A few weeks ago
Jon Congdon walked into my office with one of the infomercial industry's leading trade magazines,
RESPONSE Magazine. He said "Hey, look at this," and tossed it on my desk, opened to the Editor's page.
The title of the Editor's comments for this month's issue:
A Power(90)ful Product Test Is Good News for the Industry ... I Hope!
In the article, Tom Haire talks about his personal frustration with bogus marketers casting a cloud over a medium, the infomercial, which can be such a powerful tool for advertisers. The program-length infomercial has a unique ability to educate, motivate, and sell. It's hard to find another industry that has seen as many overnight rags-to-riches success stories. Likewise, this infomercial is one of the most abused forms of advertising.
People like Tom and publisher John Yarrington, magazines like RESPONSE, and trade association ERA are trying to clean it up by focusing on the examples of appropriate and positive business applications of the medium. Their efforts will ultimately help the consumer, clean up this industry, and hopefully help mature a medium that really can benefit people who see products on TV they are interested in, who want to know more than a one minute TV ad can tell them.
Tom goes on in his
article describing how it came time for him to do something about his competing love for food, and his frustration with his weight - and how he decided to walk the talk, put his own industry to the test, and see if Power 90 would do what we say it does in our infoemrcials.
I am proud to say, as expected, he's doing VERY well with it!
Jon and I saw him briefly a couple weeks ago in Vegas, and he really is a sliver of the guy I saw At the same event last year. According to a conversation Jon had with him, since August 1st he has lost 26 pounds, even with a week in Vegas smack in the middle of his program. Nice work!
That's with the exact same Power 90 that we sell. No trainer. No assistance. The guy just went for it; Decide. Commit. Succeed. Here are emails we got in response to Jon checking in with Tom and John at
RESPONSE Magazine on Tom's status:
Jon,
Doing well. Missed just one day so far (one of the days at ERA). Today is day 65. My last weigh-in on Sunday, I was at 212. Down 26 pounds, only 2 in the last two weeks, mostly due to traveling to ERA and then over to Phoenix for the USC-ASU game. However, I can report that the sculpting is really starting to kick in and I am getting cut in places I haven't been since HS basketball and tennis. Still working on a little of the gut, but it's disappearing.
Thanks much for helping out with this. Good luck with your buddies. Tell them they'll never know how fast the 90 days can go. I've got three and a half weeks left and I feel like I just started.
Thomas Haire
Editor-in-Chief
Response Magazine
And then from John Yarrington, the publisher who has watched Tom shrink:
Hi Jon,
Great to hear from You. I'm sure Tom will follow up to this e-mail, but I have to tell you, Tom's doing great! From a co-worker's point of view, I've noticed a huge improvement in his energy level and a major increase in his overall self-confidence.
Beyond Tom's personal improvements, his devotion to the program has created a infectious health conscious environment in our office which has inspired others to take control of their lives and begin living healthier.
I'm sure you will be pleased to see Tom's results in the Editor's note of the October issue of Response Magazine. We at Response are definitely proud of Tom and I know the Power 90 team will be too!
My Best,
John Yarrington
Publisher
Response Magazine
I am not a fan of chasing publicity. It's exhausting, and takes you out of the work you need to do to innovate and really sell. But when this kind of notice comes our way naturally, it's exciting and sure feels good.
I'll give you an update if Tom submits his final numbers to us. But for now, I want to join the entire staff at
Beachbody and our community of
Power 90 believers and wish him the best of luck in his last 30 days!
As Turbo Jam has started to get more notice now that the infomercial is on TV and people are experiencing the "party" that these workouts represent, the demand for an even more challenging and lively set of routines has been a recurring theme of many emails I get each week. (Yes VF'ers, that means you!)
Meanwhile, for anyone looking for the Yoga Booty Ballet Masters Series, the first of the five titles, "Yoga Core" is now hidden deep within the Core/Yoga Gear section of the website.
