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Billy Mays Dead

OK, everyone - be nice...

Conan had Mays on a few nights ago, and he seemed like a perfectly pleasant and soft-spoken guy...not that it should come as a surprise. Most of these people are not who they 'play on television.' He did do his act (he called it "projecting") to big cheers from the audience.

An interesting piece of trivia he mentioned: he got his start in sales at the same Philadelphia company where Ed McMahon had started a couple of decades before him.

RIP Billy.
 
Lkeller said:
An interesting piece of trivia he mentioned: he got his start in sales at the same Philadelphia company where Ed McMahon had started a couple of decades before him.
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Then I wonder how Ed could pitch a worthless product with charm and elegance and Billy just screamed?

Somebody missed some homework along the way.
 
I'm just hoping that TV doesn't decide to pay tribute to him in the same way they've done with Michael Jackson's videos.
 
landtuna said:
Lkeller said:
An interesting piece of trivia he mentioned: he got his start in sales at the same Philadelphia company where Ed McMahon had started a couple of decades before him.
Click to expand...

Then I wonder how Ed could pitch a worthless product with charm and elegance and Billy just screamed?

Somebody missed some homework along the way.
Click to expand...

I was pointing out a trivia factoid; not comparing Ed with Billy. It goes without saying that Ed was a much more charming and talented guy than Mays. Actually, we don't know if Mays was talented or not because (you're right) he just did what he did, and that was yelling at a camera.

But not every comment on this board requires a value judgment or a critique. If you folks want to trash Mays (again) - go right ahead.
 
Not to be too morbid, but as I (and maybe someone else) mentioned in either the Michael Jackson or Farrah thread, bad stuff happens in threes (Ed, Michael, and Farrah). I mentioned that Uncle Walter (Walter Cronkite) might be the start of the next three. I guess I was wrong.
 
Last time I saw Billy Mays on tv was on The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien a few days ago. Ironically, that was the show that had the Ed McMahon tribute.

I remember last summer there was a bunch of celebrity deaths, so maybe this is the new trend if that makes any sense.
 
Lkeller said:
If you folks want to trash Mays (again) - go right ahead.
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I didn't mean to imply I was trashing Mays. Hell, I never knew the man. But his 'in your face' style of selling is very offensive to me and, like with Michael Jackson, when he came on I hit the channel button. Couldn't stand to listen to either one of them. In fact, he is one of the primary reasons I dumped cable not too long ago just as Jackson was a primary reason why MTV has never been seen in my home.

But I still, after all these years, fail to understand how being obnoxious and loud is expected to sell something (particularly something that isn't well known or desired).

Mays seemed to be a throwback to an earlier day of wagon-mounted snake oil salesmen - only with electronic assistance.
 
Many times award winning spots don't sell a darn thing. Mays SOLD the product. In a matter of 60 seconds he demonstated the "miracles" of each product and had great "hooks" that stayed in your head. After all, isn't that why people buy advertsing?
 
Reports are he hit his head on falling luggage when he landed at the Tampa airport (result of a bumpy landing). He apparently felt fine that evening, but he went to sleep and apparenltly never woke up. Sadly, this has occured in the past where brain damage occurs, and it is not noted until it is too late.

The season (now probably series) finale of "Pitchmen" is scheduled for Wednesday night on the Discovery Channel, after a day-long marathon. I suspect it will go on as scheduled, as a tribute.

Not only were there parallels to Ed McMahon as to where Billy Mays got his start...but there are parallells to Michael Jackson as he was also 50...too young to leave us.

A bad week for the entertainment industry all around this week.
 
Ferreri said:
In a matter of 60 seconds he demonstated the "miracles" of each product and had great "hooks" that stayed in your head. After all, isn't that why people buy advertsing?
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Maybe I'm not "normal" (don't go there!) but after having grown up with so much loud and obnoxious advertising I have developed an internal mechanism that literally shuts off reception when any commercial comes on. In the unlikely event I want to hear about something being advertised I generally have to either (1) record it, or (2) listen/watch several times to get the information.

