Indy Racing League

Speeds up Ticket Sales

With Infomercial
The Indianapolis-based racing outfit isn’t the
only non-traditional company seeking out
space on DRTV. GM, Callaway Golf and Hewlett
Packard are also getting into the mix.
BY DOUG MCPHERSON

T
o Bob Reif, marketing is about telling a story. And when he
needed to tell a story about his product, he went with an
infomercial. But you might never have expected an infomercial
for his product: auto racing.
Reif is senior vice president of sales and marketing and chief mar-
keting officer of the Indy Racing League (IRL) and the Indianapolis
Motor Speedway. And he likes the infomercial medium — a lot.
"It is absolutely the best marketing tool we've used this year,"
says Reif. "We are now starting to sell out races we had never
sold out before, and I believe the infomercial has helped
make the difference. It has produced the biggest spike in
our sales we've seen. The bell has rung more with
infomercials."
Reif says the infomercial has not only helped sell more tickets,
The Indy Racing but it has also taught the public about what it's like to actually go to
League has used a race. And the latter, Reif says, is where the long-form production
the infomercial form really made the difference.
to build a new image
"Our mantra is trial and conversion. We want them to smell the metha-
for its product.
nol," he says. "If people understand what it's like to come to an IRL event and
realize it's a good value, that the access is there and that it's great entertainment with
side-by-side competition, the female drivers, the American drivers and so on, then we
are doing our job. The people look like you and me at these events. Most folks don't
know so we need to educate them, and the infomercial does that for us. Marketing is
not just about communication, it's about education, too."
IRL Leads Charge
Big Tracks In Marketing
couldn't, it wasn't feasible."
That's when the idea of the infomercial
hit him and he approached Script to Screen
Reif is not your average marketing man. in Santa Ana, Calif., to produce it.
At only 34, he's already left big tracks in the
marketing world. He has worked for the A Great Testimonial
sports marketing giant IMG and led it into "I think it's a great testimonial to the
the direct marketing business. format and the industry to have Bob us-
He also served as senior vice president ing an infomercial," says Tony Kerry, se-
of marketing for the Miami Dolphins. While nior vice president of marketing for
there, he helped entrepreneur Wayne Script to Screen, who worked with Reif
Huizenga consolidate his sports holdings on the infomercial. "It was a very maverick Skis Dynastar’s infomercial
and then sold more than a quarter billion dol- thing for Bob to do. They were into tradi- was honored in 2000 by ERA.
lars worth of sponsorships for the teams and tional TV spots that didn't tell the story. It
the stadiums. Street and Smith's Sports Busi- was one of the first things Bob did when he to Screen, Skis Dynastar "greatly surpassed
ness Journal recognized him and his came on board, and I know he doesn't re- its cost per inquiry (CPI) objectives by de-
achievements two times in its "Forty Under gret doing it." livering CPIs in the $2 range ... and drove
Forty" lists. Kerry admits he was converted to rac- skiers to the [company's] Web site." The
It was at IMG where Reif became more ing. As part of his research for the study also reports that the increase in sales
familiar with infomercials and saw them infomercial he attended a race for the first came during the winter 1999-2000—when
work with sports figures like Joe Montana time in his life. a lack of snow drove down overall sales in
and Mike Ditka among others as hosts. "I was really never a fan, it just didn't do the industry.
"I knew they [infomercials] worked. I anything for me. But now I've been bit. It's Despite the success Adams says Skis
saw that many times," he says. a tremendous experience—the speed of the Dynastar's parent company opted not to con-
One example Reif remembered was with cars and atmosphere. Everything about it tinue funding the infomercial.
Alien, the golf club maker. The company en- was simply amazing," Kerry says. "I will go to my grave believing if we
listed the help of touring golf pro Jerry Pate Kerry's company has also helped other had kept running it we would have grown
to serve as a spokesperson on its infomercial. nontraditional infomercial users, including our sales by 80 percent," says Adams.
"Alien went gangbusters when it started General Motors and Skis Dynastar Inc., a
using the infomercial with Jerry," Reif says. ski manufacturer. GM, Hewlett Packard Among
"Direct marketing has been an important part Kerry says Skis Dynastar used Companies to Seek DRTV
of my career ever since." infomercials to educate its audience on its Script to Screen also produced videos us-
When Reif took over marketing for the skis and other products. The company's ing an infomercial format for General Mo-
Indy Racing League he quickly realized that infomercial won an award last year from the tors' GMC division to share information
the business had a "great story to tell." But Electronic Retailing Association (ERA). about some of its autos. Anyone who ex-
that story wasn't being told. He asked him- Charlie Adams, vice president of mar- pressed interest in a GM Suburban, Yukon
self, "What can I do to get people to try the keting for Skis Dynastar, describes the or Yukon Denali got a VHS video in the
product, to come to a race?" infomercial as a solid marketing victory. mail.
"I've always believed that television was "We are very proud of the infomercial," "We shot the videos just like an
the most effective way to communicate," says Adams. "The quality, the production, infomercial. It had testimonials, features and
Reif says. "And I knew people would come the content were all there and any skier benefits and calls to action but it just didn't
back to the track if they came once, but we would keep watching because it was a great air on TV," says Kerry. "GM realized it could
just needed to get them there for the first skier program. There really was a lack of tell its story better in this kind of format."
time. We had ski programming on television, and none of The video featured the stories of three
a staff but it our competitors were using television so
