Ginsu

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Ginsu is a line of kitchen knives made famous by their infomercial television marketing campaign. The Ginsu knife commercials, along with others produced by the same team, established many stylistic precedents for direct marketing on television:

• Contrived and dramatic product demonstrations
• Gushing, fast-paced praise of the product
• Clever catch phrases
• Extra products to sweeten the deal for purchasers ("But wait, there's more!")
• A direct call to action at the commercial's end, with easy payment over the phone via credit card ("Call now!")

The knives were first marketed via American television in 1978, soon after Ed Valenti, broadcasting executive for an NBC-TV affiliate, and Barry Becher, owner of an AAMCO Transmission franchise, opened a Providence, Rhode Island-based Direct Marketing ad agency, Dial Media, that would redefine direct marketing through the use of dramatic product demonstrations, high-intensity sales language and a direct call to action.

The actual name Ginsu was a creation of third member of the Dial Media team, ad copywriter Arthur Schiff, whom Valenti and Becher brought in to give their ad spots a unique energy and mania. Schiff supposedly came up with the idea to rename the knife in his sleep, changing it from the rather boring Quikut to a fake Japanese name to give it an air of exoticism and power. In the initial Ginsu commercials, the "Japanese chef" was actually a local exchange student, and the knives themselves were made in Ohio.

Many of the Dial Media team's catch phrases have become part of the broader advertising and popular culture lexicon, widely used and perhaps even more widely parodied today:

• In Japan, the hand can be used like a knife...but it can't cut a tomato!
• How much would you pay for a knife like this? Don't answer, because...
• NOW how much would you pay...
• But WAIT, there's more...
• Act now and you'll also receive...
• ...But this is a limited time offer, so call now!
• All for the incredible low price of only $...

Dial's use of comedy combined with research into purchasing the most effective and cost efficient television advertising time, the use of toll-free telephone numbers to place orders and acceptance of credit cards was the forerunner of much of today's direct marketing industry...as well as Home Shopping networks QVC and HSN.

The company started with an item that had been gathering dust on retail shelves for years, which the enterprising pair renamed " The Miracle Painter®"("Why is this man painting his ceiling in a tuxedo?"). Valenti and Becher opened their advertising agency on a shoestring budget, producing their own commercial that crammed the content of a 25-minute demonstration of The Miracle Painter into a two-minute spot. The offbeat, high-energy commercials, which opened with a man in a tuxedo painting a ceiling ( "No drips, no splatters"), were an incredible success, leading Dial Media to expand their business to include a number of other items marketed in the same rapid-fire manner.

According to the company's website, those items include:

• The Miracle Slicer
• The Miracle Duster
• Claudette Louberge Hosiery
• Royal Durasteel
• Vacufresh
• The "Chainge" Adjustable Necklace
• Lusterware Flatware
• Armourcote Cookware
• Ginsu Knives

Ginsu Knives were demonstrated in an extreme yet comical manner in commercials which showed the knives being used to cut through aluminum beverage cans and automotive radiator hoses. Designed to keep their edge and never require sharpening, the Ginsu was then used to cut thin slices from a tomato.

This sort of product abuse had been practiced in earlier commercial television, for example, Timex watches ("It takes a licking and keeps on ticking") had been strapped to car wheels and boat keels, BIC pens had been shot from guns and used as ice skates, and Saladmaster stainless steel pans had been thrown on floors and banged with hammers. However, Ginsu elevated product abuse to an art form and an infomercial staple.

Ginsu became one of the most popular and widely-marketed products in history, even attracting a celebrity clientele. Despite the Japanese-sounding name, Ginsu Knives were actually manufactured in Fremont, Ohio by the Quikut Division of cutlery manufacturer Scott Fetzer. Today, Ginsu Knives are manufactured by the Douglas Quikut division of Berkshire Hathaway, owned by billionaire (and "Sage of Omaha")Warren Buffett. The Ginsu brand is being considered for inclusion in the Smithsonian Institution and the "Ginsu Guys" are alive and well at their national media buying and marketing services firm PriMedia Inc...and on their website( www.ginsuguys.com ) where they market a new generation of Ginsu knives and other products to a worldwide audience.

For the record, the word "Ginsu" is not Japanese. It is a nonsense word that 'sounds' Japanese. The knives were originally called Eversharp... and sold very badly. They were originally manufactured in Freemont Ohio. Renaming them 'Ginsu' and creating the specialized infomercial and irresistible offer that sold them, created a best seller.

During the 1998 stand-up comedy show "I'm Telling You for the Last Time," Jerry Seinfeld joked about late-night infomercials, "You know, I don't think I can cut through a shoe with any of my knives. There is no more embarrassing moment in my life that I could tell you, than the fact that I have actually spoken the words, 'I would like to order the Ginsu knife. I'm gonna get this knife and cut my shoes up.'"

[edit] External links

• Ad writer who named the Ginsu knife dies
• He Sliced and Diced His Way Into Pop Culture
• Death of an Ad Man.
• http://www.ginsuguys.com
• PriMediaHQ.com website.

Valenti, Ed, Barry Becher (2005). The Wisdom of Ginsu. Career Press.