Billy Mays, Pitchman. R.I.P.

I never met Billy Mays. But I liked him. And I liked his work. There’s something that has always fascinated me about the pitchman and the way he works. Billy Mays was the King of the Pitchmen. The guy had the mad skills when it came to selling – you get the feeling that, no mater the product, he could find a way to make you want it. The guy could have sold iceboxes to Eskimos, and made them line up  10 deep to buy ‘em. There was something refreshingly honest, open, and yes, even a little hokey about his style. I mean, the man made a living selling stuff, to the extent that his endorsement of a product added to its credibility. Think about that. They guy that sold us Orange Glo, OxyClean and Mighty Putty (which is nothing more than plumber’s putty – epoxy – with a fancy marketing campaign), could give a product some street cred just because he endorsed it. How many marketing guys can you think of that could endorse a product and have it really mean something? To say Billy Mays was a “success” would be an understatement. From humble beginings, he ended up with a mansion in Tampa, Florida, and an income and net worth that was the envy of nearly everyone in marketing. Not bad for someone who came up in the State Fair circuit.

This morning, Billy Mays died. He was just 50 years old – in the “prime of his life” as they say. He went to bed last night, seemingly fine, and never woke up. The only pre-autopsy clue to his demise is speculation over the potential role a rough landing he had on a flight Saturday into Tampa International, where both front tires on the airliner blew out on landing. Mays was interviewed after the incident, and said that he’d been hit by falling luggage, but claimed his “hard head” saved him from injury. Maybe. Maybe not. I suspect that the same thing that killed Natasha Richardson resulted in his demise, an epidural hematoma. (I further suspect that it won’t be long before the ObamaNation calls for mandatory helmet regulations for all Americans.)

There are all kinds of marketing. Highbrow. Lowbrow. High Pressure. Subtle. Mays style was that of the quintessential pitchman…oft imitated, seldom – if ever – equaled. He will be missed.

UPDATE: 6/29: The M.E.’s office states that the preliminary results of the autopsy show that it was NOT any kind of brain injury that killed Mays. They now suspect heart disease, but further tests will be needed.

From what I could tell, as well as what I read about the guy, he had a big heart. Evidently that was in both a spiritual as well as physical sense. Rest in Peace, Mr. Mays.

This entry was posted on Sunday, June 28th, 2009 at 8:40 pm and is filed under advertising, marketing.You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.