Timothy R. Hawthorne

Mixing traditional advertising agencies with DRTV specialists can be a lot like pouring oil into water. While the two substances can exist in the same container without much problem, they never truly combine into one homogeneous mixture. And while there’s no question of DRTV’s value in a...more >>

The average person wouldn’t go to family practitioner for heart surgery, nor would he or she call on a newspaper reporter to write an infomercial script. Everyone knows that an automobile dealership isn’t the best place to get your car’s windows tinted, and that Sam’s Club probably isn’t...more >>

Online video is just plain hot. Marketers from all corners of the business world are combining clips with online venues like YouTube, Hulu and corporate Web sites to get moving pictures into the hands of existing and future customers. In May, Google heated up the online video space even more when...more >>

For advertisers, the debate about whether Apple’s iPad provides superior experiences to its iPhone or Macbook is moot. With close to two million iPads sold in the U.S. by the end of June — and more than 200,000 more units selling weekly — iPadders are a rapidly growing enough audience to...more >>

I have written often of DRTV’s effectiveness during economic recessions, because (unfortunately) the business cycle guarantees them. The recent malaise is the third major recession of the past 20 years, and certainly the worst. The first two forced us to author a DRTV platform for tough times,...more >>

Admit it: ever since “Star Trek” rebooted with the first of its “Next Generations,” you wanted a holodeck. But while interactive three-dimensional environments remain sci-fi fantasy, 3D TV should surface this year. The reports from CES are exciting, yet ominous. ESPN and...more >>

I never was a fan of Miss Cleo and the Psychic Readers Network. I found it improbable you could gather hundreds of authentic psychics to man the phones at 2 a.m. every night.

Media Zone: The Best Click-to-Buy App: Boosting DRTV’s Profile

When someone copycats a legitimate DRTV product, everyone loses. Consumers get inferior products and may even get hurt by the counterfeit versions. The original marketer loses sales, incurs legal expenses and winds up with a damaged reputation. The industry as a whole gets a black eye as customers...more >>

As retailers nationwide struggle to rise above the economic downturn, a quick glance at the shelves of your local Wal-Mart, Walgreens or Bed Bath & Beyond paints a telling picture of what retailers think about DRTV products. The big retail players don’t open up too much publicly about the...more >>