How to Create an Infomercial
An infomercial is a form of advertising that is pitched in such a way that it more closely resembles a fact-based news story than a traditional commercial. Despite a shoestring-budget platform, amateur talent and sometimes cheesy gimmicks, infomercials serve the purpose of aggressively drilling a product name into the brains of consumers by implying that immediate action is required in order to take advantage of low prices and bonus items before they're all sold out.
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Instructions
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Identify a product or service that lends itself to the infomercial format. Specifically, an infomercial for a product needs to include visual before-and-after demonstrations. A service-oriented spot revolves around graphs, pie-charts and statistics. For the purpose of this article, the infomercial will be for a new product that restores the original sparkle to stained sinks and bathtubs.
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Determine the target buyer. Using the example of a miracle cleaning product, the typical user is going to be a female between 30 and 60. Accordingly, the product spokesperson should be someone that she can easily relate to: another female in the same age range or a male (younger or older) who projects that he's comfortable participating in domestic chores.
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Choose a setting that won't detract from the message. Settings for household products, for instance, either utilize a backdrop similar to the suburban dwellings of the target demographic, or take place in an unadorned studio and use a table or counter as the primary prop for demonstrations.
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Define what the problem is and why the target buyer should be worried about it. Infomercials generally open with ugly "before" shots and immediately launch into a hard-hitting litany of why this problem is so bad. A badly stained and corroded sink, for instance, could be a breeding ground for vicious germs that are rapidly multiplying even while you sleep. Infomercials tend to exaggerate "facts" as a device to get the viewer's attention and induce angst.
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Incorporate visual comparisons with existing products to show that their ingredients aren't sufficient to battle the problem you have presented. In the sink and bathtub example, your spokesperson will be seen sprinkling and pouring other cleansers on the stains but to absolutely no avail.
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Introduce the infomercial product with an enthusiastic bang and tout it as the biggest, fastest, safest, cheapest whatever that the planet has ever seen. From the get-go, viewers need to be convinced that this product is so special and so powerful that only a privileged few are smart enough to understand why one can't live without it.
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Demonstrate how the product works. Reinforce the failure of other products by using side-by-side images of the infomercial product against the competition so the viewer can see how the half of the screen featuring the results of the infomercial product reveals a sink or bathtub that is brighter, whiter and has more sparkle and brilliance.
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Emphasize what a great value the product is. Sell the value by telling the viewer that if a call is made to a toll-free number in the next 15 minutes, the offer will include two bottles for the price of one. Emphasize the urgency and need for the viewer to take immediate action to receive this special offer.
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Throw in extras to sweeten the deal. An infomercial should entice the viewer with the offer of a free product that will make one's life even better. A bonus freebie, for instance, might be a "specially designed" plastic canister to hold bottles of the cleaning solvent.
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Display the toll-free number prominently on the screen through at least half the infomercial. Ideally, this number should be easy to remember. It might even be a phone number that spells the product name.
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Tips & Warnings
Repeat the product name no less than every six sentences so it will stick in viewers' heads.
Infomercials can be made to entertain friends, but keep in mind that if an infomercial takes to the airwaves with the intention of deceiving consumers, a fraud is being committed and will be subject to criminal charges.
