The Palm Beach Post from West Palm Beach, Florida • Page 50

6E THE PALM BEACH POST THURSDAY. FEBRUARY 1. 2001 and the only one for the job. Here's gimmick; Put your hair in the Turbie Twist towel, twist it, slip it through the special loop, and voila a perfectly-sculpted tur- the ban! Smith, a Georgia-based en trepreneur, is the American who "discovered" the Turbie Twist The product was actually created in the late 1970s by a Scotsman, Smith says. By the mid-'80s, it was being manufactured and sold as Towlie" in South Africa.

By the mid-1990s, a South African family had moved to America and brought a Towlie with them. Smith met Now how much would you pay? Ah, ingenuity! The Clapper was a Thighmaster started as a medical device. When The Clapper went on the market in 19S4. it was seen as a novelty item. But the device which switched appliances on and off at the sound of a hand clap didn't work very well.

A TV gunshot would flip Clapper-controlled lights out. That's when Texan physicist Carlisle "Steve" Stevens called Joseph Pedott owner of Joseph Enterprises. "It was a Crapper. really," Stevens says. "I said.

"Wouldn't it be nice if you had one that worked' Think how many more you could Stevens pot to work on fixing the More than $100 million. OxiCJean Powered by the air you breathe and the water you drink OxiClean! Lang live your laundry OxiClean! Sound familiar? This miracle cleaner commercial is a late-night staple these days. Watch fast-talking spokesman Billy Mays get grape juice stains out of carpets and fabrics even delicate lace instantly! OxiClean creator Max Appel got his start back in '82 when he created Orange Glo Wood Cleaner and Polish. According to his Web site, oxiclean.com, he presented the product to a home and garden show in Denver and "within hours of opening, his entire lot was sold out and people began to discover how easy it was to achieve a clean and fresh-smelling home!" Spurred by advertising, OxiClean has been a national success. More 6 million units have been sold in the past year.

Turbie Twist Towel turbans are a tradition for women with wet hair, but garden-variety bath towels just aren't good enough, are they? Not if you ask David Smith, who says his Turbie Twist is "the ultimate towel," bugs in The Clapper. He installed a microprocessor, and gave it extra features. By 197. The Smart Clapper debuted These days. The Clapper has even more whlz-bang features and retails for $19.95.

"He's selling 300.1X10 to 500.000 every Christmas." Stevens says of PedotL A spokesperson for Joseph Enterprises says overall Clapper sales are in "the millions." The Thighmaster Want the recipe for infomercial mega-success' Take a would-be clergyman, a washed-up IV star, a rehabilitation device for bed-ridden skiers and a sexy name. Blend well. That's how the Thighmaster was born. Sold in as a device to tone thighs, the Thighmaster was originally a machine to help Scandinavian skiers with upper body injuries. But that was before Peter Bieler, a California-based marketer (and almost-monkl, got his hands on it.

"The first thing I did was give it sex appeal" Bieler wrote in his 1996 book, Tfiis Business Has Legs. Then I promoted it like crazy." He hired Three's Company horde Suzanne Sommers to hawk the 'Master, and the rest is tight tush history: More than 6 million were sold at around $20. Profits? them, and developed the product for the American market "They didn't know what they had," Smith explains. "I thought it had practical appeal: Every woman in America puts a bath towel on her head. This was a head-towel." By 1998, the Turbie Twist was on the Home Shopping Network.

These The product was created in the late 1970s by a Scotsman and 'discovered' in the '90s. aplenty. Take the Three Low Payments Of $29.99 logo flashing at the bottom of your TV. A lower "screen price" despite a total price tag of 100 clams gets more customers, Finn says. So does "upselling," a technique used by the Operators Standing By.

When customers give operators their credit-card number to authorize a purchase, operators pitch an unrelated product, one that wasn't featured on the infomercial. That's upselling. "All they need to say is, Teah, that sounds and you've sold something else completely," Finn says. if days, the commercials are more plentiful. So are sales: About 1.8 million units have been sold since 1998.

Chris Hutchins Big Mouth Billy Bass inventor: 6I believed in the singing fisft INFOMERCIALS Fnm IE television sales in just three months. Retail sales (in etc.) generally come soon after that Take the Aero Bed. a recent infomercial success. (You might have seen it It featured sumo wrestlers duking it out on an inflatable mattress). It made $42 million in TV sales and racked up an additional $100 million in retail.

