| This Business Has Legs: How I Used Infomercial Marketing to Create the $100,000,000 Thighmaster Craze: An Entrepreneurial Adventure Story Contributor(s): Bieler, Peter (Author), Costas, Suzanne (With) |
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ISBN: 0471147494 ISBN-13: 9780471147497 Publisher: Wiley OUR PRICE: $41.40 Product Type: Paperback Published: May 1996 Annotation: "Me? I'm the guy behind the ThighMaster", says author Peter Bieler. "It's a dubious distinction", he continues, infomercials being such an odd way of selling, "unless you appreciate the difficulties inherent in capturing the attention of the whole country, in selling six million ThighMasters in less than two years and doing it all without a war chest the size of General Motors". In fact, the phenomenon that grossed over $100 million began with, no money, no product, and no experience. But there was always a plan. Where others looked at infomercials and saw only goofy products and fast money, Bieler saw a new business strategy. With a single infomercial, he got a phenomenal amount of national advertising and product name recognition for a fraction of the cost of a conventional ad campaign. He used this to get retail distribution. He put ThighMaster into Kmart, Wal-Mart, and other big chains, and went on to make even more money. Incredibly, Bieler turned an unglamorous product originally designed for injured skiers into a household name that turned up in David Letterman's monologues and George Bush's speeches. Whether you're a Fortune 500 company or a start-up entrepreneur, if you've got a consumer product to sell, you can't afford not to consider infomercial advertising. In "This Business Has Legs", Bieler explains everything you need to know about direct response television while regaling you with some of the most colorful characters to be found in a business book. A must-read and a highly entertaining account of one wild ride across the infomercial frontier. |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - Business & Economics | Corporate & Business History - General - Business & Economics | Advertising & Promotion |
| Dewey: 659.143 |
| LCCN: 96018232 |
| Physical Information: 0.49" H x 6.32" W x 9.18" (0.7 lbs) 224 pages |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: Only in America could a would-be monk convince a faded televisionstar to pitch a rehabilitation device designed for Scandinavianskiers and create a nationwide sensation. The marketing strategyalone is worth the price of admission. --Paul B. Brown Special Correspondent for the Business News Network(BNN) and coauthor of Customers for Life This is the first time the person behind a fad lays out the wholemarketing strategy he used. Even I learned a lot. --Bob Rice Pet Rock Promoter Within a matter of months, Peter Bieler created a $100,000,000industry out of nothing. This fascinating book chroniclesstep-by-step how he did it. --Steve Dworman Publisher, Infomercial Marketing Report As a jack, in an emergency, if you have a very small car ... As arack to dry homemade pasta ... Prop it on its side and presto Twinpicture frames ... Have it bronzed and claim it's a very earlyHenry Moore ... --Diane White columnist for The Boston Globe on alternate uses forthe ThighMaster See Inside for Exciting Contest Details |