How to Maximize a Today Show Appearance

  
Brian Columbus, CEO HomePerks.com - 10/1/07 

Glenn Kelman, CEO Redfin.com - 12/17/07

This evening, I saw Glenn Kelman’s appearance on the Today show. I must preface my comments by saying that I think Glenn is a fantastic public speaker, savvy front-man and probably the perfect promoter of his brand. I read his blog post about his appearance on the show and then played the video. I was unnerved to see how the experience of being on a huge show like Today (Averages 6 Million Viewers) can throw a pro such as Glenn off his A-game. Glenn did a great job at educating the public on the “Science of Real Estate” (title of the piece), but was a lot less effective in pitching Redfin and their site.

The following is a scorecard of his appearance:

• Duration: 4.5 min
• Verbal metions of “Redfin.com”: ZERO
• Verbal mention of “Redfin” by Host: ONE 
• Verbal mention of “Redfin” by Glenn: ZERO
• Visual display of “Redfin” or “Redfin.com”: TWO for less than 10 Seconds total airtime
• References to Redfin by “Us” or “We”: TEN
• Overall “Plug Score”: 4.0 out of 10.0

Keep in mind that a 30 Second commercial during the show costs more than $36,000. From this pricing, one could infer that the appearance had a media value of nearly $300,000. But I don’t think he maximized the opportunity.

I myself had an appearance on the Today show earlier this year (see above slight altered photo). My wife and I took a weekend trip to NYC and she wanted to get our kids’ pictures on national TV. So we borrowed a page from the handbook of Today’s unofficial mascot “Lenny” who has made plugging messages on Today an art form. My wife scraped together a poster made of a paper towel box, construction paper and some 8×10 photos we printed at Kinkos. Not through any extraordinary effort, I plugged my Kids by holding up our billboard on camera and got nearly 10 minutes of airtime. I was able to get my text graphic message clearly for more than 90% of that time. Sure, I didn’t get to mention our brand or plug our URL, but neither did Glenn. The best part was, I didn’t even have to show up early, sit through makeup or get nervous in the green room.

In all seriousness, I would think that a master such as Glenn could work a little better plug. I don’t think many housewives in Nebraska had a clue about who he was or what their company does. I’m no media consultant and Glenn’s got a hell of a lot better results in the media. But maybe he’ll read this critique, see a little wisdom in my comments and let me armchair quarterback his next media appearance. I’d be happy to swap these services in exchange for having him on our board of directors.

Glenn: Let us know if you’re interested!!! 

By “us” I mean HomePerks. You can reach us at HomePerks.com.