Aside from the well advertised Oxy Clean I couldn't name another product advertised by Mays because as soon as I could get the remote after hearing "HI! BILLY MAYS HERE!!!" the TV was on another channel.
 
If you folks want to trash Mays (again) - go right ahead.

I didn't mean to imply I was trashing Mays. Hell, I never knew the man. But his 'in your face' style of selling is very offensive to me and, like with Michael Jackson, when he came on I hit the channel button. Couldn't stand to listen to either one of them. In fact, he is one of the primary reasons I dumped cable not too long ago just as Jackson was a primary reason why MTV has never been seen in my home.
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It's usually the one dimensionals that trash artists because they're not "big bad rockers". Michael could've had 500 charting hits & someone would still be trash talking him.
 
I can't believe people are bagging on the guy. He did what is rapidly becoming a lost art - he branded himself. He built the brand that is Billy Mays, and as a result he was effective at selling products.

Radio used to do that - build brands and sell.
 
landtuna said:
But I still, after all these years, fail to understand how being obnoxious and loud is expected to sell something (particularly something that isn't well known or desired).
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Wouldn't his products' sales figures show you how that works or doesn't work?
 
A couple of thoughts here:

1: He must have been effective, otherwise companies would not hire him to sell their products.

2: Did he get hurt/die on the return trip from The Tonight Show Starring Conan O'Brien?
 
About the head trauma (likely trauma, anyways), didn't that happen to actress Natasha Richardson? She showed no obvious signs of trauma after her skiing accident in Quebec, but then died hours later.

R.I.P. Ed McMahon, Farrah Fawcett, Michael Jackson and Billy Mays.

I sincerely hope that Patrick Swayze isn't the next to go. :(
 
Well, he did say on an interview with a Tampa tv station, regarding his flight blowing tires upon landing in Tampa, that luggage from the overhead rack fell and hit him on the head. So maybe he DID suffer some kind of Natasha Richardson-type head trauma. ??? :eek:
 
Boston's Fox station just mentioned that Mays wasn't feeling well when he went to bed last night. :eek:

And, I hate to bring it up (but I will) but don't you think that the Oxy Clean and Orange Glo (and other) companies might just clean up (pardon the pun) with the media stories of Mays death? News stories about him will show him pitching these various products resulting in free publicity for the companies and products, especially to those few people who were never familiar with Mays or any of the products. Fox/Boston showed him taping a spot for KaBoom.
 
Billy Mays was distinctive. He cut through the clutter to grab your attention, whether you wanted him to or not. That's a gift and an art that few people possess. It's pretty obvious to me after watching the show Pitchmen that Mays was a lot more than just a pitchman. He had to really believe in a product before he'd agree to sell it. More often than not, he found good products to sell. He also loved what he was doing. How often can you say that about a person these days?

I'm very sorry to hear he has passed away. He was only 50. That's way too young to go.
 
He was an icon and sold a hell of a lot of product. Also, a small Denver family-owned company called Orange Glo International, for whom he pitched Orange Glo, Kaboom, Oxy-clean, etc., sold out to Church & Dwight for 325 milllion dollars a couple of years ago.

C&D (makers of everything from Arm & Hammer baking soda to Brillo to Crest toothpaste to Trojan condoms) retained him as their pitchman, with much bigger budgets. A great testimony to his impact.

And his Billy Mays Productions had a bunch more direct response clients, as well. That doesn't happen unless the talent is moving merchandise, big time.

50 years old.

I wonder if it had anything to do with the hard plane landing at Tampa airport.

What a quandary for all his clients, with time buys already on the books, productions in the can and spots on the schedule--all based on his ability to pitch and sell product. (Also, what about that tv show?) I saw one of his spots just a while ago.

People who met him at the Direct Response gathering in San Diego a few weeks ago say he seemed like a really nice man.

Don't knock the guy. He created a persona and he was a success, any way you want to look at it, unless you want to write nasty posts on this and other sites.

What have you accomplished lately?
 
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