Another TV push for city entrepreneur’s nifty grill

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This article was published 12/01/2017 (3173 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Phil Poetker, the Winnipeg inventor and marketing entrepreneur behind the Nutrigrill, is now more ready than ever for the big time.

At this time last year, he was ready for his star turn. Infomercials had been produced by the star-making Florida production house C-Shop with the endorsement and support of Kevin Harrington, the inventor of the infomercial. He’s the guy who is responsible for US$4 billion worth of sales of items such as the Ginsu Knives, the Food Saver and the NuWave Oven.

Last spring, the 30-minute Nutrigrill Korean grill infomercial featuring celebrity chef Donatella Arpaia and fitness guru Brett Hoebel ran on late-night TV in San Francisco and Los Angeles a total of 26 times.

It may not have become a cultural phenomenon, but one of Nutrigrill’s new marketing consultants who also worked on the launch of the George Foreman Grill said the Nutrigrill did better in its initial launch than the iconic former boxer’s grill.

But it did not do great. Weeknights were a complete bust, but weekend spots generated sales. The data de-brief also discovered most sales were the result of only a single viewing of the infomercial, a fact that flies in the face of the traditional infomercial strategy of bombarding consumers with the same message over and over.

But with sales of 85 cents on the dollar for his first $15,000 media buy, it was not enough to fund much more.

So Poetker pulled back, retrenched and is ready for another run at the direct response TV (DRTV) market.

“We’re now on the cusp of a new test starting in early spring, but this one will be a six-month test,” said Poetker.

In the meantime, the Winnipeg entrepreneur and his partner, Barry Belog, continue to sell the $150 grills and nearly 30 accessories via various online hubs and relentless social-media efforts on YouTube, Instagram,Twitter and the crowdfunding site Indiegogo.

They also have continued to line up retailers they believe will fall into place after the DRTV marketing has made its impact.

“We have had plenty of discussions with retailers in the U.S. and Canada,” said Poetker. “When they hear we’re doing an infomercial, they are excited. They all say they will order once we’ve successfully launched the DRTV.”

But like everything else, seeing is believing.

After the first TV push, the partners could not afford to risk buying more airtime with the relatively modest success of the first run.

“We realized we still had so much more work to do,” he said. “But we have continued.”

They just got an order for two container loads of product from an online reseller in the U.S.

Over the course of about three years they’ve sold about 6,500 Nutrigrills that retail from $100 to $169. Social-media marketing efforts continue to produce sales all over the world. Even though the grill is inspired by Asian cooking styles, a Chinese agent who recently started reselling the grill said the Chinese consumer was attracted to it because of its North American-type feel.

martin.cash@freepress.mb.ca