That's quite a return on a $150,000 investment the usual cost to produce an infomercial. Infomercials rake in much of their cash during the first quarter of every year. According to Terry Finn, president of In-Finn-Ity Direct, a Los Angeles-based infomercial production company, the industry makes 55 percent of its earnings in that time period. Why? Because most of the country is snowbound, folks stay inside and tune in during those months, he says. And since most local retailers blow most of their ad money during November and December, television stations scramble to find advertisers.

"That's when local stations will sell more infomercial time, because they need to generate the revenue," Finn says. "Stations are selling more time, people are watching more TV. That's the combination." It's been this way since 1984, when the Federal Communications Commission removed limits on commercial time for broadcast stations. (Stations had been limited to 12 to 14 minutes of commercials per hour.) When local stations could create their own advertising policies, the "long-form" infomercial market was born. The biz has come a long way since then.

Viewers have made Psychic Friends, worn Blu-Blocker sunglasses, bought Bun Trainers and learned that Where There's a Will, There's an A They found Jesus with Charlton Heston, rock 'n' rolled with Dick Clark and bought "Aquaessen-tials" from Cher. Here are the histories of some of the strangest most iconic products (and commercials) in the biz. The Ginsu: 10 million sold It can cut through a nail, a tin can and a radiator hose and still slice a tomato PAPER THIN! Ed Valenti and business partner Barry Becher came up with that line and plenty of others in the late 70s, when they were writing ads for what they hoped would be the Next Big Thing Ginsu knives. The Rhode Island natives' Cli ch cli by Ch ch Excerpts from the "Chia Frequently Asked Questions" on Joseph Enterprises' Web site, www.chia.com: What are Chia seeds? "Chia" is the common name for salvia columbariae, a member of the watercress family. Are Chia sprouts edible? Joseph Enterprises has never sought FDA approval for Chia Pets and therefore cannot promote them as a food product.

Chia seeds are sold in health food stores, however, and many organic gardens harvest them for salads and sandwiches. My cat ate the sprouts. Is this a problem? No. Many cats eat greens when they have an upset stomach, in order to induce vomiting. Keep in mind that your cat may be eating the Chia sprouts be company, Dial Media, had shaken up the commercial-making business in 1975 with its Miracle Painter is this man painting a ceiling in a Instead of referring customers to stores, they used toll-free numbers and credit cards to take orders over the phone.

It was revolutionary. Suddenly, greatest-hits albums ($7.99 for LP! $8.99 for 8-track!) weren't the only thing folks could order on TV. By the late 70s, Valenti and Becher were looking for something even bigger to sell. "It was our marketing genius, if you will, that put the package together: a collection of knives everyone could use," Valenti recalled. "We were mindful that the last thing anyone wanted was another set of knives.

The challenge was to position the product so that it made every other knife you owned obsolete." Hence, lines like "It dices onions so fast, you won't have time to cry!" and "It slices bread so thin, you can see through it!" Demonstrators kicked through watermelons and karate-chopped (or rather, tried to karate-chop) tomatoes. And there were hollers of "But wait, there's more!" and "Now, how much would you pay?" It took more than 600 hours to write the 2-minute-long com charmed ch Chia? cause it already ingested something poisonous, and wants to throw up. Is my Chia reusable? Yes. You can replant your Chia again and again. Be sure to follow instructions closely, and soak for 24 hours.

Can I use other herb seeds for my Chia planter? Yes and no. Seeds that form a gelatinous coat when soaked in water, such as basil, tend to work best since they will adhere to the Chia planter. Some customers have reported luck with grass seeds as well. Why are Chia items only sold in stores during the holiday season? Chia Pets and Chia Heads are handmade pottery items. It takes an entire year to produce enough Pets and Heads for one holiday season.

Chris Hutchins mercial, Valenti says. The rest is advertising history. Valenti and Becher made a killing. So did Quikut, the Ohio-based company that manufactured the knives. Wait a sec.

