Working with his partner Barry Becher, Ed Valenti developed many of the best known catch phrases and product demonstrations, as well as the standard format of the long-form (two minute, 90 second) advertisement. In contrast to traditional short-form or "brand" advertising, such as the 30-second or 60-second spot, Valenti's long-form advertisements were the pre-cursors of the full half-hour television program length (half-hour) infomercials now commonly used to sell a variety of products and services on television. The intent of this new format was to elevate a particular product to the role of protagonist, showing the product benefits and a variety of uses through attention grabbing demonstrations, hopefully leading to direct sales of the product. Such products are often only available through consumer direct orders and can not be purchased in stores. Ironically, this "direct response" long form commercial format, intended to primarily sell products directly to consumers, created at the same time one of the most recognizable, memorable, and long lasting "brands" in advertising history: Ginsu Knives.
The first such product marketed by Valenti to achieve multi-million dollar sales was also the first product he and Becher ever marketed: The Miracle Painter ("Why is this man painting his ceiling in a tuxedo?") It was soon followed by the Miracle Duster and Miracle Slicer. Easily the best known of Valenti's products was (and still is) the Ginsu Knife. The most profitable was Armourcote Cookware, with sales exceeding $80 million. (source - Wikipedia).
An annoying as they are, I have to give credit to Valenti for developing this new, creative way to sell products. Not only did he created this entirely new marketing campaign, but has also been credited with coining the following phrases:
- "But Wait! There's More"
- "Now How Much would you pay?"
- "You get it all for the incredible low price of only $xx.xx"
- "Call now, and we'll also include..."
- "Supplies are limited, so call now! or "Call now, this is a limited time BONUS offer".
Valenti realized that, in order for the long-form commercial to be successful at driving immediate sales, viewers would need to be advised to make an immediate purchase. To satisfy this need he and Barry Becher created 1-800 "toll-free" numbers with phone banks ready to take orders the moment the infomercial aired on a 24 hour basis, days, and even weeks after the initial spot aired. In order to add a sense of urgency to the purchase, the viewer was advised to order the item immediately ("Call now"), rather than postponing it. This "call to action", like the use of toll free numbers and credit cards, has become a standard component of successful direct response advertising over the years.
Love 'em or hate 'em, you have to consider Valenti and Becher marketing genius'!
