Edward Valenti

Edward (Ed) Valenti is an American Television personality and entrepreneur best known as an early pioneer of infomercials and for creating the Ginsu knives. In 1975, Valenti and his business partner Barry Becher founded Dial Media, Inc. (now PriMedia Inc), one of the first major infomercial companies in the world.

Career

In 1975 Ed Valenti and business parter Barry Becher founded infomercial company Dial Media, Inc (now Primedia Inc). Valenti and Becher devised and developed various infomercial formats that later became standard within the industry and led to the creation of the Home Shopping Channels QVC and HSN. Valenti’s first infomercials sold various products including the “Miracle Slicer”, “Miracle Duster”, “Miracle Painter”, and the Ginsu knife. Through his time on Television he pioneered a series of catch-phrases that later became part of North American popular culture. These included “But Wait, There's More”, "Operators are standing by", and others.

Working with his partner Barry Becher, Valenti developed the standard format of the long-form (two minute, 90 second) advertisement. In contrast to traditional short-form or "brand" advertising, such as the 30-second or 60-second spot, Valenti's long-form advertisements were the precursors of the full half-hour television program length (half-hour) infomercials that eventually came into common usage to sell a variety of products and services on television.

Valenti also helped pioneer the use of toll-free telephone numbers in television ads, the use of credit cards to order products in real-time, and the “long-form TV advert” format. Ed Valenti is currently the Chief Operating Officer (and founder) at PriMedia Inc, a national media buying and marketing services company based in Warwick, Rhode Island that markets the next generation of Ginsu knives and other products. In 2009, a street in Warwick, U.S. was named "Ginsu Way" in honour of Valenti's contributions to infomercials and American popular culture.

Books

  • "The Wisdom of Ginsu: Carve Yourself a Piece of the American Dream". Career Press (March 2005).

See also

  • Barry Becher
  • PriMedia Inc
  • James J. Cooney