ShamWow Guy Vince Offer
Vince Offer is a writer, director, comedian, and informercial pitchman well known for his ShamWow commercials and products. In addition to ShamWow, Offer produces, appears in, and owns television commercials for his products the Schticky, InVinceable, Crank Chop, and has experience advertising for others as well. The popularity of his products and advertisements have made Offer one of the most recognizable informercial personalities in the world.
Early Years
Vince Offer was born in Beersheba, Israel and grew up in a Jewish and Italian neighborhood in Brooklyn. In the 1970's, Vince loved the high spirited people of Brooklyn and their sense of humor, particularly high energy personalities portrayed in famous figures like those of consumer electronics chain Crazy Eddie and the character Vinny Barbarino in the popular TV Show “Welcome Back Kotter”. At 17 years old, Offer left Brooklyn for LA to make a name for himself.
Early on, Vince Offer sold products in flea markets, learning more about marketing and salesmanship along the way. It was then that he honed his trademark “aggressive yet affable” personality, as advertising in that setting required a demeanor that quickly grabbed potential buyers' attention. Vince knew that more sales people on TV were very slick and trying to be friendly. Vince new from his experience that if he had a hot product along with his frank and irreverent street style salesmanship along with some Brooklyn honest humor it would take off! He decided this formula would change the trend via a dependable product with excellent marketing behind it.
ShamWow
In 2006, Vince began to market for ShamWow and soon visited the company in Germany that manufactures the product. The name “ShamWow” was inspired by the French pronunciation of “chamois”, an absorbent leather rag commonly called a “shammy” in English. Offer realized that, when demonstrating the absorbing qualities of the product for an audience, people would say “wow” every time. This reaction contributed to both the final name and tagline for ShamWow products. Even now, customers are consistently surprised to find that ShamWow can hold up to 10 times its weight in liquid.
Vince filmed the ShamWow advertisement in 2007 on a modest budget, and his performance in the commercial quickly received praise from viewers and critics alike. Reviewers acknowledged the mastery of Offer's pitch style as well as the personality that he brought to the commercial. Many have noted that Vince's style of advertising and smooth-talking demeanor, when compared to the more upbeat pitches of Billy Mays and other industry vets, marked a welcome change in the informercial space. Since its release, ShamWow has remained extremely popular, selling millions of towels. Reviewers of the product frequently mention ShamWow's incredible absorbing properties. The success that ShamWow has seen over the year allowed Vince to gain exposure for his other products and become one of the most recognizable personalities in commercials to date.
Slap Chop, the Schticky, and Beyond
By 2008, Vince Offer expanded to advertise the Slap Chop, a hand-held kitchen gadget operated by placing the product over a food item and slapping down the button located on the top of the device. This product was sold alongside the Graty, a cheese grater with an innovative, twisting design. The infomercial that Vince Offer filmed advertising the Slap Chop quickly went viral, with publications such as AdWeek acknowledging his passionate pitch, comedic use of double entendre, and unique style. The commercial soon saw several remixes, the most popular of which was created by DJ Steve Porter on YouTube. In 2012, Offer followed up the success of ShamWow and the Slap Chop with a commercial advertising the Schticky. The Schticky commercial was similarly popular and included references to his previous work.
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, Vince Offer began producing ShamWow Masks. While masks have become a necessary accessory in today's world, most woven mask naturally have openings that airborne can enter. Although Shamwow Masks are not for medical use, Vince Offer prioritizes safety of his customers and, for this reason, ShamWow masks have a variety of features designed to provide high-quality protection for the wearer. ShamWow masks are distinguished from most other cloth masks available because they contain non-woven fibers and are 100% premium in quality. Offer believes that the non-woven material of Shamwow masks maybe better to prevent airborne germs and viruses from entering and is infused with zinc to help fight bacteria and other microbes.