How does a company go from being only on Kickstarter to successfully challenging institutional companies in an industry? That was the question examined on February 18, 2021 when Script to Screen held its latest #ThoughtLeaderThursday webinar entitled “How to Spotlight a Product with Revolutionary New Technology.” 

The answer is with a well-produced and managed Direct-to-Consumer marketing campaign. You may know a DTC campaign by a few different terms. DRTV, Performance Marketing, and of course, the Infomercial. Ultimately, what matters is the strategy: creating messaging that answers consumers’ questions/problems and gives them the ability to buy now. 

Guest 

Our guest was Don Shulsinger, Co-Founder and Vice President of Sales at Blink, the home camera monitoring company purchased by Amazon. Don is one of the engineers behind the revolutionary technology that allowed Blink to enter a market dominated by names like Brinks and ADT. He is a Co-Founder at Immedia Semiconductor, Inc., and serves as its Vice President of Sales & Marketing. He served with Oak Technology, Inc. Previously he was founder and Vice President of Sales and Marketing for Pixel Magic, a company focused on image processing and controller technology for the digital office equipment market. Pixel Magic was acquired by Oak in 1995. Prior to that, he was founder and Vice President of Marketing for LaserData Inc. 

Background 

When Blink started their journey into the home camera monitoring market, they were little more than a product with great technology. Their tech was engineered to only turn on its cameras when they were needed. The inverse of a blink, where you close your eyes briefly. Their challenge was the same as any new technology. How do you explain to your potential customers why this is better than everything else already on the market?  

Campaign 

By utilizing a Direct-to-Consumer campaign, Blink had more time to explain their technology to the public. They were not limited to a 30-second spot to educate the public on their groundbreaking technology. Not only that, but they could show through examples how the technology worked. Additionally, they were able to include testimonials from actual product users to have ordinary people explain the technology. 

Finally, it gave customers an immediate way to purchase. Generally, a commercial campaign works by just letting a potential customer know that a product exists. This campaign was not just a branding exercise. It offered a legitimate solution to home monitoring that worked off batteries and gave customers the ability to purchase their product immediately. Consumers responded enthusiastically.  

Success 

In conclusion, Direct-to-Consumer has been a major factor in Blink’s success. Blink is now actively on television media everywhere in their second campaign and is in the planning phase for a third campaign to capitalize on their DTC success.