Ohio? Not Japan? You bet Valenti and Becher created the word "Ginsu" and the Asian vibe. "We thought that people would be more responsive to something that suggested stainless steel, quality and sharpness," Valenti says. "We touched upon the samurai concept the idea of swords and created this crazy name. And it really caught on. "We were just whacked out and crazy," continues Valenti, who has since started another marketing company, PriMedia, with Becher.

"We really went for the jugular, back then With the Ginsu, we chopped up subway seats and car radiator hoses and nails. It was just an offer that allowed us to be flamboyant in writing the copy." The Chia Pet: Big seller Contrast that madness with the quirky, understated commercials of the Chia Pet In 1982, Joseph Enterprises debuted its now-famous "Mexican pottery planter" to America with a peculiar commercial. Viewers were told by spreading "magic chia seeds" on a small Another slippery move: The 30-day money-back guarantee. You may think an infomercial -host is being mighty generous by offering a full month to be sat- isfied by his product But the 30-: -day refund policy is required by federal law. Ron Popeil, who's peddled stuff on TV since the '50s, is one -of the industry's few honest-to- God celebrities, and infomer-cials' No.

1 fan. He's used the medium to sell food dehydra- -tors, rotisserie ovens, "in-the- -shell" egg scramblers and GLH Formula No. 9, a spray-on hair -replacement has changed people's lives," Popeil Infomercials give a company -time "speak intelligently to the consumer" at home, he You'll never get that with a 30- second spot "Play this game with yourself: Pick any object on your desk," Popeil says. "First come up with a scenario of all the problems that product solves. Then introduce the product.

-Then show how the product works. Then tell the customer -how to buy the product Do that in 30 seconds' time, and it sounds like someone's trying to shove this thing down your -throat." Thirty minutes also gives scriptwriters plenty of time to get inside a customer's head. Watch for the co-hosted "believernon-believer" sales technique next time you see an infomercial, Finn says. One host is almost always an "expert" on the product. And the other? They're the skeptic, who is really the voice of the viewer," Finn says.

That's why you see (him) saying things like, 'Now, wait a second. Now, you're tell- ing me that it can do that? I don't, believe it' By the end of the show, the skeptic is transformed and sold on the product. And hopefully, so has the viewer." chrishutchinspbpost.com lieved in the singing fish." He and his wife, Barbara, came up with the idea for the product during a drive in Texas. They were talking about Gemmy, and how most of its sales come from holiday novelties. (Gemmy brought us Douglas Fir the Talking Christmas Tree, by the way.) "Then, the question: What niche markets could Gemmy explore? Pellettieri and his wife talked about outdoorsmen.

As they cruised by a Bass Pro Shop, Barbara became inspired. "She said, "Why not do a fish on a plaque that Pellettieri says. "We started brainstorming, different songs that would go in it Then I basically put the idea on the board at Gemmy." Research suggested bass fishing was the most popular fishing sport, so artists drew designs for a bass. Other staffers created movements for the fish, using Gemmy's "Synchromo-tion" technology a special computer chip that regulates electrical impulses to motors inside the fish, in sync with music. The fish prototype's tail flapped, its mouth moved.

"We choreographed it, really," Pellettieri says. "We programmed it to the nth degree." But support began to falter as the prototype neared completion. Big Mouth Billy looked dumb. He was a cartoony fish that merely "wiggled" as he sang, Pellettieri says. But then, inspiration: Pellettieri pitched the idea to make Billy's head swing sideways, to look at the audience as he sang.

"That was the key," he says proudly. Tricks of the trade There's a method to the madness in an infomercial. Talk to folks who produce the things, and you'll discover it's a downright science. An infomercial "plot" is as predictable as the tide: Establish a problem, provide a solution (your product), prove it works, ask for money. But presentation is everything.

"The whole goal is to turn passive viewers into active buyers," explains Terry Finn, of In-Finn-Ity Direct. "No one plans on buying from an infomercial when they turn on the TV. They're just sitting there, in their pajamas, drinking a beer or something. You have to have such a compelling offer that they go find their wallet, take the credit card out, get on the phone and place the order. You really have to make them an offer they can't refuse." And that involves gimmicks nMsirsiimiisro statue of a ram and watering them, a coat of sprouts would grow in days, simulating "hair" for the Chia Pet The voice-over was accompanied with lousy time-lapse photography of the growth and a jingle that the company uses to this day: A woman singing, "Ch-ch-ch-Chia!" Most advertising professionals still laugh at the ad's cheap production values.

