ERA Interviews Jeff Meltzer of Meltzer Media

Jeff MeltzerERA interviews Jeff MeltzerThis week ERA interviews Jeff Meltzer, President of Meltzer Media Productions. Read Jeff’scomments on the most important production changes of the past ten years as well as how theinfiltration of technologies like PVRs will change the direct response industry’s landscape.If you are interested in being considered for an upcoming e-newsletter interview or knowsomeone who should be interviewed by ERA, please contact Molly Alton atmalton@retailing.org or at 703.908.1020.ERA Interviews…Jeff MeltzerERA: Jeff, you indicated to me that you have been involved in the direct response business forsome time, having produced your first infomercial in 1985. How did you get started and why?Meltzer: I was a mainstream commercial film editor looking for new advertising mediums that Icould explore. Tom Fenton (one of the founders of NIMA and owners of Synchronal)approached me about a radical new concept called infomercials. He had done one infomercial upto that point and now wanted to explore beauty and skin care. In addition to Tom and myself, herecruited Tom Peckenham to write and produce the first before/after testimonial driven showwhich I believe was also the first skin care infomercial. After shooting the ―befores,‖ we wentback four weeks later for the ―afters‖ and magic happened. Women cried about how beautifulthey felt after using the system and the phones never stopped ringing. The show eventuallygrossed around $100 million over a five year period and we were off to the races after that tocreate as much as we could. Since that time, I have been involved in the production of 150infomercials and over 2,000 short form spots.ERA: What are the biggest changes you have seen to the production of direct responsecampaigns in the past ten years?Meltzer: Truthfully, most of the biggest changes have come from the technical side. ShootingBeta, DVCAM, Mini DV or even Digibeta has become very easy. As far as post-productiongoes, the only thing you could do on an AVID (non-linear editing system) back in the early1990s was to cut and dissolve at a video resolution that gave you serious eyesore after eighthours. And to make matters worse, graphics were virtually nonexistent on a computer. Now, Icall our editing suites mini-studios in a box. You can edit, create 2D and 3D graphics andanimation, mix sound, create special effects, input flat art, slides or any other form of pictures orvideo and even color-correct it. At the end of the process, you’ve created a customized broadcastmaster ready for air. This change, however, is in addition to what I think is the most importantchange in editing ever–the creation of instant variations of a spot or show. The enormous amountof time and money saved by the speed of these editing systems is amazing and continues toimprove. These functions give the show’s creator tremendous decision-making power and makesfor a better end product.

ERA: How is your company planning for additional industry evolution, including the infiltrationof new technologies like PVRs?Meltzer: My company is constantly exploring new technologies and marketing avenues for allproducts and services. As one example, we produce and send tens of thousands of V-Grams TM(video mail consisting of DVDs, CDs and VHSs authored at MMP) that contain mini-infomercials for targeted lists of potential buyers. The buyer then can order the demonstratedproduct or service by three convenient methods: phone, Internet or bounce back card. Theresponse rate, most of the time, is staggering and the cost to make a V-Gram is incredibly low.However, I think the most important thing that any responsible DRTV producer can tell a clientis not to put all their eggs in the DRTV basket. A diversified campaign that includes DRTV, acommerce ready website, home shopping, catalog, insert mail and international distribution iscritical to the success of any DRTV campaign today.ERA: Having known ERA since the days it was NIMA, what are the biggest changes you haveseen within the organization itself?Meltzer: NIMA was originally created to self-regulate the fledgling infomercial industry and Ithink ERA has done a very good job of that. There will always be loopholes that disreputablesuppliers exploit because that is the nature of this industry—those who always trying to push theenvelope a little further to get the phones ring. Unfortunately, some of membership changes Ihave seen have not been to the benefit of the smaller direct response company. In my opinion, Ithink ERA’s membership would increase substantially if they structured their fees at a level thatwould entice small businesses to join. I think a special rate (like a special TV offer) would attracta lot of new, as well as old, companies to ERA.ERA: And lastly, what are some of the major hurdles that direct response professionals need toovercome to continue to maintain profitability in this industry?Meltzer: As a small business owner, keeping your overhead at a sustainable level is important,especially in an industry that is filled with up and down cycles. None of us, whether you are asupplier or marketer, know when the next hit product will arrive. Until it does, you need to paceyour company’s growth. And, as I stated earlier, you need to be creative and utilize newmarketing and distribution methods that are available. This way, you end up with variedinfomercial formats (like Informats) they help drive product. The combination of these formatsincreases your chance of success dramatically and thus can improve your profit margins as well.For more information on Jeff or Meltzer Media Productions,please contact 212.868.4600 or visit www.meltzermedia.com.Information provided in the line of questioning and responses in this interview have not beensubstantiated by ERA, are strictly the opinions of the company being interviewed, and do notnecessarily reflect an official position of the Electronic Retailing Association or its members.Please note that no portion of ERA’s newsletter may be replicated in part or in its entiretywithout the prior written consent of ERA.

ERA Interviews Jeff Meltzer of Meltzer Media

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ERA Interviews Jeff Meltzer of Meltzer Media Document Transcript