Make sure to tune in tonight for another PitchMen LiveBlog! as we dissect and analyze the newest PitchMen episode, “Spinning Green.” According to the Discovery Channel website, the featured product will be “Spin Gym,” by Forbes Riley.
And to mix it up a little, Billy and Sully go to Hollywood! Want to guess which one goes on The Tonight Show. Sparks could fly.
Here’s a Fox News Clip of Forbes Riley where she sneaks in a Spin Gym pitch:
PitchMen, “Spinning Green,” Episode facts:
Channel: Discovery
Original Air Date: 2009/05/27
Time: 10:00pm EDT and again at 1:00am EDT
Product: Spin Gym
Inventor: Forbes Riley
HERE WE GO
The final four products Billy n Sully had to choose from here is intruiging. Billy n Sully are off to Vegas to pick the product. Billy just wants to pick the best product and that’s it. This is they’re at ERA in Vegas and come across Forbes Riley. There are some giants at the show: TELEBrands, livemercial…
Riley is trying to get Billy n Sully turned on to Spin Gym. Sully looks excited. Billy seems on the fence. Forbes got her inspiration from her father - an abstract inventor who didn’t know how to get his products to market. Forbes Riley claims she sells about $2,000 a minute when on QVC (or HSM. I missed it). Now she wants her name on a product and have the same effect. She didn’t’ invent Spin Gym, but she’s an inventor.
Billy and Sully will field test, but first Billy has a Kaboom shoot. :-) …take 8, take… Sully n Billy are fighting about how to wipe glass scum. I guess it proves that details make all the difference. Billy is giving Sully the death look while Sully does an onscreen rant.
“Maybe you should use a ShamWOW,” said the production assistant whose sure not to have a job much longer (unless that was Billy Mays III). If Billy only had a ZorbEEZ in his back pocket at that point.
“Maybe I’ll give you a ShamPOW!”
Commercial break :11 after
The Cleaning lesson continues. “See, if you listen to me I’ll make you look good every time,” Sully. But now the schedule is behind. Billy wants to get the shoot on schedule - so long as he doesn’t have to listen to Sully.
“Billy may have actually done something in one take - because he listened to me.”
Field testing the Spin Gym on the boardwalk - “Welcome to the gun show.”
The question: Toy or workout device? They all tell Billy its a workout device but then tell the camera they think it’s a toy. That’s mean.
TELEBrands TIME! Forbes, Billy, and Sully meet with AJ Khubani. Riley is selling the idea to AJ - Grease Bullet in the background. (I bet Grease Bullet is about to relaunch right, about, now… :-) )
AJ is concerned about Spin Gym’s credibility. Riley says it was the same thing with Ped Egg. AJ is testing the product. Now the learning curve is a concern.
Billy n Sully point out that it’s demonstrable, solves a problem…the ball is in AJ’s court.
Commercial break :20 after
AJ’s answer: he’s willing to give it a go.
In the meantime, Billy n Sully are interviewing other inventors. A guy is showing a wine stopper with an air bag that keeps the air away from the wine. Billy’s afraid to promote alcoholic beverage but doesn’t know if it’s an As Seen on TV material.
An inventor has a plant watering device (very Aqua Globes-ish but without the work of art). Billy and Sully like the product. The inventor is in his 70’s and his dad - all 99 years old of him - is the co-owner of the product. Life springs eternal.
Forbes Riley comes to Sullivan Studios to discuss the price point. She brings in a team of exercise geeks to do a Spin Gym workout. Forbes, you don’t have to preach to the converted. AJ Khubani got thinks that with his Chinese manufacturing that they can get the product down to $19.99. The price point scares Riley. (Riley, most of the best infomercial products sell at $19.99!!!)
Uh-oh, Forbes Riley found out her Spin Gym trademark has been taken. She put in a call to the owner of the name and is waiting to hear it back. Now they’re doing product naming.
Commercial break :33 after
The name setback has her down.
Commercial shoot time. How do they keep doing shoots without trademark on product names. She’s franticly offering $10K for the naming rights…she got it. That’s called listening to Billy - “take it or leave it.”
Forbes Riley is doing the promo herself. Billy, Sully, and Riley in the same room. They could make the whole episode around them arguing how to say, “Here’s how to order…” Billy Mays name drop time!
Now they’re arguing price point reshoots. She earlier discussed how she didn’t get her MBA. If she had, she’d understand the value of price point instead of the prestige. She’s willing to walk away because she’s that afraid of the prestige of the price point.
Commercial break :43 after
“I don’t know what her problem is. I think she’s more concerned about a Forbes Riley product for $10 bucks than she is selling the product. I mean, What the f###?” - Sully.
“This whole thing can go from a $10 Spin Gym to an $80,000 paperweight.” - Sully
She’s getting nauseous over the price points. It looks like her nerves are calming down after the shoot. Working out with the Spin Gym for 3 hours in front of the camera can do it to.
Billy n Sully are off to Burbank - NBC Studios. Billy’s going on “The Tonight Show.”
Sully got called, “his chauffer,” by the NBC Security guard. NICE
Billy is doing an Orange Glo / Shakespeare spot on the episode. He’s getting ready to do a live take. Billy’s practicing. The’re enoying the fact they have a signed script from Jay Leno. Sully’s pumped, being ubersupportive. They both understand the significance of this moment for the Direct Response industry.
Commercial Break :52 after
Billy claims The Tonight Show was “nerve-racking,” but according to Sully, Billy Mays killed it. He got to hang out with Super Bowl MVP Santonio Holmes and Jennifer Aniston. Billy wants to meet her again. Sully wont’ let him go alone :-)
Media Test Buy for Spin Gym Results: the tested $19.99 against $29.99 both tested bad. The best it could do was a $196 CPO for $19.99 price point. Sully is coming back with saying the $10.00 price point could have worked. “Always go with the best offer,” Billy Mays. Have to agree with Billy n Sully.
AJ dropped the product. Billy n Sully suggest she drop the product.
Forbes Riley still won’t get over her fear of the $10.00 price point. She’s breaking down. “That’s why you’re driving the Bently and I’m not.”
Sometimes the best lessons are the hardest to learn. Check back her next week for another LiveBlog! of PitchMen.
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