#29: Infomercials—What OxiClean & Shamwow Can Teach Us About Messaging That Sells

Summary

Podcast Summary: Why That Worked – Episode #29: Infomercials—What OxiClean & ShamWow Can Teach Us About Messaging That Sells

Presented by StoryBrand.ai

Release Date: July 21, 2025
Hosts: Donald Miller & Kyle Reed

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Introduction

In Episode #29 of Why That Worked, hosted by Donald Miller and Kyle Reed of StoryBrand.ai, the discussion centers around the iconic infomercials of OxiClean and ShamWow. The hosts dissect what makes these campaigns remarkably effective, extracting actionable insights to help businesses craft compelling messaging that drives sales.

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OxiClean Infomercial Analysis

Tone and Delivery

The OxiClean infomercial, famously presented by Billy Mays, is characterized by its high-energy and enthusiastic delivery. Donald Miller notes, “He's yelling. And the thing is, we know it's an infomercial and we know he's yelling, but you're not rolling your eyes... he's really annoying. He's getting your freaking attention” (02:20).

Messaging Strategies

1. Use of Power Words and Hooks

   • Power of Oxygen: Billy Mays opens with a strong hook: “It’s amazing. Watch how Oxiclean unleashes the power of oxygen...” (01:20). This phrase instantly grabs attention and sets a dynamic tone.
   • Magic: The term “magic” is employed to describe the product’s effectiveness, enhancing its appeal: “...tough stains disappear like magic...” (04:45).

2. Targeted Audience

   • Specific Needs Addressed: The infomercial targets specific consumer pain points, such as pet messes and baby clothes, making the message relevant to particular segments: “There was a couple things they said, like baby clothes and pet messes jeans...” (05:38).

3. Price Comparison and Value Proposition

   • Cost Savings: Donald highlights the clever price comparison: “He’s comparing it to what he’s saying is $10 saves you money... you’re selling money” (07:07). This positions OxiClean not just as a product but as a money-saving solution.

4. Addressing Objections

   • Preemptive Counterarguments: The infomercial addresses potential doubts upfront, such as the damaging effects of bleach: “The bleach you referenced, bleach is going to ruin your clothes. It won’t ruin your clothes” (08:18).

5. Demonstration and Cognitive Ease

   • Simple Usage Instructions: By demonstrating how to use OxiClean, the infomercial removes any cognitive dissonance, making it easy for consumers to understand and use the product: “Add a scoop of Oxiclean to every load of laundry” (09:24).

Outcomes and Success

The effectiveness of this strategy is evident in OxiClean's remarkable growth, reaching $6.1 billion in sales by 2024. Donald emphasizes, “It's how they sold it” (12:35), underscoring that the success wasn’t solely due to the product’s efficacy but the compelling way it was marketed.

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ShamWow Infomercial Analysis

Tone and Delivery

Vince Offer, the face of ShamWow, employs a rapid-fire, high-energy delivery similar to Billy Mays. His fast-paced, soundbite-heavy presentation keeps viewers engaged and conveys a sense of urgency.

Messaging Strategies

1. Soundbite Stacking

   • Rapid Pace of Information: Vince uses quick, impactful statements to communicate multiple benefits in a short time: “It’s like a shammy. It’s like a towel. It’s like a sponge...” (14:59). This technique ensures that viewers receive a high density of information, reinforcing the product’s versatility.

2. "Same but Different" Approach

   • Comparative Positioning: Vince often frames ShamWow by comparing it to familiar items, making it easier for consumers to grasp its unique value: “It's like a shammy. It's like a towel. It’s like a sponge” (18:04). This mirrors the screenwriting technique of describing something familiar but with a unique twist.

3. Targeting Multiple Demographics

   • Versatile Applications: By demonstrating ShamWow’s use in various settings—house, car, boat, RV—the infomercial appeals to a broad audience: “This is for the house, the car, the boat, the RV” (18:39).

4. Use of Urgency in CTA (Call to Action)

   • Limited-Time Offers: Vince employs urgency to drive immediate action: “If you call now within the next 20 minutes... absolutely free” (16:33). This creates a fear of missing out, prompting quicker decision-making.

5. Brand Naming and Repetition

   • Memorable Name and Tagline: The repetitive use of "ShamWow" reinforces brand recall. Phrases like “You’ll be saying wow every time” serve both as a tagline and a call to action (14:25, 21:06).

6. Use of Testimonials and Demonstrations

   • Short, Impactful Testimonials: The infomercial includes concise testimonials that validate the product’s effectiveness without overwhelming the viewer: “I can't live without it. I just love it” (16:05).

Outcomes and Success

ShamWow’s aggressive and multifaceted marketing strategy led to impressive sales figures, with over 50 million chamois sold worldwide and revenues reaching $100 million in the early years (23:40). The combination of high-energy delivery, strategic messaging, and compelling demonstrations played a pivotal role in its market penetration.

