr. Martin's sunlit classroom, a paragon of multi-culturalism, where sixth graders from every ethnic background work together harmoniously. Root for Bobby, the smiling African American boy, who takes leadership in the Web site project. And look at Jesse, the little silky-haired Chinese American girl, find her long lost grandfather come into focus on her computer screen via the Internet. Enough to cry for.

"Give Me Some Credit" (1996) leans even more in the direction of entertainment than other storymercials. The traditional infomercial ratio is 95% selling to 5% entertainment. Storymercials added more weight to the entertainment, and the ratio shifted to 65% selling, 35% entertainment. "The Discover Card show went to the opposite end where 25-30% of the show went to selling and 70-75% to entertainment to attract viewers and informally sell the product," says Hawthorne.

Discover Card's light touch also enhanced its brand name and helped to dispel its blue-collar image. "Give Me Some Credit" takes a white-collar Minneapolis insurance salesman and his family on a vacation/business trip to hip South Beach, Florida, where they use the Discover card for everything from plane tickets to car rental, from cruise wear to concert tickets, from a boat rental to a pool side dinner, all the while earning cash back.

Hawthorne and Tyee are both careful before they recommend the format to their clients, because the success of infomercials is so measurable. For direct sales, the traditional demonstration or "documercial" format works best.

John Ripper, president of Tyee, suggests a set of criteria to see if a storymercial is right: (1) if the drama can enhance the emotional relationship with the product or company; (2) if it's important to keep the viewer for an entire half hour; (3) if entertainment value is a high priority.

In the infomercial industry, storymercials appeal to the elite. Hawthorne and Tyee executives steer entrepreneurs away from storymercials, saying they work best for large companies--cost for one reason, but fit is all important. The cost of a storymercial ranges from $500,000 to $750,000; some have cost nearly $1 million.

The financial investment pays off in doubling the viewing time. The average viewing time of a storymercial is 25-26 minutes versus 12 minutes for a regular infomercial, says Hawthorne.

To keep viewers watching longer was the original inspiration for the storymercial. "Previously, people didn't stick around, so we decided to try something different," says Ripper. "With a drama, people like to stay and see how it ends. It worked really well."

Even if the slice-and-dice image of infomercials lingers, and some potential clients still shrink from the half-hour format, the results of the Apple and ProForm campaigns whet the appetite of sales-conscious marketers. While most name brands guard their infomercial results, research from one recent storymercial reported increased sales of a high-ticket item by 30 times the cost of the campaign, which translated into $90 million in sales for a $3 million investment. ProForm, the first brand name to venture into storymercial with the Crosswalk treadmill, sold between $150 and $200 million. Encouraged by the results, SLM Fitness produced "Gravity's Edge," which sold about 80,000 units.

The larger budgets for storymercials and the focus on entertainment can yield additional gold. Awards for Apple, Nissan, Magnavox, Philips, and SLM have made infomercial history. Apple's "The Martinetti's" won 12 awards, including the Gold Pioneer Award '95 and "Infomercial of the Year" sponsored by Jordan Whitney '95. Magnavox's "Motel Time Warp," a Twilight Zone parody, garnered six awards, including the Gold Medal at the New York Festival Awards '95.

Folks in the business recognize that while awards look good on the shelf, the best they can do is to encourage brand companies who might be interested in trying the format.

Look at any one of these productions and it's easy to see why they come up golden. Instead of videotape, storymercials use 16mm film, cast experienced actors, and hire well-known directors.

For example, Discover Card's "Give Me Some Credit" features Kathleen Lloyd, who played Tom Selleck's occasional girlfriend on Magnum PI. But not all the talent is in front of the cameras--equally important are the directors and writers. Discover used Jerry London, who directed the hit mini-series Shogun and Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman.

And since selling is the goal, the script writing becomes crucial. Hawthorne says that the challenge of the storymercial is how cleverly and unobtrusively writers can fuse the product with the story. Since it's the story that holds the viewer, storymercials prefer writers with a background in situation comedy, and if possible, advertising. Why sitcom writers? And why not ad agency writers? Sitcom writers know dramatic structure, character, humor, and dialogue.

Dave Whalert, who wrote the Discover script, has 20 years' experience in an ad agency and has also written for numerous sitcoms and dramas, including Picket Fences, and Give Me a Break. He says a successful storymercial keeps it entertaining so the viewers will stay with you. "Make sure you don't sacrifice the selling message, slide it in," Whalert says.

Ed Scharlach, who co-scripted Nissan's "The Art of Buying a Car," has sitcoms like Mork and Mindy and Happy Days to his credit. "Tell a good story," says Scharlach. "Get in humor and human emotion and at the same time sell the product."

The writers and producers agree that audiences are incredibly sophisticated--they know they are watching a commercial, so pay them the respect and courtesy they expect.

Although today's storymercials are conservative, Tim Hawthorne predicts, "In the future, they will be more daring--not only sitcoms, but, dramamercials and sci-fimercials. We've got a lot of formats to create."

Kolger agrees with that vision, "When there's a story to tell, storymercials are great."

Nissan introduced their first infomercial, "The Art of Buying a Car" (also produced by Hawthorne Communications), in association with Harmony Media Communications in 1995. Nissan geared "The Art of Buying a Car" to women, but found men responded equally well to the show.

The twist in Nissan's soft-sell revolves around a reporter, Meg Moore, assigned to write an article about buying a car. Meg serves not only as a character, but as would-be consumer, who like the viewer, has to sort through the maze of information available to car buyers. Unfortunately, Meg must compete with her old boyfriend to write the best article on car buying.

What does Meg know about buying a car? Not much. Early on, her clunker breaks down. Fortunately, her best friend picks her up in a gorgeous Altima. Meg starts asking her friend questions, likes what she hears, and decides to focus her story on the Altima.

The storymercial drove retail traffic directly to the dealership. "In fact, our dealers in the two test cities converted the infomercial leads at a rate three times higher than they did for any other program during that period," says Nancy Edwards, Nissan senior manager of marketing initiatives and research.

Storymercials

By Paula Fairchild March, 1998

By Paula Fairchild
March, 1998