The American Idol of Marketing: QVC Product Search

I recently participated in the American Idol talent search of product marketing: The QVC Product Search event in Washington, DC.

For those who don’t watch much TV, QVC is a cable television marketing behemoth. Literally a 24-hour commercial, QVC sells billions of dollars annually of products ranging from food and kitchen gadgets to jewelry, cosmetics and power tools. Having your product featured on QVC is to direct-response marketing what getting shelf space at Wal-Mart is to retailing.

But that’s just the question: How can you get your product featured on QVC?

Well, you can contact them through their web site, follow the instructions, submit your product to a faceless reviewer and hope for the best. Or you can come out to one of the small number of QVC Product Search events they hold across the country each year. I wasn’t even aware that such events existed until I saw a television ad last week describing how to register to have your product reviewed by QVC buyers at the Sheraton Crystal City Hotel in Arlington, Virginia.

Unfortunately, I saw the ad just one day before the event was to take place. When I tried to register online, the system accepted all of my information but told me it was too late to participate after I hit the “Submit” button. Thanks for letting me spend twenty minutes trying to answer every question with percision and describe why QVC will love my product in 200 words or less!

I decided to try just showing up to see how the whole deal worked and try to get my product reviewed without a reservation. My ploy worked. I learned a great deal and did get my product in front of a living, breathing QVC buyer named Katherine. In between I joined hundreds of other aspiring marketeers in a long, slow-moving line, swapping stories and product descriptions and looking for the break of a lifetime.

The entrepreneurs around me included a guy marketing cheese straws (cheese straws?), a Brit hawking “The most reflective safety fabric in the world,” and, the person who had the best luck in the room, an extremely trim young man marketing decorative displays which hold commemerative golf balls purchased by visiting golfers at the pro shops of courses they’ve played. Who knew?

What product was I hawking you ask? Box Time is the answer. Box Time is actually two products in one: First it’s a 30-minute Barney-like children’s video which features costumed characters, animation and live actors including children; Secondly it’s a one-hour family project which lets parents and children spend time together building and painting a playhouse made from cardboard.

If you remember the joy of playing in big empty boxes as a child, you understand the appeal of Box Time. Kids love boxes. And they love creating fantasy worlds where their box is a castle or a fort or an airplane or a race car or a speed boat or whatever their imagination wants it to be. The Box Time DVD takes that concept one step further by showing three kids actually entering the fantasy world of Boxville where wonderful characters facilitate their dream of building their own play house - the same play house packaged with the DVD which includes cardboard, glue, tape, paint, brushes, printed instructions and a tap light.

I really like this product and have been involved in trying to get it launched for over a year. In 2004 we presented Box Time to a $300-million childrens products company at their headquarters in Columbus, OH. They really liked both the video and the family kit project but they couldn’t see how to market them both together as a single product. It’s kind of like the old Saturday NIght Live skit: is it a dessert topping or a floor polish? We got the same reaction from video distributors who liked the video but couldn’t see how to link or display the playhouse which is a large, oddly-shaped package.

The unusual nature of the product is why the Box Time team has come to the conclusion that TV-based direct-response marketing is the best way to market this product. On TV we can show clips from the video, show families working together to build the playhouse, show how much kids love both elements and how much parents enjoy the time spent working together with their kids. Believe me folks, this product is a winner just looking for a break.

Unfortunately that break did not come at the QVC event. Being as I had less than 24-hours to prepare, my presentation was not all it could have been. As a walk-on, my appearance was at the very end of the day and the QVC buyer I spoke to looked like she was ready to pack it in for the day. Without a battery-operated TV/DVD player I couldn’t show any clips, etc., etc., ad nauseum. I could give you a whole long list of excuses but the bottom line is I didn’t close the deal. I didn’t even get the buyer engaged with my story.

As usual when making mistakes, I learned a great deal and will relate some tips on how to do your best when presenting to QVC in a future blog posting. In the meantime, I’m coaching my Box Time teammates in Los Angeles on how to give a better pitch when QVC comes to LA on February 15th.

Stay tuned!