The excitement is palpable as the kids fling water all over the kitchen – the counter, the floor, and filling several large bowls. They tear open the package of ShamWow! “towel, chamois, and sponge, all in one!” and expect to be as excited & fulfilled as the on-air talent with the fake fairgrounds microphone attached to his face.
“Wow! Mom! Look at it suck up all the water from the bowl! Just like on TV!” exclaims Gillian, age eight, as she thrusts the thirsty towel into the bowl of water, wringing it out and thrusting it in again and again. Yep, just like on TV, except a whole lot of water is spilling onto the counter and all over floor.
“Yep,” says Collin, age thirteen, as he also sucks up water here and there with the over-priced-as-seen-on-TV towel product. “It sucks – water anyway.”
But wait! There’s more! More water, everywhere! Everywhere there is a flat surface – there is a lot of water left behind! A little like wiping a surface with super-sized panty hose, there is significant moisture not absorbed. Perhaps that’s why they use bowls and carpets in the demos? And, we tried using it as a bathmat as seen on TV too, where it stuck to my foot and I dragged it around like public restroom toilet paper. Now, there’s a sham! Wow!
I’ll keep ShamWow! around for carpets and large spills, where they do the initial suckage of very large amounts of liquid quite well. But to get a perfectly dry surface, a good old fashioned paper towel is probably a more effective, if less sexy choice. And, with a paper towel, you can look at the Brawny guy and not the smarmy microphone dude. Wow!
The Data:
“Wow! Mom! Look at it suck up all the water from the bowl! Just like on TV!” exclaims Gillian, age eight, as she thrusts the thirsty towel into the bowl of water, wringing it out and thrusting it in again and again. Yep, just like on TV, except a whole lot of water is spilling onto the counter and all over floor.
“Yep,” says Collin, age thirteen, as he also sucks up water here and there with the over-priced-as-seen-on-TV towel product. “It sucks – water anyway.”
But wait! There’s more! More water, everywhere! Everywhere there is a flat surface – there is a lot of water left behind! A little like wiping a surface with super-sized panty hose, there is significant moisture not absorbed. Perhaps that’s why they use bowls and carpets in the demos? And, we tried using it as a bathmat as seen on TV too, where it stuck to my foot and I dragged it around like public restroom toilet paper. Now, there’s a sham! Wow!
I’ll keep ShamWow! around for carpets and large spills, where they do the initial suckage of very large amounts of liquid quite well. But to get a perfectly dry surface, a good old fashioned paper towel is probably a more effective, if less sexy choice. And, with a paper towel, you can look at the Brawny guy and not the smarmy microphone dude. Wow!
The Data:
ShamWow! has high initial awareness at 60%, but while people think it will be popular, the interest scores are moderate overall netting a conversion just over 10%. Not great for such high awareness. Perhaps drying things is not a huge unmet need in the market?
No comments:
Post a Comment