How do you sell a million of something in tough, economic times?
Ask AJ Khubani, business guru and marketing wiz. He’s the man who manufactured one million Obama Historic Victory Commemoration Plates and has already sold a whopping 800,000! Yes, those porcelain mementos with Obama’s ‘kind eyes’ and ‘compassionate smile’ were the creation of the enterprising Indian-American who is CEO of Telebrands, often known as the King of Infomercials.
His $200 million, NJ based company, which has had its ups and downs, has used the power of infomercials to sell scores of products you didn’t even know you needed till you saw them on TV in his witty commercials. He’s been featured on major media outlets like New York magazine and Nightline.
Watching the presidential elections on TV, Khubani was struck by the passion of the moment, by the wave of joy spreading from city to city across the country, and around the world. “And then it really occurred to me that this is a big deal – I got very excited about it and of course I’m always on the lookout for new and exciting products and always thinking of what we could possibly market.”
So right before he went to bed, Khubani had his Eureka moment – an Obama Historic Victory plate! Ever the diehard marketer, he swiftly turned his hot idea into a real product, commissioning Arkansas artist Roger Cunningham to paint the soaring image of Obama with fireworks and the American flag, rimmed with gold, and then ordering a million plates.
He says, “Tuesday, election night, I came up with the idea, by Wednesday I commissioned the artist, by Thursday we had the finished prototypes and on Friday we shot the commercial – it all happened very fast. The following week we were in a full national rollout on television.”
The plates, which sold for $19.99, were quickly acquired by hundreds of thousands of people who wanted to be a part of the celebration and own a part of the Obama mystique. Says Khubani, “I think they wanted something to remember the moment by – that’s why a lot of people ran out and bought the newspaper – that’s why a lot of newspapers printed extra copies.”
Americans certainly wanted a piece of the moment – 800,000 plates have already sold via TV and through major chains like Walgreen’s, CVS and Bed, Bath and Beyond. The plates sold particularly well through infomercials aired on left leaning channels such as CNN and NBC, but sold so poorly on Fox News that Khubani stopped advertising on it after the first week as there wasn’t enough response to justify the commercials.
Mega sales are nothing new for Khubani whose company has sold millions and millions of gewgaws from the Smart Mop to Magic Hangers to Pedi Paws, affordable acquisitions which won’t bust the budget.
Is it because they give you happiness for very little?
“You’re exactly right,” says Khubani. “They are mood boosters – they not only solve a common problem but they make people happy when they buy them. Everyone has the urge to shop and so they get to satisfy that urge for very little.”
In 2008 his biggest blockbusters were the Pedaegg, a foot care gadget, which sold 20 million units. One of his new products is also angled to the bad economy – Ezy Combs, which sell for ten dollars each and create scores of glamorous hairstyles.
Says Khubani: “Women like to go to a salon because they feel good – here’s a way to do that for just $10. We always pick products that solve a common problem and we try to make the offer as irresistible as possible, with freebies added on.”
In fact Khubani understands consumer psychology well and is the director of an entrepreneurial engineering class at Princeton. In his own corporation he has experimented in the real business world with various strategies and products.
In this gloom and doom economy, he says, there are bright spots for he has been able to buy prime time spots on TV and acquire a whole new audience, as compared to the past when infomercial space was available only at ungodly hours and was mostly seen by insomniacs or others still up.
“The down economy has really benefited our business – advertising space is readily available and it’s also cheap,” he says. “I’m getting prime space at trailer park prices.”
So were the Obama Plates his own little jolt to the economy? “I did my part,” he laughs. “I just figure out what people want to buy. Everyone knows that the economy will get better when people start spending money. Our job is to get consumers to spend money – any merchant would do that.”
Does he get any sense of accomplishment with the Obama plates? “I think it’s the same kind of accomplishment I get with any product that sells well, to be able to figure out what consumers really want. It’s satisfying when people buy the product and praise it.”
A true blue marketing man, Khubani gets his brainwaves at all hours of the day and actually keeps a notepad on the side of his bed to jot down ideas in that half-waking, half sleeping state. He says with a smile and a shrug, “I do dream about my products. I’m a marketing man.”
© Lavina Melwani
