DRTV can create instant customers and produce high ROI (return on investment) only if the advertiser fully understands how the technique works best. The DRTV Centre, the leading UK direct response TV ad agency, suggests that DRTV advertisers make the following 12 New Year Resolutions which encapsulate the most important ingredients for success: 

Resolution 1: Above all, appoint a specialist DRTV ad agency. Ordinary advertising agencies just don’t have the expertise to make DRTV work. 

Resolution 2: Grab viewers’ attention in the first 5 seconds. 

Resolution 3: Solve viewers’ problems. A problem/solution scenario often works well. 

Resolution 4: Show big on-screen titles to highlight your most important product benefits. Ad agency creatives hate these but they work. 

Resolution 5: Don’t play it for laughs. It might be tempting to use humour in DRTV to capture attention. Don’t. 

Resolution 6: Be direct and explicit. Make it 100% clear what response you expect from the viewer (this is the CTA, call-to-action). Repeat it. 

Resolution 7: Feature your 0800 phone number very early in your commercial and keep it on screen until the end. 

Resolution 8: Do not confuse objectives. Branding is a side effect of great DRTV commercials, not the other way around. Concentrate on maximising response. Brand awareness will result later, following DRTV success. 

Resolution 9: Trust response data. DRTV results are brilliantly measurable; take the advice of DRTV experts with respect to analysis. 

Resolution 10: React fast to your spot response analysis. Recognise that DRTV is a science. Identify your winners using response statistics. Cut your losers immediately. 

Resolution 11: Be careful with research. Testing a new product on-air will provide much more reliable guidance than using focus groups. 

Resolution 12: Judge with your head, not your heart. Beware of taking emotional decisions. Base your judgment purely on facts. 

David Pearson of The DRTV Centre comments: “Don’t try to reinvent the wheel. These resolutions summarise tried and tested ways to increase advertisers’ chances of DRTV success.”