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Key Takeaways and Actionable Insights

1. Use High-Energy Delivery to Grab Attention

   • Emulate the enthusiastic and dynamic presentation style to capture and retain your audience’s attention.

2. Craft Strong Hooks and Power Words

   • Incorporate compelling phrases that evoke curiosity and emotion, such as “power of oxygen” or “like magic.”

3. Target Specific Audiences

   • Address the unique needs and pain points of specific customer segments to make your message more relevant and engaging.

4. Highlight Value Proposition Clearly

   • Use price comparisons and demonstrate how your product saves money or adds value, thereby selling not just the product but the benefits it brings.

5. Preemptively Address Objections

   • Anticipate and resolve potential consumer doubts within your messaging to build trust and reduce hesitation.

6. Simplify Usage Instructions

   • Show clearly how to use your product to eliminate any cognitive dissonance and make the purchasing decision easier.

7. Implement Soundbite Stacking

   • Deliver information in quick, digestible chunks to maximize information retention and impact.

8. Create Urgency in Calls to Action

   • Use limited-time offers and urgent language to encourage immediate action from your audience.

9. Utilize Testimonials Effectively

   • Incorporate short, powerful testimonials to provide social proof and enhance credibility.

10. Adopt the "Same but Different" Strategy

    • Compare your product to familiar items while highlighting its unique benefits to help consumers understand its value quickly.

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Conclusion

Donald Miller and Kyle Reed effectively break down the success of OxiClean and ShamWow infomercials by highlighting key messaging strategies that drive sales. From high-energy delivery and strong hooks to targeted messaging and effective calls to action, the episode provides valuable insights for businesses aiming to refine their communication and achieve similar success.

For businesses seeking to enhance their messaging, Why That Worked emphasizes the importance of clarity, emotional engagement, and strategic presentation—principles that are essential for creating compelling and effective marketing campaigns.

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Notable Quotes:

• “He’s not just selling Oxiclean, he’s selling money.” — Donald Miller (07:07)
• “If you have a business to business and you can save somebody $50,000 a year, you’re selling them $50,000.” — Donald Miller (08:04)
• “ShamWow. That's all I gotta say.” — Kyle Reed (16:33)
• “You’re gonna say wow every time.” — Vince Offer (16:02)
• “Same but different.” — Donald Miller (24:19)

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For more insights on effective messaging, visit StoryBrand.ai.

Transcript

[Donald Miller]

Foreign.

[Kyle Reed]

You're listening to the why that Work podcast presented by StoryBrand AI. If you've ever wondered why certain brands, trends or cultural phenomena find success while others don't, you're in the right place. Every week we unpack why something worked, then give you actionable insights that you can use in your own life. Now let's dive in with your hosts, Donald Miller and Kyle Reed.

Don, do you remember this guy?

[Donald Miller]

Yes.

[Kyle Reed]

Here's my favorite thing about this guy. His name, you can't make it up. Is Vince Offer.

[Donald Miller]

There's no way that's his real name.

[Kyle Reed]

I really hope it is, but I agree with you.

[Donald Miller]

That's amazing.

[Kyle Reed]

But today I want to talk about the brilliance of crazy pitch. I've got an ad for Billy May's Oxiclean. And then our man Vince Offer the Shamwow.

[Donald Miller]

Are we going to. Are we going to look?

[Kyle Reed]

So here's what I want to do. I want to. I've got both of these and here's what I. The premise of this episode is I want to watch both of these offers these pitches.

[Donald Miller]

One Shamwell. What's the other one?

[Kyle Reed]

Oxiclean.

[Donald Miller]

That's Billy Mays is Oxiclean.

[Kyle Reed]

Here's what we're gonna do. We're gonna watch these, okay? We're gonna watch them all the way through so people will be able to see them on the screen. And then I want to talk about what they got. Right?

[Donald Miller]

Okay.

[Kyle Reed]

Okay. Sound good? All right, so first one is Oxiclean. So let me get this going. This is our friend Billy Mays.

[Donald Miller]

I used Oxiclean like yesterday.

[Kyle Reed]

It works.

[Donald Miller]

It does work.

[Kyle Reed]

It does work. Okay, here we go.

[Billy Mays]

It's amazing. Watch how Oxiclean unleashes the power of oxygen, making tough stains disappear like magic, without fading or bleeding. The colors for pet messes. Oxiclean is a must. It goes deep down below the surface to get rid of the stain and the odor. Have you ever spilled chlorine bleach on your colored clothes? Well, Oxiclean is tough on stains without the damaging effects of chlorine bleach. If you save one pair of jeans, then Oxiclean has paid for itself. Some clothes say no chlorine bleach, but Oxiclean safely removes the stain. Even on baby's clothes. It's the stain remover for the things that you love. Add a scoop of Oxiclean to every load of laundry. It'll boost the stain removing power of your detergent. Don't just clean it.

[Kyle Reed]

Okay, so what's the first Thing you wrote down.

