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Anyone with insomnia may tell you what’s on television in the early morning hours. Other than old sitcom reruns, there are those dreaded infomercials. Most of the infomercials I have seen either promote a good deal of crazy exercise program or a new cooking gadget.

Companies that put together infomercials are selling geniuses. Otherwise, how else could they convince you to buy a reusable bag that allows you to cook an entire meal in your microwave?

If you watch any of these infomercials closely, you will see the same formula…over-hype and over-sell.

If you are thinking when it comes to merchandising your product through an infomercial, I will provide you with the winning formula. Here is what you will need to manufacture your own infomercial:

Washed Up Actor or a Reality TV Star

Find the guy who played the friend of some neighbor on a lot of old sitcom that went off the air a lot of years ago. Of course, former pornography and American Idol stars will also work if you can’t find the guy who played the milkman on Seinfeld. You may probably find a grade B spokesperson for the price of a dinner at an all-u-can eat restaurant. With the exception of the Olsen twins, I think the rest of the cast from Full House is available.

Overhype Your Product

Tell the viewer how great your product is and then tell them again and again. For example, say things like “The super sausage maker is the biggest invention in the world because experts who like sausage have said so.” The greatness of the product must not be indicated less than 30 times per half hour episode.

Hire a Great Audience

You ought to have a convincing audience. They must shout, yell and then throw out an ooh and an aah each few seconds after the host starts mentioning product features. The audience must likewise clap each few minutes and be wide-eyed allround the entire infomercial.

Freebies

Offer all kinds of freebies. You will have to interrupt the infomercial with the notorious “But wait, there’s more” line. If somebody buys your product, be sure to throw in a free gift and a special refrigerator magnet for good measure.

Money Back Guarantee

Always offer a cash back guarantee – minus the cost of shipping. Just make sure you build the cost of your product into your shipping cost so you won’t be out any cash when the refund requests start out rolling in.

The next time you determine to create the latest sausage maker, imagination hair clip or contraption that may give you a six pack stomach, do not forget these retail tips.

Forget regarding the newspaper ads and coupons… just go with the infomercial. You will be doing all of the insomniacs a favor because we all need something to watch at 2 a.m. when we can’t sleep.

American Experience Hoover Making Monument Picture

American Experience Hoover Making Monument Picture

American Experience Hoover Making Monument Picture

American Experience Hoover Making Monument Photo

Most helpful customer reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful.
First-rate documentary of something we take for granted
By Joseph T. Reeves
“Hoover Dam, the Making of a Monument,” is more than just the story of how the Hoover Dam was built. It’s the story of people who fought for the dam and fought against it. This fine documentary puts the struggle to build this dam in its proper context: in the midst of the Great Depression when men were begging for work and in the American Southwest where farms were thirsting for water. In just one hour, this film chronicles the struggle to gain approval for the dam, and then the search to find someone who could build the something most engineers said was impossible, and finally the actual construction. The film also tells the story of the average workers who flocked to the desert looking for work, regardless of how dangerous it was. The documentary’s validity benefits from interviews with many former dam workers and residents of the local workers’ village. These interviews, along with extensive period footage and still photos, paint a vivid picture of ordinary men and women who created something marvelous and fantastic in the midst of one of America’s greatest domestic crises. This film will help you appreciate Hoover Dam a little bit more the next time you see it, and will remind you that great works don’t just occur by themselves. They happen because people, from the highest levels of power to those digging the tunnels, make them happen.

0 of 0 people found the following review helpful.
10 year old can’t get enough
By Selbuort
My 10 year old son watched this video and can’t get enough of it. He wants to be an engineer when he grows up and the building of this huge dam just boggled his mind.

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