Infomercial event entrepreneur finds it really pays to advertise.

It is perhaps appropriate that Steven Dworman chose to call his infomercial event last week the "Sell Your Product on Television Treasure Hunt."

Each product being showcased at the event - where infomercial marketers and home shopping company execs met with investors and entrepreneurs - had the potential, if picked up and marketed via television, of bringing in a king's ransom. Yet discovering which product would be the next infomercial hit could be as daunting as unearthing the mythical El Dorado.

To facilitate the process, Dworman created the Treasure Hunt as a one-stop shopping trip to hook up marketers with high-potential products. About 40 different product creators attended the event - held last week at the JW Marriot Hotel in Century City - along with representatives of 15 companies involved in the infomercial and television shopping fields.

Though some might find it hard to believe, not just any piece of junk can be transformed into the next infomercial wonder. But just what the magic formula for success is, no one seems to know.

Who could have guessed, for example, that a non-motorized treadmill being pitched by Jane Fonda for $360 would run up more than $100 million in sales? And who knew, Dworman said, that a mop would soak up more than $50 million in sales?

"I think it has been proven over and over again that nobody has an idea of where the next hit is coming from," said Dworman, who is also publisher of the Infomercial Marketing Report, a Los Angeles-based newsletter that focuses on the infomercial business. "The hardest thing about the business is to find new products."

A look around the Treasure Hunt showroom seemed to bear this out. Would the FaceShell - a thin plastic face cover to protect one's make-up from such hazards as hair spray and putting on clothes - have the right stuff?

Or maybe De Kajun Katcher - a spring-loaded fishing device that automatically jerks to set the hook while you sit back and drink a beer - would be the next gizmo to give Brooke Shields Forever-Sheer No Run Pantyhose a run for its money.

"I'm looking for a product that is demonstrable on TV, is unique and has a high perceived value," said George F. Fettig, vice president of marketing at American Harvest Inc. in Chaska, Minn. American Harvest - the company that brought us such famed infomercial-driven products as the Jet Stream Oven and Food Hydrator - does it all in the infomercial world, from producing the actual infomercial to buying the media time to manufacturing the product.

"The product should also have a mark-up of four or five times (the manufacturing cost)," Fettig said, "so I can afford to spend the tremendous amount on media I need to."

Fettig noted that his company spends about $100,000 a week on media buying per product. Others have spent up to $450,000 a week, per product, added Dworman.

Whether the product comes with ancillary products that can then be sold separately, or whether it might have a life in traditional retail stores after its infomercial launch, are also important factors to be considered, Fettig said.

Among the hot product categories right now, Fettig said, are fitness products, home appliances, self-help products, cosmetics, gadgets and hair-related products. "Hair is big this year," he said.

Dworman added a few pointers of his own, noting that products should solve a problem for the consumer, and "the successful infomercial products appeal to the broadest common denominator."

"There are a lot of companies with innovative ideas and no means of getting those products to market," Dworman said, noting that his first Treasure Hunt held last year netted commitments from marketers for 13 of the 35 products being showcased.

"Oftentimes," he said, "you can find a diamond in the rough."

Your government inaction: I was tickled to see that the federal government has pledged not to buy advertising time on television shows with excessive or gratuitous violence. Of course, among those branches of the government that advertise on TV include the Army and the Postal Service.

Just what kind of programming is considered too violent for the Army is hard to imagine, but I'd like to suggest a general rule of thumb for programmers to follow: Any activities that you can imagine a postal employee doing is probably off limits.

Clubbing: The Asian American Advertising and Public Relations Alliance is now accepting entries for its 1995 Horizon Awards. The awards will honor excellence in advertising and public relations with an emphasis on campaigns targeting Asian audiences. Call Michael Arlen at [phone] for entry information.

Around town: Jay Jacobs has merged his Jacobs Creative Inc. advertising firm with Scott Friedland's Imagine One Inc. advertising to create Friedland Jacobs Communications Inc. Located in Burbank, the full-service agency will specialize in the entertainment industry ... Cerrell Associates Inc. in Los Angeles has added nine new clients to its account roster, including the Los Angeles County Department of Public Works Waste Management Division and Montgomery Watson in Pasadena and Jim Cox Advertising in Pasadena was tapped for the Sheraton Gateway Hotel (previously the Sheraton Los Angeles Airport Hotel) advertising account.