[Donald Miller]

Okay, here's what. First of all, amazing, right? Not just like effective. I mean, it's over the top. He's yelling. And the thing is, we know it's an infomercial and we know he's yelling, but you're not rolling your eyes going, gosh, this guy's yelling at me. He's really annoying. He's getting your freaking attention. And we deal with this all the time with our clients and they won't be dramatic because they don't want to be the infomercial person. But you actually don't look at Billy Mays and go, that guy's really dramatic. And over the top. Because television as a media or radio or Instagram or whatever, or visuals, if you don't just dramatize and over project and really exaggerate your tone of voice and your presentation, you just. It deludes when you actually do it. So what I mean by that is, like, if I say, hey, everybody, thanks for following me on social media today, I wanna talk about such and such in person. Like, if we were having lunch, you'd be like, this dude is nuts. But on Instagram, nobody notices. Right. And so what you're making the mistake of doing is acting like you're having lunch with somebody and not being loud enough in your media presentation. So that's the first thing I noted then. The power of oxygen.

[Kyle Reed]

I wrote that down too.

[Donald Miller]

Did you?

[Kyle Reed]

Power of oxygen.

[Donald Miller]

A power of oxygen. That was so that was the first thing. I only got ox.

[Kyle Reed]

I felt, well, he's moving so fast, it was hard to keep up.

[Donald Miller]

That's another thing. Yeah, well, we could talk about that too. How fast he's moving from sound bite to sound bite to sound bite to sound bite.

[Kyle Reed]

But did in my eyes, did that open a little bit of a story loop for you of like right away? Like, what. What's he. Power of oxygen.

[Donald Miller]

Yeah, what he did. First of all, what the heck is the power of oxygen? But nobody sits there and goes, well, what the heck is the power of oxygen? This guy doesn't know what he's talking about. Power. We assume oxygen has power instantly, and that lends credibility to the product, even though we have no idea how this actually works.

[Kyle Reed]

Yes.

[Donald Miller]

By the way, when you wash your clothes, do you know how much oxygen is in that washing machine? It's like a whole tank of it.

[Kyle Reed]

Yeah, yeah.

[Donald Miller]

Because it's the air, but it's powerful. By the way, the water that you're using is called H2O. So we should all be just Rolling our eyes. Oh, they added oxygen.

[Kyle Reed]

Yeah. But it works. But it works. Well, to your point about that opening line, it's amazing. The power of oxygen.

[Donald Miller]

He used the word magic. Did you catch that?

[Kyle Reed]

I didn't.

[Donald Miller]

He used the word magic. It works like magic, which we talk.

[Kyle Reed]

About a lot on this podcast of using those dramatic, over emphasized words.

[Donald Miller]

Yes.

[Kyle Reed]

To describe what you're doing.

[Donald Miller]

It's all drawn. It's theater.

[Kyle Reed]

A lot of people probably listening is. Hear that. You know, you got to have a hook on your video. You know, you need to have some kind of hook. That's he. Well, but he's showing that. Yeah. To your point.

[Donald Miller]

There is a hook.

[Kyle Reed]

Is the hook, but I think.

[Donald Miller]

I think the bigger hook is frickin blasted with energy.

[Kyle Reed]

Yeah, exactly. But that's a hook. That's a hook. And I actually like. I don't want to skip that point what you just said. Most people shoot content or make content like they're talking to a friend over coffee. And that's a mistake. That's a mistake. That's a really. That's a good catch. The other thing I loved that he did was they knew who they were talking to, so they had a pretty targeted audience. There was a couple things they said, like baby clothes and pet messes jeans, things like that. They're targeting a.

[Donald Miller]

Well, he did a couple things there. One, he identified pet messes. So he got specific. Now, the difference between a pet stain and a backyard playground stain is precisely nothing. However, in terms of like getting it clean. Right. However, when people hear their. I call it hearing their name. When people hear their name, they tune in. And so if you have a dog and the dog tracks in mud or whatever, or poops on the. I don't know how you're getting a pet stain in the washing machine. Like it's pooped on your clothes, whatever. Yeah. Dog poop on your suit.

[Kyle Reed]

I don't know.

[Donald Miller]

Whatever. But when you hear. When you're like, I have a pet.

[Kyle Reed]

Yes.

[Donald Miller]

You listen.

[Kyle Reed]

That's right.

[Donald Miller]

And so he's not. He's being specific and not general. Yes, I guess that would be the idea. The other thing is stain and odor. Oh, did you hear that?

[Kyle Reed]

I didn't. No.

[Donald Miller]

Here's the other thing that I want everybody to notice about this. He's moving so fast. He's doing what I call sound bite stacking.

[Kyle Reed]

Yep.

[Donald Miller]

This is not a paragraph that he's reading. It's sound bite stacking. So every word is a sound bite. Sound bite, Sound bite, Sound bite. Pet stains. Stain and odor. Bleach. Look what bleach will do to your clothes. Bleach. This will get it clean without ruining your clothes. Jeans. He's almost down to one word. Jeans. Pets, fur, hair, Oxygen.

[Kyle Reed]

So true.

