Marsha Kent - A Champion Among Direct Marketers

By Author: Marsha Kent
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When you garner 21 years of experience in strategy, creative direction and product positioning, when you co-found and build, brick by brick, a Direct Marketing Company, when you own the number 3 ranked successful women-owned business in Los Angeles, when the products that you market turn into overnight successes and when you transform the arena of Direct Marketing into a vibrant and buzzing industry for both businesses and the consumers, then you are liable to be called “A champion among Direct Marketers”. You are then, one of America’s “Top 25 Most Influential People in the Direct Response Television Industry.”
You are to put it simply, Ms. Marsha Kent.
One of America’s most successful women entrepreneurs, Marsha Kent is One of DRTV Industry’s founders and was instrumental in producing the first major hit Infomercial, Miracle Blade, in 1990.
After years of experience in product marketing, advertising and sales, Marsha Kent started Kent Television Marketing in the late 80’s, a time when the direct response television industry was just beginning to make its presence felt. Thus began her foray ...
... into the world of infomercials, with the Miracle Blade I Infomercial going on air in 1990. The program which was all about a set of multi-purpose knives, took the country by storm, raking in sales of $1 million in just 3 weeks of its being aired on television. The Miracle Blade is now running its 4th version on the Infomercial, and according to market reports, over 12 million knives have been sold since 1989, proving how adept Marsha Kent was in her judgement of the direct response markets.
In 1992, Marsha Kent forged alliances with another expert in the direct response industry, Mr. Peter Spiegel and formed Kent & Spiegel Direct, Inc. This creative duo soon combined their unique skills to propel KSD forward; Infomercials for The AB Coach, the Abflex Fitness System, the Bun & Thigh Sculptor, Micro Buddy and other consumer-centric products became trailblazers in the Direct Response industry. One of the products that entered the Top Ten on the Jordan Whitney Report within one week of its launch was the Ab Coach. Another huge success was Microcrisp Food Wrap, which has grossed more than 55$ million in sales, since its launch in 1993.The KSD product line is multifold- Cosmetics, Personal Care, Fitness and Houseware.
Marsha Kent attributes the success of her enterprise to the ability to communicate the value of the product effectively to the customer. “It is important that the product too should be just right”, she says. “You have to get across the value of your product to the end-user. That we do really well!”
The firm’s commercials are aired in countries around the world-in the Americas, Europe and even the Far East.