On Monday night, I was out at a bar with my best friend, celebrating his birthday. We were watching ESPN highlights (mostly about Mark McGwire’s recent announcement or the Cardinals game on Sunday) when a commercial break came, and Anthony Sullivan appeared to promote a new drain unclogging wonder that could be bought For Only $19.95 (plus shipping and handling). ”I can’t believe that [Sullivan] has been getting all Billy Mays‘ work since he died,” my friend lamented. ”How did that happen?”
Which got me wondering – how did that happen? How did Billy Mays become such a cultural touchstone that people are sad that he’s no longer making infomercials? He was a TV pitchman, a role that isn’t typically associated with celebrity. And then I remembered how Dick Van Dyke got famous.
In some PBS special I watched too long ago to remember the name of, Carl Reiner was being interviewed about The Dick Van Dyke Show, and was telling the story of its name. When the creators were developing the show in 1961, they were having trouble finding a hook to draw viewers in. None of the actors were well-known at the time, and the generic names the network offered for the series didn’t work. So the creators took a gamble and named the show after their leading man. Dick Van Dyke wasn’t a celebrity then, but his eponymous show created self-fulfilling prophecy that made him a celebrity. After all, he had his own show – he HAD to be someone!
Similarly, Billy Mays was endorsing a lot of products with the strength of his pitches resting on his opening line, “Hi, Billy Mays here…” Who was Billy Mays? Well, if he was on TV endorsing something, he HAD to be someone!
The key is total brand confidence.
Both Dick Van Dyke and Billy Mays were thrust on stage (metaphorically speaking) and through sheer force of will and conviction, people accepted that they had value and were worth paying attention to. Sure, it’s a more risky gambit than creating a persona over time, but if you can present your brand with enough charisma, and then back it up by showing utility, people will take notice and follow.
However, this move can be overplayed. After all, what’s more pathetic than someone saying “Don’t you know who I am?” If you have to resort to this, you’ve already lost, and your brand loses value. All you need is to confidently say something that gets across the message, this is who I am, and this is what I can do.
It might sound simple, or even a little contrived. But getting by on the strength of one’s name has worked since the early days of television. So give it a try – there’s no shipping or handling involved.
