June 2009 – Ask the Expert

Pitching the American Dream

By Timothy R. Hawthorne

Q:What are your thoughts about the new reality series, “Pitchmen”?

A:For Billy Mays and Anthony Sullivan, Discovery’s new “Pitchmen” series is a publicity-rich star vehicle. For Electronic Retailer readers, DRTV is the star. From my perspective, the show’s secret ingredient is the foundation behind any direct response TV success: the American Dream.

Pitchmen’s emotional power comes from everyday people: walking testimonials for what makes our country so great. But make no mistake–the American Dream starts with the Benjamins. Week Two’s Dual Saw inventor (a Frenchman, but still) confesses: “I never had money.” The woman behind the floor-cleaning Shuffles slippers admits that “being poor growing up is kind of what drives me.”

The American Dream has never been embodied by Powerball winners. What our culture celebrates is imagination, invention and initiative–which Pitchmen displays in abundance. By shining its spotlight respectfully on the tireless men and women who lay everything on the line for their dreams, it’s abundantly clear that direct response products don’t spring forth fully formed from any top-secret ad labs. They’re pulled from paper bags and cardboard boxes by indefatigable dreamers who transform their ideas into products that improve people’s lives.

The people pitching the pitchmen are both industrious and smart. Though Week One’s Impact Gel insole was serendipitous–an accident borne of effort–its creators are bright enough to imagine unexpected opportunities. Drive and determination are also central to each episode. Week Three features the Jupiter Jack, a small plug-in device that ports cell phone conversations to cars’ FM radios. Its inventor says that he took his big shot because he didn’t want to end up old and in a rocking chair, regretting not acting on “all those things I had thought of.”

If you don’t like these dreamers, you’re colder than Scrooge 1.0. Both of Week Two’s innovators mention that if their products take off, their first order of business is to help their parents retire. The GPS Pal inventor wants to make driving safer by pulling vision-obscuring locators off of windshields. The Shark Stopper maker seeks to save lives by warding off dangerous predators. Altogether, it’s DRTV at its best: allowing people to do well by doing good. As the narrator says of Jupiter Jack’s inventor, “If all goes well, Jason Bobb could make hundreds of thousands–if not millions of dollars–while saving lives in the process.”

Unhappily, it doesn’t always work this way. Some people lose their market share battles. But the inventors grittily vow to soldier on. Dreams deferred, perhaps–but not denied.

We hear on the news every day–and from accounting, on occasion–that the economy is in shambles. But Pitchmen reminds us that the country isn’t driven by cable news. It’s driven by admirable innovators who work for the betterment of their fellows. And if they work hard enough, for themselves.

As television goes, it’s better drama than sports. Everyone wins–determined inventors, fulfilled customers, Billy, Anthony, Discovery and us.

Timothy R. Hawthorne is founder, chairman and executive creative director of Hawthorne Direct, a full-service DRTV, print, mail and digital ad agency founded in 1986. A 36-year television producer/writer/director, Hawthorne is a cum laude Harvard graduate.