Ginsu

The Ginsu knife is a product best known for the sales techniques used to promote it.

The "amazing" Ginsu knife became known to millions of television viewers in the USA through ubiquitous television advertisements in the 1970s. Ads asked "How much would you pay? Don't answer!", urged viewers to "Call now! Operators are standing by!" and included the signature line "But wait! There's more!". The ads fueled sales of between two and three million Ginsu sets between 1978 and 1984.

The Ginsu ads adapted the "hard sell" direct-marketing techniques of door-to-door sales and print advertising to the medium of television. In the process they established the formula for the modern infomercial. The style of the ads also invoked many elements of the modern informercial pitchman style, popularized first by Ron Popeil, and carried through to modern times by Billy Mays and Vince Offer.

"Ginsu has everything a great direct-response commercial could have," said John Witek, author of Response Television: Combat Advertising of the 1980s and a marketing consultant. "Ginsu had humor, demonstration, and a precisely structured series of premium offers I call 'the lots-for-a-little approach.'"

Cultural impact

In American popular culture "the amazing Ginsu knife" remains an icon of "hard sell" marketing. Valenti and Becher repeated the advertising formula with other products such as the Miracle Slicer, Royal Durasteel mixing bowls, Vacufresh storage containers, the “Chainge” Adjustable Necklace, and Armourcote Cookware.^{[citation needed]} According to the Ginsu website Ginsu Guys.com, the comedian Gallagher made a career out of mimicking the commercial's antics. Jerry Seinfeld joked in a stand-up routine that he ordered the Ginsu knife after seeing the infomercial so late at night that he was too tired to realize he had no use for the knives. In April 2009, a stretch of road in Warwick, Rhode Island which passes the office of Ed Valenti, was named Ginsu Way. Previous knives of a similar style had a single edged blade. It was Michael Walshe's idea to create the Ginsu with a double edged blade and so make it different, and more versatile, than those before it. The Ginsu Knife Set was also the creation of Walshe who combined it with a number of premium bonuses to give maximum impact in a TV commercial. In doing this Walshe used techniques learned during his career as a pitchman. He also provided the demonstration which was used to create the Ginsu TV spot. This relied on the premiums being presented in a specific sequence to create the desired effect of closing sales. Walshe worked with, among others, the legendary scriptwriter Arthur Schiff on this project and together they created the well recognized line "But wait.... there's more!" which has since been used many times in DRTV advertising. Walshe used similar methods with other products he promoted for TV sales - notably, Armourcote Cookware plus several more well known As Seen On TV products.

References

• Becher, Barry; Ed Valenti (2005), The Wisdom of Ginsu: Carve Yourself a Piece of the American Dream, Franklin Lakes, NJ: Career Press, ISBN 1-56414-803-3 

• Isabel Gottlieb (2008-03-07). "30 Years Later, This Iconic Knife Still Carving Its Name". features. Brown Daily Herald (Web link). Retrieved 2008-04-09. 

• Reynolds, Bill (December 12, 1982), "GINSU! It came from Warwick - it devoured the marketing world", Sunday Journal Magazine: 3 .

• Auchmutey, Jim (1983), "But wait, there's more!", Advertising Age Special Report: 1 .

• Smith, Andy (March 28, 2005), "But wait, there's more!", Providence Journal: 1 .

• Ron Popeil, Philip Kives, Ed Valenti and Barry Becher, Robert Thompson, among others (2003). Gadget Mania: The History and Evolution of the Informercial (DVD). Discovery Communications, Inc. 

• GinsuGuys.com – About: The Ginsu Guys

External links

• Official Ginsu Website
• Ginsu Guys.com
• He Sliced and Diced His Way Into Pop Culture
• PriMediaHQ.com
• Original Ginsu Commercial
• Original Ginsu Commercial II