didn't have we knew skiers would appreciate it."
time to go out Adams says they used some of the
and tell that "biggest names in the ski industry" to tout
story. We just Skis Dynastar's products. Those names
included Alberto Tomba, Picabo Street
Bob Reif, and Tommy Moe.
senior vice "The results were remarkable. We in-
president of creased sales by 20 percent and that was
sales and
without a top media schedule," says
marketing
and chief marketing officer of the Indy Adams. "We ran it mostly on Fox Sports
Racing League and the Indianapolis Motor [cable network] affiliates and at ski re-
Speedway, says using infomercials has sorts." Agilent Technologies is using what Tyee
produced a spike in interest and, more According to a case study from Script Euro RSCG calls a “vision film” to tell its
importantly, ticket sales. story to clients.
IRL Leads Charge
"American heroes": two-time Olympian
Bob Molinatti; America's Cup champ Gary
Jobson; and champion horse trainer Sandy
Collier. They each own a GMC SW and they
provide testimonials to the vehicles' practi-
cality, reliability and safety.
Kerry says the effort was so successful
that GM has adopted the videos to promote
other brands.
Script to Screen isn't the only company
enjoying work for nontraditional clients.
Tyee Euro RSCG in Portland, Ore., a tele-
vision-advertising firm that focuses much
of its work on long-form ads for Fortune
1000 companies, is getting its share of busi-
ness, too.
Tyee has done work for Callaway Golf,
Agilent Technologies and Hewlett Packard
to name a few. For the latter two, Tyee pro-
duced what the company calls "vision films"
that are between eight and 16 minutes long,
not aired but used at point of purchase in
the retail setting or used internally with em-
ployees. The videos, just as the GM videos
Script to Screen produced, are formatted like
infomercials with testimonials, demonstra-
tions and calls to action.
These vision films make up about 20 per-
cent of Tyee's business, according to Hugh
Allspaugh, vice president of client service
for Tyee.
"I'd love to see that grow," says
Allspaugh.
Allspaugh says there are typically two
ways to produce these videos. "One way is
the fact-based, linear type and another way
is one that tells a story, kind of a mini-
drama," says Allspaugh. "Often the mini-
drama can help the audience understand
real-world applications of the product that's
being featured and it seems to work well."
One area where he sees potential for
infomercials is the pharmaceutical industry.
"That's an industry where an infomer-cial
can really help consumers truly understand
the pros and
cons of drugs
Hugh
Allspaugh,
vice president
of client
service for
Tyee, says
infomercials
are the “next
evolution of
advertising.”
but FDA regulations have
hampered this," he says.
Allspaugh adds phar-
maceutical sales reps are
using videos to share infor-
mation with physicians
about drugs and that it
works well because "doctors
can take time to view at their
leisure."
Allspaugh says he feels
"bullish" about infomercials and their
future.
"I wouldn't say long-form is having a
renaissance, but I believe it is gaining
more and more acceptance," says Hugh
Allspaugh, vice president of client ser-
vices for Tyee. "Infomercials are getting
better in quality and, to put it simply, they
work. I'd say nine out of 10 sell [in these
markets]."
One reason they work, according to
Allspaugh, is because the advertiser has
the time to tell a story and get all the ben-
efits and information in comfortably.
"In a 30-second spot an advertiser can
get in a brand impression. In 30 minutes,
an advertiser can get in a brand experi-
ence," says Allspaugh. "Infomercials are
the next evolution of advertising. There's
so much distraction on television today
that time is critical. You have to educate
your audience and long-form is a great
medium to do that."
Allspaugh predicts that the "yell-and-
sell" type infomercials will give way to
better quality infomercials and that these
improved ads will "protect nontraditional
advertisers' brands."
Standard Part of the Mix
Kerry says Script to Screen does mar-
ket its services to nontraditional advertis-
ers and that infomercials are now a stan-
dard part of the marketing mix.
"I'd say about three-quarters of For-
tune 500 companies either have used or
are now using infomercials. They like the
accountability of the infomercial," Kerry
says. "They can measure success and their
costs more than with spot ads. It's a lot
less expensive and on top of that, it al-
lows them to tell a story."
Kerry says advertising agencies, too,
are starting to use infomercials. "With
General Motors, it was their advertising
agency that wanted to produce the vid-
eos," he says. "I know there are some
General Motors
offers DRTV
videotapes to
potential
customers.
agen-
cies that
still look
down their
noses at it [using infomercials], but I'd say
at least half of the agencies are starting to
use them."
Kerry describes the move to infomercials
as a "slow and consistent" trend. "It's not a
hot thing but there's a slow progression to-
ward using them," he says.
Kerry says he even gets letters from
MBA students at Harvard, Wharton and
other prestigious business schools who want
to know more about the business.
"Marketers know what infomercials are
and what they can do, its part of the market-
ing vernacular now," he says. "They're not
just for slicers and dicers anymore."
Reif says he would tell anyone that
infomercials "are worth at least a test."
"If you have a compelling story that can't
be communicated with traditional media
then infomercials are your answer," Reif
says. "The more you can connect with your
customers to make them feel good about an
association with you, the better off you'll
be. Get as deep as you can with your cus-
tomers, peel back the layers and develop a
relationship with them."
Reif, Allspaugh and Adams all say that
infomercials are cost effective.
"They're cheaper and they've increased
our programming. In 2000, we had 88 hours
of programming. That was the total for the
whole year. Now we're up to 600 hours of
programming with the infomercial," says
Reif.
As for Reif and his future using
infomercials to tell his story about racing
— that will continue.
"You can bet I will increase my invest-
ment in infomercials next year," he says.