A. Eicoff, 80; Ad Exec Created Infomercials

Alvin M. Eicoff, a Chicago advertising executive who pioneered late-night television commercials that demonstrated products and urged viewers to rush to the phone to order them--a model for modern infomercials--has died. He was 80.

Eicoff, who maintained homes in Chicago and Highland Beach, Fla., died March 2 in Highland Beach of congestive heart failure.

An expert on direct-response advertising, Eicoff wrote the book on the technique in 1982. He called it “... or Your Money Back,” the phrase he insisted be included at the end of every one of his commercials.

Born in Lewiston, Mont., Alvin Maurey Eicoff began his career in radio in the 1940s, producing ads for Flypel fly spray and D-Con rat poison. He moved into television in the medium’s infancy, employing carnival barker-type pitchmen to sell real estate in Arizona and Florida.

He specialized in selling goods for small clients, but also had larger accounts, including Columbia House records for which he produced his most successful commercial. It ran for 15 years, selling the company’s “101 Great Moments in Music” recordings.

The commercial opened with orchestral music and an actor saying: “You may think this song is Tony Bennett’s ‘Strangers in Paradise,’ but it is really the Polovtsian Dance No. 8 by Alexander Borodin.”

Eicoff, who founded his A. Eicoff & Co. in 1965 (bought by Ogilvy & Mather in 1981), stressed sales effectiveness and eschewed currently popular short commercials.

“We need the 120-second commercial,” Eicoff once said. “We need 30 seconds for the tag line, and we have to leave the number on the screen long enough to make an impression. We’d bomb with 10 seconds.”

He also scoffed at high prices charged for ads on the Super Bowl and other highly watched programs.

“The worse the show, the better the return,” he said in 1970, explaining that a viewer interested in a show will not rush to the telephone to order what he sees advertised.

And he clearly preferred the late-night spots, explaining that the bleary-eyed viewers were the best buyers: “If they are tired, their subconscious will accept without their consciousness fighting it.”

Eicoff is survived by his wife, Helene; and two sons, Jeffrey and Larry.