[Donald Miller]

He's not elaborating on anything.

[Kyle Reed]

No, no. But he's stacking them. Exactly.

[Donald Miller]

He's stacking it. Soundbite. Stacking.

[Kyle Reed]

Okay, here's a question for you. How effective? I thought this line was super effective. But how effective is this as a CTA where it's like you put your jeans in, it pays for itself by fixing.

[Donald Miller]

There you go. Well, what he's doing is he's price comparing it.

[Kyle Reed]

Yeah.

[Donald Miller]

So, you know, okay, if this thing is 10 bucks, but your jeans were 60. Right. And you save one pair of jeans, you just saved 60 bucks. He's, he's, he's comparing it to what he's saying is $10 saves you money. So now he's not just selling oxiclean, he's selling money. And this is really, really important with a lot of items that our listeners are selling. I always say, look, sell money. It needs to be part of your pitch. It's not obviously what you're selling, but it's part of your pitch. If you have a business to business and you can save somebody $50,000 a year, you're selling them $50,000. You're not selling them. Whatever you're selling them, you're selling them $50,000. So $5,000 is a good investment to get $50,000 back.

[Kyle Reed]

Yep.

[Donald Miller]

And so that's what he just did there. And I think every pitch needs to include that if you're selling it for money, you just say, by the way, this will sell you. What? Even if you save one pair of jeans, you've paid for this 10 times over. I mean, what a great fricking line.

[Kyle Reed]

I think the other thing he did amazing was they answered all the objections right away. So the things that you would immediately start asking yourself, but does it do that? Well, but what about this? He just, he nailed those right away. The bleach you referenced, bleach is going.

[Donald Miller]

To ruin your clothes.

[Kyle Reed]

Yeah. He just kept going through. So as soon as you would.

[Donald Miller]

It's like bleach, but it won't ruin your clothes.

[Kyle Reed]

As soon as you go to. I'm interested. But what about. He already. He already answered it.

[Donald Miller]

Yeah.

[Kyle Reed]

So you're already moving through. So he's nailing that right away.

[Donald Miller]

A lot of research on this. Yeah, a lot. Like this was not a script that they wrote down on a napkin. I mean, they probably were passing this back and forth with a team of writers who know what they're doing for about a week. And they got so much right.

[Kyle Reed]

The last thing I picked up was he mentioned. I don't remember the exact way he said it, but the things you love. And again, that's such a powerful way.

[Donald Miller]

To tug it on a little heart.

[Kyle Reed]

Just to grab that in and go, oh, I can save the things I love.

[Donald Miller]

Did you notice that? They showed him that. Now, if you bought a thing of Oxiclean, how do you think you use it? Walk me through, like, walk me through, like how you're going to get into the washing machine.

[Kyle Reed]

I didn't even notice that.

[Donald Miller]

Yeah, add a scoop.

[Kyle Reed]

Yes.

[Donald Miller]

He literally, he literally did not trust what he's doing. There is. He's removing cognitive dissonance. So if you say Oxiclean, it'll get your clothes clean. There's a subconscious part of your brain that goes, I don't know how to use oxy. Right. And you don't even know that it's happening. But you're like, well, once I know how to use it, I'll buy it. Like, I don't know, do you light it on fire? Do you mix it with dishwashing soap?

[Kyle Reed]

Exactly.

[Donald Miller]

Do you have to get in the washing machine with the Oxiclean and run it while you in it? Because I could drown. That's what your stupid subconscious is doing. And he just actually goes, add a scoop. Then he literally shows you like this. And you turn. What you do is you turn your wrist and the powder goes into the wash. Oh, mom, we need this. I can do that. So that's a great. You've got to show them. I can do that.

[Kyle Reed]

Yes.

[Donald Miller]

And I don't care what product, especially those of you who are selling like software business to business products. You know, I went, I was on a phone with a big billion dollar firm yesterday. I was on a zoom call for like an hour with this big billion dollar firm. And I'm looking over their website and I'm like, I don't know how I would use this software. I actually don't know. There's so much cognitive dissonance. And they told me, they said, you know, when we're in person and we do a demo, we show them how it works. We close 100% of the deals. And so why? Because they're showing you how it works. And, and if you can do that on a website or in a tutorial video or on YouTube or something like that. Do it, actually scoop it and show them how you're scooping it in. Because you know your product really, really well, they don't know it at all. So you got all the inside knowledge about how this thing actually works and you're projecting it onto your customer. So instead just say, our software is going to help you with X. It works super easy. You just go to this website, you start using it and this is the result that you're going to see. Or you sit down with your customer service team, you explain to them here's how customer service is going to work. You show them how to use the product and your whatever success scores are going to go through the roof. You want to actually walk them, baby step, baby step, baby step through how to use our product. Even when it gets stupid visually, you're showing them how to turn the wrist and you just go, well, that's dumb. It's not dumb. It's actually really smart. It's removing subconscious cognitive dissonance which is getting in between them making the purchase.

