Billy Mays

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Billy Mays's

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Birth Name: William Darrell Mays, Jr.

Born: 20 July 1958 Died: 28 June 2009

Born and residing in: United States

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	52 votes Haha, how do they get away with it? (24 items) by Kryptic Centurion Published 11 months, 2 weeks ago 9 comments View all lists

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About

With his jet-black beard and commanding voice, Billy Mays is quickly hitting critical mass as a pop culture icon and becoming a household name as one of the most recognizable pitchmen on television. From his very beginnings — hawking products on the Atlantic City boardwalk — it was clear that Billy had a natural talent for "pitching." Thanks to the mentoring he received from some of the legends of pitching, Billy began crafting a unique style that would soon garner wide recognitio With his jet-black beard and commanding voice, Billy Mays is quickly hitting critical mass as a pop culture icon and becoming a household name as one of the most recognizable pitchmen on television. From his very beginnings — hawking products on the Atlantic City boardwalk — it was clear that Billy had a natural talent for "pitching." Thanks to the mentoring he received from some of the legends of pitching, Billy began crafting a unique style that would soon garner wide recognition in his extremely competitive business. Traveling the world from home-shows to state and county fairs, he became a consistent money-maker as he continued to hone his constantly evolving skills.

On one fateful day at Billy's hometown's home and garden show, his booth was placed adjacent to a fellow pitchman in need of some assistance with a faulty microphone. Instead of letting his competitor sink or swim with his broken mic, Billy did the right thing and let him borrow one of his extras. The rival seller turned out to be the inventor of Orange Glo, Oxi-Clean and Kaboom!, three cleaning products that Mays would later help propel to huge success and worldwide renown.

The two kept in touch for many years, until 1996, when Billy was invited to pitch Orange Glo on live television via the Home Shopping Network. The results were an astounding viewer response and a total sell-out. It was apparent that Billy was onto something special, so he continued to pitch various products on live TV with equal and greater success.

From Home Shopping, the next obvious step was direct-response marketing, which would become an integral part of his impressive repertoire. Billy's long-form, 30-minute infomercials soon began to air frequently alongside other short-form spots, ranging from 30 seconds to 2 minutes in duration. Billy’s catchy rhyming and — loud — straight-to-the-point approach to the medium showed his unique and definitive knack for branding products that would, in turn, make him the go-to pitchman for any invention in need. ... (more)