As Seen On TV

Easy to access and navigate, Promo! puts a new spin on the informercial

Just imagine, in the comfort of your own home you can now access dozens of infomercials 24 hours a day. On-demand infomercials? That idea may seem as wacky as, well, a Thighmaster gift pack. But for Clifton Kagawa, chairman and chief executive officer of Broadband iTV (BBiTV), the concept is the perfect marriage of cutting-edge digital video technology and old-fashioned sales.

Last October, Kagawa quietly unveiled Promo!, the nation’s first interactive cable channel offering on-demand information about products and services. Promo!, located on Oceanic Time Warner Cable digital channel 326, is accessible to more than 120,000 households on Oahu. To date, Promo! offers nine different categories, featuring long-form videos on everything from big-ticket items, such as real estate and automobiles, to more impulse purchases, such as Neighbor Island getaways and weekend sports activities. After downloading information to their set-top cable box, viewers can scroll through an easily navigable menu and access videos to the product or service of their choice. Some of Promo!’s clients include Nissan, BMW, Prudential Locations and Aloha Airlines.

TV GUIDE: BBiTV’s Clifton Kagawa hopes his new cable station will put viewers in a buying mood. Photo: Jimmy Forrest

Later this month, Kagawa will expand the channel’s offerings when he rolls out The Home Show, a collection of videos on home remodeling and construction. Promo! has the capacity to accommodate up to 48 different categories.

“We just passed 250,000 views at the end of March. We feel very good about the viewership,” says Kagawa. “The challenge is to keep the channel content changing and dynamic, because we want the viewers returning.”

Chuckle all you want, but Kagawa is on to something here. Long ridiculed and dismissed by comedians and viewers alike, the infomercial industry has quietly become a $14 billion marketing behemoth. According to the Electronic Retailing Association, in an average month, 300,000 infomercial spots appear on 36 national cable stations and 1,800 broadcast stations. Nearly 63 percent of all Americans age 16 and over have viewed an infomercial of which 23 percent have purchased a product from the spot.

Promo! differs from traditional infomercial programs in that viewers cannot actually purchase products or services at the video’s end. While Kagawa contemplated offering such “t-commerce” features, he decided to keep operations small and relatively simple for now. Revenue is generated on a simple advertising model. Clients are charged according to the length of the video and the length of the contract. BBiTV can produce videos, but a majority of those aired are provided by the clients themselves. Advertising rates vary from $900 to $1,200 a month.

“Promo! is not designed as a replacement of traditional media,” says Kagawa. “We see ourselves as an enhancement to the 30-second television spot and the print ad. We are able to give the detail of a direct-mail product, but we can do it in a very compelling format that only television can provide.”

Promo!’s most frequently viewed category is its real estate section, which snags from 35 percent to 40 percent of the channel’s 60,000 monthly views. Tom Mukai, a real estate agent with Prudential Locations, has been listing properties on the channel for several months. While his Promo! spots haven’t directly been responsible for a sale yet, he believes they are having a long-term impact.

“Originally, I wanted to showcase my higher-end properties, since those move a little slower,” says Mukai. “But I’ve discovered that the spots are more about marketing myself than any particular property. People see you on television and suddenly you’re a familiar presence. You start making connections with the audience and maybe get new customers. Clients tell me all the time, ‘Eh, you’re the guy on TV.’”

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