[Kyle Reed]

And not making the assumption they get it. When you get your pitch right, the success follows.

[Donald Miller]

Listen, I used OxiClean yesterday.

[Kyle Reed]

Let me walk you through.

[Donald Miller]

I realize I did. Now it sounds like I'm lying.

[Kyle Reed]

Yeah.

[Donald Miller]

While I was talking to the software company, I used Oxiclean. I actually really did both of those things, I believe.

[Kyle Reed]

So here's. Okay, so in 1997, OxiClean was introduced. Early 2000s, when Billy Mace came on for the infomercial, they started to get rapid growth as of today, 2024. So we're 2025. But as the last numbers came in, $6.1 billion in sales.

[Donald Miller]

Wow.

[Kyle Reed]

From OxiClean.

[Donald Miller]

So I think everybody just went. They just, everybody listens to this podcast. Just went, oh, maybe I should listen to them break this down again.

[Kyle Reed]

Yes, the pitch.

[Donald Miller]

You're talking about soap. Yes, soap.

[Kyle Reed]

It's the number.

[Donald Miller]

It's not. Listen to me, it's not that different than Tide. It's how they sold it.

[Kyle Reed]

Exactly.

[Donald Miller]

Do you think the technology of OxiClean is better than Tide?

[Kyle Reed]

No.

[Donald Miller]

Give me a break. They got all the money in the world. No, it's not better. I mean, listen, I don't want to get into trouble here, but my guess is whatever technology they have that's making their clothes, Tide has caught up to them by now.

[Kyle Reed]

Of course.

[Donald Miller]

But literally, when I saw oxiclean on the shelf, I had a white pair of pants that had like a little grease stain on it. I sprayed some stain on it and I got the oxiclean and I dumped it right on top of that stain removal so it would, like, stick there. But when I saw the word oxiclean, I assumed it was superior.

[Kyle Reed]

Yeah.

[Donald Miller]

And I don't even know why. And now I know why. Not even why, because they planted it in my brain. All right, so it's the power of oxygen.

[Kyle Reed]

The power of oxygen works wonders.

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[Billy Mays]

And voila.

[Kyle Reed]

Hey, that's a good one. Use it to write your social media posts, website, wireframe emails, lead generating PDF, product or service descriptions, anything you need for your business. What would happen to your revenue if every word that left your business was crystal clear and worth paying attention to? StoryBrand AI is your competitive advantage. So you'll know, you'll say it clearly. Try it right now and let us write your custom tagline for free at storybrand AI. And now back to the show.

Here's another one from our man, Mr. Vince Offer.

[Donald Miller]

Mr. Vince Offer. Now we got to rate who we like better, Billy Mays or Vince.

[Kyle Reed]

I mean, he's got a big Vince offer.

[Donald Miller]

Seems like a character.

[Kyle Reed]

Yes.

[Donald Miller]

Like if your daughter. You and I both have daughters. Your daughter was like, hey, I'm going to Vegas with a friend.

[Kyle Reed]

Like, oh, really?

[Donald Miller]

Are you guys going to see a show? Yeah, we're going to see a show. Probably going to hang out a little bit. Who's your friend? Vince Offer ban. You cannot leave the house. No. 0 chance you're getting out of this house and hanging out in Vegas with Vince Offer.

[Kyle Reed]

Vince offer.

[Donald Miller]

No.

[Kyle Reed]

Okay, so this one's a minute 47. That last one's a minute, but this is a minute 47. We're going to watch the whole thing, take notes. Break it down. Here we go.

[Vince Offer]

Hi, It's Vince with ShamWow. You'll be saying wow every time you use this towel. It's like a shammy. It's like a towel. It's like a sponge. A regular towel doesn't work wet. This works wet or dry. This is for the house, the car, the boat, the RV. Cham Wow holds 20 times its weight in liquid. Look at this. It just does the work. Why do you want to work twice as hard? Doesn't trip doesn't make a mess. Wring it out. You wash it in the washing machine. Made in Germany. You know, the Germans always make good stuff. You can cut it in half. Use one as a bath mat. Drain your dishes with the other one. Use one as a towel. Olympic divers, they use it as a towel. Look at that. Completely dry. Put a wet sweater, roll it up, it dries your sweaters. Here's some cola. Wine, coffee, cola head stains. Not only is the damage going to be on top, there's your mildew. That is going to smell. See that? The most absorbed. We're going to do this in real time. Look at this. Put on the spill, turn it over without even putting any pressure. 50% of the cola right there. You following me, camera guy? The other 50%, the color starts to come up. No other towel is going to do that. It acts like a vacuum. And look at this. Virtually dry on the bottom. See what I'm telling you? Sham. Wow. You'll be saying wow every time.

[Kyle Reed]

I can't live without it. I just love it.

[Vince Offer]

Oh my gosh. I don't even buy paper towels anymore.

[Kyle Reed]

If you're gonna wash your cars or any kind of vehicle, you'd be out of your mind not to own one of these.