But let them, says Joseph Pedott, founder of the San Francisco-based company. Pedott's been making a fortune from the terra-cotta critters. But "it's not really an invention," Pedott says. Ancient Incas used the chia seeds as a food source, he explains. They even planted them on terra-cotta sculptures.

While Pedott can credit the Incas for the basic concept, he doesn't know who gets credit for the Chia Pet. In the late 1970s, he purchased the copyright from an entrepreneur living in the Chicago area. Pedott's staff then overhauled the product. Who was the Chicago entrepreneur? Pedott can't remember, but he does remember that goofy 1982 commercial. It was created by JHME, a Sacramento-based advertising company.

Ken Hobbs was part owner of the company. He co-wrote the jingle. "In fact, we had come up with a full jingle but didn't use it," says Hobbs, who now runs Orini-con Group ad company in Sacramento. "All you've ever heard is the tagline, There was more. It had kind of a Latin sound.

Happy, upbeat." The never-before-heard version? Ch-ch-ch-chia! They're fun, they're green! Ch-ch-ch-chia! Ch-ch-ch-chia! Profound. But Pedott's product makes millions every holiday season, and the jingle is hard to shake. Sounds like a killer commercial to us. The singing fish: Newest fad You've seen the shameless knockoffs like the "Boogie Bass" advertised on TV, but meet the fish that started the singing bass craze. It's Big Mouth Billy Bass that surreal, singing novelty fish that folks mount on their walls, like a trophy.

While Big Mouth Billy has never been advertised on TV, his creator Joe Pellettieri, VP of product development at Texas-based Gemmy Industries did get the singing bass ball rolling. It's because of Pellettieri's determination that Americans now have plastic singing fishes on their living room walls. He's the man who invented Big Mouth Billy. He's the man who believed in Billy when no one else at Gemmy would. "When everyone wanted to cancel it, I just kept going forward with it, because I really liked it," Pellettieri says.

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Kanner Hwy. $10 includes 4 lines, $3 for each additional line. Photo ads are $35 "I Love You" Hearts are '25 fg All orders must be recieved by Feb. 9th at 5pm. 561-820-4343 iK'Wmkudi lM spending all day inside, reading the Guinness Book of World Records.

The fact is, only a very few of us grow up in what could be described as highly intellectual households. Few get the prep school "great books" education of classic literature and scientific thought. You know what I'm getting at: There was more bric-a-brac on our bookshelves than books. Much more Jong than Jung. We meant to watch more public television than we actually did.

That was the perfect household for Time-Life. Time-Life could make simple the concepts of photosynthesis or igneous rock formation things your public-school earth sciences teacher tried to do but could not quite do. Time-Life opened and shut its own X-files on UFOs years before the TV show did. Time-Life brought home the fact, for a fifth-grader, that each star is like our sun, and each one might have planets around it. Whoa.

At its end, Time-Life Books was out of sync with the modern world. Curious 11-year-olds can sit at a computer and go wild with all the information at their fingertips. We all know this isn't the same, not like those satisfying hours spent paging through the books, finding out stuff you weren't even trying to look up in the first place. TIME-LIFE From IE bound, kept on the built-in den shelves where people kept the family Bible and the World Book Encyclopedia. By the imprint name alone, Time-life Books carried an authoritative air.

Time equaled facts. Life equaled photos. You could imagine that Henry Luce himself was bellowing to staffers that he needed 12, not 11, definitive books outlining every last thing then known about, say, dinosaurs. away, chief!" they'd cry, dashing off to museums and libraries.) The next day, he wants architecture all of modern architecture. on it, Time-Life Books was an early triumph of direct marketing, selling 30 million books a year at its zenith.

That's a lot of Middle American coffee tables. Adults bought the books with every good intention of filling in perceived vacancies in their smarts and lifestyles. Yes, I would like to know more about galaxies. Yes, I would like to redecorate the kitchen and save money by doing it myself and I cannot get enough of World War II. But it was children who benefited most.

These were the children who had too many questions, the kind of children who would get into trouble for.