|
"Is a picture worth a...?"
Hello
It was in 1978 – Arthur woke at 3:00 am and
jumped out of bed shouting “Eureka! I’ve got it. Ginsu!”
The ‘Arthur’ in question was Arthur Schiff – a
copywriter in the 1970s for an advertising agency in Providence, Rhode Island,
USA.
And it was...
Schiff who was one of the early stars of the
long-form TV advert - later to be known as the ‘infomercial’
He teamed up with Barry Beacher and Ed Valenti
and marketed the Miracle Painter – a drip free brush.
To make the point he...
Had a man in a tuxedo painting a ceiling- very
clever!
And then along came – Ginsu!
You see...
The brilliant marketing for Ginsu included a
number of key elements. The Ginsu Double-Edged Blade Knife had originally been
called the: Quikut and was made in Ohio.
Schiff’s new Japanese-sounding name, “Ginsu”
plus the Japanese exchange student who acted in the infomercials as the chef –
conjured up thoughts of Samurai swords and the like...
However...
Let’s put that aside for the moment as we look
together at the demonstration that made the Ginsu commercial one of the most
successful direct response ads of that decade.
The infomercial starts with a hand – karate
chopping a piece of wood. The voice-over states: “In Japan the hand can be used
like a knife; but this method doesn’t work
- with a tomato!”
At this point – the same ‘chopping- hand’
slashes down squashing and pulping the tomato!
Then of course the Ginsu knife would cut
tomato slices thinner than a butterfly’s wings.
Oh WOW! What a...
Fabulously visual demonstration! One that sold
so many Ginsu Knives!
And so...
Here’s my take on this mind-smiling story:
How can you and I create such VISUAL
demonstrations for our own products and services?
Demos - which grab those info-greedy eyes of
our potentials
Demos – which stop even the cynic in their
well-worn tracks
Demos – which halt the jaded with the sparkle
of freshly polished gems
Just think...
What a spine-tingly; bank-balance-boosting;
reputation-rising difference it could make – ooh!
Let’s do it-
shall we?
Go on then...
Peter Thomson
Editor and
Demo-Doing Publisher
tgiMondays
PS: comments, thoughts, ideas, puzzles or
laughter to:
peter@tgimondays.com |