[Donald Miller]

All I can say is sham. Wow.

[Vince Offer]

You're gonna spend $20 every month on paper towels anyway. You're throwing your money away. The mini Shamwows are for everything. For everyday use. This lasts 10 years, this lasts a week. I don't know. It sells itself. The chamois sells for $19.95. But you get one for the house, one for the car, two for the kitchen and bathroom.

[Donald Miller]

And.

[Vince Offer]

But if you call now within the next 20 minutes. Cause we can't do this all day. We'll give you a second set absolutely free. So that's eight ShamWows for 1995. Comes with a 10 year warranty.

[Kyle Reed]

ShamWOW. That's all I gotta say.

[Donald Miller]

I'm still writing. I can't write fast enough. Wait, hold on. Can't do this for long. I love that. We're running out. We're running out of time. We can't offer this for very long. Hold on. This guy was. Talk about soundbite stacking, by the way. Oh my gosh. How quickly he was going through stuff. But it shows you that he's working at the speed the brain can think and. Which is much faster than you and I would write. Especially when it's a visual medium. But let me, Let me just. I've got the Transcript of that. Hi, It's Vince from ShamWow. You'll be saying wow every time. Okay, stop. If somebody sent you an email and said, hey, It's Vince from ShamWow, you'll be saying wow every time. You're like, this dude's nuts, Right? This dude is like, he has a third grade education. You'll be saying wow. Like, he hasn't even told me what ShamWow is. And he started out with, you'll be saying wow every time. Imagine being at a cocktail party. I'm like, hey, I'm Don. Wow. You're gonna say wow every time. Like, give me away from this guy. This guy's gonna kill me. All right, this is brilliant. It's like a chamois. It's like a towel. It's like a sponge. Now this is what I call. And screenwriters call it the same but different. So whenever screenwriters go to sell their screenplay, a lot of times they'll say, it's like Harry Met Sally, but it's animated squirrels.

[Kyle Reed]

Can't believe we haven't seen that movie yet.

[Donald Miller]

Yeah, it's like James Bond, but it's a comedy and the guy's an idiot. And producers go, got it. It's a way of getting something into somebody's brain and explaining it by saying, it's the same, but it's different.

[Kyle Reed]

Yes.

[Donald Miller]

So that's. He opens up with the same but different test. It's something we can all use. It's like a shammy. It's like a towel. It's like a sponge. A regular towel doesn't work wet. I mean, who the heck cares, right? Okay. A regular towel doesn't work wet is not a problem any human being has because you just get another towel.

[Kyle Reed]

Yeah, yeah.

[Donald Miller]

But when he says it, it's like, he's right. It doesn't work wet. And I can't think fast enough to go, who cares?

[Kyle Reed]

Yeah.

[Donald Miller]

I just go, oh, this will work wet. I don't have to dry it. This works wet or dry. Now this is brilliant. This is for the house, the car, the boat, the rv. Shamwow. The rv. Shamwow. Now, if I have an rv, I assume this is the only towel I can use because it's the rv like, you see what I'm saying? And you don't have time to sort of common sense check. Because he's moving so freaking quick. Holds 12 times its weight in liquid. You know what that means? That means the Shamwow is really light.

[Kyle Reed]

But you're right, he's moving. So fast. Because we're reading it and parsing it, but he's moving so fast. You can't. You just.

[Donald Miller]

Yeah, it's true. Also, do you believe right now that that Shammy holds a lot more water than a towel?

[Kyle Reed]

No, not now.

[Donald Miller]

But you did. When he said.

[Kyle Reed]

When he was saying it, I was like, where do I get one?

[Donald Miller]

What I would like to do is weigh a towel and then fill it up with water and weigh it again. My guess is it's going to be about 12 times the weight of the test.

[Kyle Reed]

That's how water works.

[Donald Miller]

The car, the boat, the RV, the Shamwow holds 12 times its weight in liquid. Look at this. It just does the work he's visually showing you. Why do you want to work twice as hard now? He's saving you from working twice. We are about five sentences in, and he has stacked value upon value upon value, demonstration upon demonstration, and demographic on demographic, the car, the boat, the whatever, and it just goes on from there.

[Kyle Reed]

But again, to your point, but that.

[Donald Miller]

Is not the kind of copy.

[Kyle Reed]

No.

[Donald Miller]

Anybody would write.

[Kyle Reed]

It wouldn't work in your original thing of like just reading that, you know, you can do.

[Donald Miller]

Go to storybrand AI and just say, here's everything about the product that I sell. Will you write me a Vince Offer style?

[Kyle Reed]

Yeah.

[Donald Miller]

Infomercial script?

[Kyle Reed]

It would be really. I'd be really curious to see what.

[Donald Miller]

Very curious about it. And of course, you're not. You know, you don't have an infomercial, but what you're going to get are some nuggets.

[Kyle Reed]

Well, you're going to get the sound bites.

[Donald Miller]

It's going to start stacking sound bites, which.

