Up to now, Vermont has been famous for producing wood stoves, thick woolens, gourmet foods and maple syrup. But television infomercials?

PajamaJeans? Wonder Hangers? Twin Draft Guard? Meatball Magic? Yes, things are changing in the Vermont econosphere, and leading the charge is Steve Heroux and his wildly successful Williston company, Hampton Direct.

Hampton Direct seeks out and develops products - most often inventions - that save consumers time and/or money and/or solves a problem: ie drafts under doors, a lack of closet space, or uncomfortable yet fashionable women's jeans.

Once he has developed a good product, Heroux creates two-minute infomercials around them. Then he buys national television time and runs the ads on networks like Bravo and ESPN; a good product could, over the first two years of its existence, probably buy $10 million worth of advertising...

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Steve Heroux, CEO of Hampton Direct, believes a product must have  appeal and be able to be produced at an affordable price. To decide if a product meets these standards, an agency should do preliminary market research to see its potential in DRTV and to review the product's unique benefits.

"When looking at our newest hit, Furniture Fix, we realized that almost 100 percent of people have a couch and by starting with a much larger demographic, this product has a larger mass appeal, and it addressed today’s economic environment," Heroux says.

Once the right product is chosen, the right platform for marketing that product is a critical next step…

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