The Pitchmen marketing model is just a tool, like any marketing model. While Telebrands and competitors may have a fairly rapid turnover of their product line, they are, after all, in the branding business and recognize the value of a good brand that can be extended into new products. The other day I was in a CVS or Rite-Aid and I was checking out the tv merchandise and I saw that Telebrands has expanded the Ped Egg line to include new products.

Now we see the advent of enabling corporations, as exemplified by the Khubani organization, which provide the framework for production and marketing, licensing the inventor’s gizmo and otherwise writing the inventor out of the rest of the erstwhile dream.

The inventor cares about two things, proof of concept and money. Sure, some may want to be entrepreneurs and masters of their own destiny, but mostly they want to convince folks that their idea is sound and earn some coin off that idea. After seeing that clothes hangers are a big thing with Telebrands, when I got back from New Jersey I designed an adjustable hanger (with the avg woman in America being a size 14/16 and the number of men who wear XXL and larger shirts, most standard hangers are actually too small for many garments). Now why would I want the hassle of trying to raise tens, maybe hundreds, of thousands of dollars for production molds, and even more for marketing, when I can let someone else deal with those headaches and get a royalty check? There are reasons why most musicians don’t start their own record companies.

Rather than writing inventors out of the scene, the tv marketers often return to their successful inventors for new product ideas. Success feeds on success.

Through what avenue with the next semiconductor or internet boom take place? Not through direct sell late night TV with products that last half a year in the marketplace.

Selling to consumers is different than business to business. Pitching Telebrands (or their competitors) on a product needs a different pitch than selling the same product on an infomercial. Still, sales is sales. I’m sure that the late Billy Mays would have been successful as a manufacturer’s rep, selling business to business.

It should be noted that the most successful items direct marketed on tv can transcend the “half year half life” of most of that merch. Mays helped establish Oxy-Clean as a nationally recognized brand, growing their sales to hundreds of millions of dollars annually. One of the majors, like Proctor & Gamble or Lever, bought out the family business that created the brand.

While inventors realize that a deal with a tv marketer most likely will not be a long term arrangement, they hope that their product will be the next Oxy-Clean or Ped Egg, an evergreen brand that can be extended.

Through what avenue with the next semiconductor or internet boom take place? Not through direct sell late night TV with products that last half a year in the marketplace.