[Kyle Reed]

You talk about that all the time of having your sound bites ready to go. And I actually think, though you might not use it in copy in regular dialogue, it's. That could be really powerful for anyone you're talking to.

[Donald Miller]

Yeah.

[Kyle Reed]

Yeah. There's something I picked up too. He. He said wow a lot. Did you notice that?

[Donald Miller]

And also, what a great name for the product. Right?

[Kyle Reed]

Great name. Yeah.

[Donald Miller]

It's similar to what Billy Mays did. Amazing. Except now it's wow.

[Kyle Reed]

That's right. The other thing I thought he did a good job was contrasting with regular towels. We talked about that. But paper towels.

[Donald Miller]

He literally says regular towels don't work.

[Kyle Reed]

Yes.

[Donald Miller]

His words.

[Kyle Reed]

Yep. And again, he's moving so fast, you don't even think.

[Donald Miller]

You don't even think. Well, of course they do because we use them. I've been using them for years. You know what? I'm not right now. Wet.

[Kyle Reed]

Well I also think too he took the. What I love too is he took the, you know, paper towels. You use them like. It drives me crazy how I don't think she'll listen to this. My mother in law. How many paper towels she uses. She's totally in my house. It drives me nuts.

[Donald Miller]

Get her a ShamWow.

[Kyle Reed]

It bothers me for 20 bucks.

[Donald Miller]

By the way, did you see him anchor the price?

[Kyle Reed]

Yes.

[Donald Miller]

You're spending 20 bucks a month on this. You can just have.

[Kyle Reed]

Yes.

[Donald Miller]

Now can you imagine walking into somebody's house and they've got no paper towels. It's just ShamWows.

[Kyle Reed]

Yeah. I wouldn't be okay.

[Donald Miller]

Like if you're a dinner guest you like roll up a shamwow.

[Kyle Reed]

Yeah, that would be a. Hey, it works on the commercials.

[Donald Miller]

Yeah, it works really great. We've been using this for dinner for 25 years. You're the 700th person and we haven't.

[Kyle Reed]

Watched it since because you can just wring it out.

[Donald Miller]

Holds 12 times its weight in beef jerky. Beef jerky juice.

[Kyle Reed]

But. But I love that he did that where you know, you take a paper towel, you wipe and you throw it away. ShamWow. You don't.

[Donald Miller]

Yep. And here. And by the way, did you notice his. Where the science and expertise and the reason you should trust us come from? It's this line. Germans make good stuff.

[Kyle Reed]

But you know also he anchored it to you with the divers thing I thought was interesting. What was that?

[Donald Miller]

I don't know if I.

[Kyle Reed]

When he said that Olympic divers use this. Olympic divers use this. So again you. My brain goes, oh, it must be great then.

[Donald Miller]

Yeah.

[Kyle Reed]

Because they have to tail off or they have.

[Donald Miller]

They're the best in the world. It's something.

[Kyle Reed]

And we've all watched the Olympics and we've seen those high divers have that and they, they. And they throw it down. We've all seen that moment. And you're like well there must be something there.

[Donald Miller]

You know what's interesting about this? It basically the shamwow is, is a shammy.

[Kyle Reed]

Yeah.

[Donald Miller]

And it's what people who detail cars have been using for decades. And somebody went, I could sell this to housewives. That's what they did.

[Kyle Reed]

Yeah.

[Donald Miller]

I could just literally make an infomercial and sell this thing to a whole different demographic of people and make a lot, a lot more money. Like hundreds of millions of dollars more money selling a car detail product to, you know, housewives.

[Kyle Reed]

I just looked it up. 50 million chamois sold worldwide.

[Donald Miller]

They're 20 bucks apiece. No. Well, I wonder if they're counting, like, all four.

[Kyle Reed]

Depends on when you called. Now.

[Donald Miller]

Yeah.

[Kyle Reed]

Because if you didn't call now, they can't do it all day.

[Donald Miller]

It's hundreds of millions of dollars. Hundreds and hundreds.

[Kyle Reed]

Yeah. In their first few years of introducing this, they made $100 million in revenue.

[Donald Miller]

Did you notice the other thing he said acts like a vacuum?

[Kyle Reed]

I did. I wrote.

[Donald Miller]

So that's another same but different.

[Kyle Reed]

Yes.

[Donald Miller]

If there's a big controlling idea with. With Vince offer, he does a lot of same but different.

[Kyle Reed]

Yes.

[Donald Miller]

Which is a really important tip for everybody listening to this. Same but different. Talk about how it's like that but better.

[Kyle Reed]

You know the other thing he did, there's two things. They showed B roll of people using it. Right. So when they talked about the rv, they showed someone doing it. They did the testimonials with the people on man on the Street.

[Donald Miller]

Testimonials was huge.

[Kyle Reed]

The other one.

[Donald Miller]

And also, did you notice how short the testimonials were?

[Kyle Reed]

Yes.

[Donald Miller]

All the people listening to this, to my voice right now. Your testimonials are too long.

[Kyle Reed]

Oh, that's that.

