20 years of the best and worst.(Media Zone)(Television broadcasting industry)

Response, November, 2004 by Hawthorne, Timothy R.

Twenty years ago this month, I was involved in launching one of the first infomercials in this modern era of long-form marketing: Ed Beckley's "Millionaire Maker," a no-down-payment real estate home study course. Fifteen months later, "MM," one of the first "home runs" of our industry, had garnered $60 million in sales.

The years 1984 to 1987 were truly days of "amazing discoveries" in long form DRTV. Success rates were one out of three instead of one out of 20. People would sit and stare in disbelief at these new long commercials--and watch them a dozen times from start to finish. There were no complicated upsells, continuity programs or retail driving pro formas. It was strictly a time of cash in the bank, every day, like clock work.

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