April 15, 2015

Roto Clipper

Description: A nail trimmer
Main Pitch: "The fast, easy way to trim and file your nails at the same time"
Main Offer: $10 for one
Bonus: 2nd one (just pay P&H)
Marketer: Allstar
Producer: Concepts
Watch the spot

The last nail trimmer to appear on DRTV was actually a duel between Ontel's Sure Clip and Merchant Media's Clip It Clean in 2009. The former prevailed and was a modest success, coming in at No. 57 on the JW Annual that year. Since then, nothing -- not even an attempt in this category. That's telling: Generic nail clippers are a classic 'good enough' solution, and it's really difficult to improve on them.

S7 Analysis: Put another way, the big challenge here is the needed criterion. A rotary nail clipper met a need for pet owners (see Peticure, Pedi Paws) because it is too easy to cause pain when clipping a dog's nails. By contrast, most people have figured out how to cut their own nails without incident. The parents-and-kids angle is more compelling, but then that narrows the target to a segment of a segment.