[Donald Miller]

They're just too long.

[Kyle Reed]

The paragraph doesn't work.

[Donald Miller]

It was amazing.

[Kyle Reed]

And that's all you need.

[Donald Miller]

Yeah.

[Kyle Reed]

Well, the other thing that actually sold it to me the most was when he showed that soda spilling on the carpet. And then he lifted it up, you see all the soda, and then he just lightly patted it and then rolled it and ringed it out. Oh, my goodness. That's amazing. Because that's happened. We have kids. That's happened before.

[Donald Miller]

He visually showed you figure out a way to visually demonstrate how this thing works, how your product actually works. And he also said cola, wine, pet stains. So he's list. Of course. Of course it cleans all that stuff. Right? Of course. But you can't just. Of course, your audience, you have to say it. You have to say it like they don't know anything. You have to say it like they were born that morning and they know nothing about the world and how the world works.

[Kyle Reed]

So wrap it up at the end here where he walks into the offer. How important was it him putting that for long? Well, but also like saying it's 1999, but if you order now, you get a next set. How important that is. And when you're kind of asking for the money.

[Donald Miller]

Yeah.

[Kyle Reed]

What does that do for people?

[Donald Miller]

Well, first of all, ask for the money.

[Kyle Reed]

Yeah.

[Donald Miller]

You know, put packet. Yeah. Ask for the money. And a lot of people Listening my voice. Don't ask for the money. Just go. If you're interested, let me know. That's not, that's, that's passive aggressive. Imagine asking a girl out, hey, I'd love to see you sometime. If you're interested, let me know.

[Kyle Reed]

Yeah, let me know.

[Donald Miller]

Yeah, that's going nowhere. So you, you have to actually say, buy this for this amount of money. Now then he does a ticking time bomb. If you, if you go to a movie, most movies, all thrillers, all action movies are going to have some sort of time limit. Tom Cruise's oxygen, he only has 20 minutes worth of oxygen. Right. To get to the bottom of the submarine and get the. Whatever that's going to destroy the whole world. What that does is it creates a sense of urgency and interest in the movie itself. You're leaning and you go, okay. He did the exact same thing.

[Kyle Reed]

And they visually show it when he's doing that because you can see it in the breathing apparatus. It's counting down.

[Donald Miller]

That's right. They're always showing you that clock. And so if you order in the next hour, sales go way up. And also, we don't have a lot of these. We can't do these. We can't do this for long.

[Kyle Reed]

It's why we never use. Learn more as a cta.

[Donald Miller]

No.

[Kyle Reed]

Right. I actually came across a little infographic the other day, and if you look at the top companies with their, with their CTA is like Airbnb, find a rental. Spotify, try free for one month. Netflix, watch free for 30 days. Notion, try notion for free. Shopify, start selling. It's all.

[Donald Miller]

None of it's passive.

[Kyle Reed]

None of it's passive.

[Donald Miller]

Yeah, it's all. It's all. And I think when we as small business owners create content, we don't want to be pushy or aggressive. But what you have to realize is it's never perceived that way. Like you wouldn't. Nobody would actually watch that infomercial and say, Vince offers really pushy. And that would be a hard guy to spend time. Nobody's saying it. What they're actually saying is that's a lot of coke in that shamwell.

[Kyle Reed]

Yes.

[Donald Miller]

He squeezed a lot of wine out of that thing.

[Kyle Reed]

That's exactly right.

[Donald Miller]

Does it? Let me be brutally honest with you.

[Kyle Reed]

Right.

[Donald Miller]

Don't you want one?

[Kyle Reed]

I do. After seeing that squeeze out the coke.

[Donald Miller]

I want one, too. I'm going to have one. I'm going to order one. I wonder if you can get it on Amazon.

[Kyle Reed]

I'm doing it right now.

[Donald Miller]

You do it on Amazon?

[Kyle Reed]

No, I'm not. I'm just telling someone we're on our way to a meeting because we're running late.

[Donald Miller]

Just trying to get me to shut up.

[Kyle Reed]

But no, but I think that the, the wrap of this is. Is because we actually have a really exciting meeting to go to.

[Donald Miller]

Yeah, we don't have time.

[Kyle Reed]

We don't.

[Donald Miller]

We can't keep talking.

[Kyle Reed]

We gotta go. We can't do it. I think that the most important thing is to wrap this up is listen.

[Donald Miller]

Quick because we don't have long left.

[Kyle Reed]

Nailing that pitch when you nail your pitch with these learning from this words matter. The revenue follows.

Thanks for listening to the why that Worked podcast presented by StoryBrand AI. If you like the show, follow wherever you get your podcasts. And if you're Enjoying this on YouTube, hit that subscribe button and leave a comment letting us know what you think and what you want the guys to talk about in a future episode. Curious about how StoryBrand AI can help you create clear, effective messaging? Well, you can try it out right now and create a free customized tagline for your business. Just go to storybrand AI. Thanks for listening and we'll see you next time.

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