caption home_town birth_place birth_date known_for image article_title name occupation
hawthorne the 2006 era awards banquet . with daughter jessica and wife laya , at fairfield , ia evanston , illinois 29 june 1950 pioneering , electronic retailing association -lrb- 1991 -rrb- ; '' the work complete guide to infomercial marketing '' -lrb- 1997 -rrb- ; in '' anatomy of a winning infomercial '' -lrb- dvd , direct 2005 -rrb- . response television advertising ; co-founder era-awards-dinner-09-12-2006 . jpg timothy r. hawthorne
 timothy robert hawthorne founder the hawthorne direct advertising agency , chairman , and executive creative director of
timothy r. hawthorne

timothy r. hawthorne -lrb- born june 29 , 1950 -rrb- , is a recognized leader in direct response marketing , specializing in direct response television , also known as drtv .
this advertising format provides in-depth product or service information via longer tv format lengths -- `` long form '' or `` infomercials '' -lrb- 1/2 hour -rrb- and `` short form '' -lrb- one to two minutes -rrb- -- then prompts viewers to take immediate action to either purchase or learn more about the product or service by visiting specific websites or calling a toll-free telephone number .
in 1986 , hawthorne founded the nation 's first advertising agency dedicated to producing infomercials .
in 1997 , ntc business books -lrb- mcgraw-hill -rrb- published his textbook on the subject -- `` the complete guide to infomercial marketing '' -- which many marketers consider `` the industry bible . ''
in it , hawthorne outlines the history of long form advertising , describes how to create and produce half-hour commercials , and explains the theory behind `` the power of the half-hour . ''
in 1990 , marketing experts stan rapp and tom collins acknowledged hawthorne as `` the king of the infomercial . ''
in 2006 , the electronic retailing association -lrb- era -rrb- awarded hawthorne its lifetime achievement award to honor him for being `` a major architect and pioneer in the drtv industry , with an unsurpassed reputation for leadership , vision , and integrity . ''
