IN MY SHOES: What It’s Like To Be Billy Mays
The Washington Post profiles ubiquitous TV pitchman Billy Mays, 50, a college dropout who lives in Odessa, FL with his wife and two kids in a five-bedroom house that looks like “an as-seen-on-TV showroom,” and owns a Bentley, Mercedes SUV and Range Rover:
Mays is a tireless worker, ready to fly to any city for any shoot and then fly back for reshoots if necessary. Each of his "shows," as he calls them, requires dozens and dozens of takes, mostly because Mays is prone to stumbles and miscues, many of which are memorialized on blooper reels posted to YouTube. …
Top pitchmen get about $20,000 upfront for each commercial they tape, but Mays makes even more money from a commission on gross revenue. He won't get specific about his annual income other than to say he can't retire anytime soon. What's known is that he is easily the most sought-after spokesman in the business. …
"He's developed a loyal fan base," says Scott Sobo, the president of SAS Group in Tarrytown, N.Y., makers of a gardening device called the Awesome Auger. ("It takes the hard work out of yard work!") "We analyze the data on an ongoing basis, and there's no two ways about it. He adds value to the product."
"You're in a media environment that is crowded with millions of messages," says Jordan Pine, a consultant to infomercial makers. "Billy Mays is going to cut through that clutter." …
It's hard to imagine a sales technique more out of fashion than the yell and sell. Marketing today is all about stealth, sex, pratfalls or smug postmodernism. Mays offers none of those. He's your overcaffeinated buddy, dressed in Regular Joe casual and he's just bolted into his kitchen, or into his back yard, to tell you about a deal on a gizmo that will definitely improve your life. Everything about him screams "sales pitch," but this unabashedness is meant to be part of his charm. There is no pretense or subtlety. Mays is the opposite of slick.
This fall, Mays will star in the TV reality show, “Pitchmen,” which will give viewers a behind-the-scenes peek at how a two-minute infomercial is made.
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