Billy Mays. (July 20, 1958 – June 28, 2009) was the face of direct response marketing in America. His upbeat and friendly- in your face personality-helped sell any product he represented. He was a simple salesman who built his way up to celebrity status through his unique delivery and convincing  pitch. It was his distinctive, burly, bearded look and booming voice that make him the most well known figure in television sales. Billy Mays was known best for promoting cleaning products such as OxiClean, Orange Glo,  the Awesome Auger, Mighty Mend-It, Mighty Putty, Quick Chop and other assorted household  items. Mays started his career as the last of the great  boardwalk pitchmen in Atlantic City then moved on with the Home Shopping Network, and soon  started his own company  Mays Promotions, Inc. He then moved on just recently working on a documentary series on the Discovery channel, Pitchmen. Billy Mays created his own success and as a great huckster, sold himself into a household name and into the hearts and ears of America.

As great as Billy’s pitch was, the logos for the products that Billy Mays promoted are  little plain and uninspired at best.  All designed in the same Ron Propeil school of tacky and in your face infomercial fair, the logos were simply serviceable. Yet, with a  pitchman like Billy Mays, I guess they  felt they didn’t need a great or memorable logo. Perhaps, in his passing, the owners of these products will reconsider the importance of a great logo and reinvent their visual corporate identity.

-Nora Reed