Or Your Money Back
by Alvin Eicoff
“In this irresistible jeremiad, Al Eicoff denounces the entertainers who infest the advertising business and reveals what kind of commercials actually sell“
This is an autobiographical story of Alvin Eicoff, a relatively untrained ad man who competed with the big agencies by pioneering low-cost radio and TV commercials that sold directly to consumers.
He started out writing a radio commercial for a fly spray that promised to rid homes of flies and mosquitoes with Flypel, “the greatest insecticide discovery ever.” He ended the spot with a strong guarantee and the last words were “or your money back.” It went on to sell seven thousand orders on just one station…and it ran on two hundred and fifty stations!
He invented the infomercial, using carnival pitch-men as his on screen talent.
Eicoff had two formulas:
The first one was TPS – Tease ’em, Please ’em, and Seize ’em.
The second one was in his chapter called “How To Create Commercials That Create Sales. It had three steps:
- Set forth the problem
- Explain the solution
- Demonstrate why a specific product best meets that solution.
Among the products he promoted were:
- d-Con — a rat poison
- Nu Vinyl — a cleaner for vinyl car and home upholstery
- Tarn-X — A cleaner for silver that tarnishes
- Lehigh Acres — lots for home building in Florida
- Handi-Screen — a wire-mesh device that kept grease from flying out of a frying pan or wok
