Schticky Reusable Lint Roller — A Marketing Review

Look out, world!

VINCE OFFER IS BACK!

Just when you thought that the ShamWow! guy and Mr. Slap Chopper was banished from television after his infamous altercation with a prostitute in Miami back in 2009, Vince has returned with a brand new product commercial!

This time around Vince takes on lint rollers and pitches a washable and reusable lint roller known as a Schticky.  A Schticky?  Really?  Sch’Wheat!

WATCH! As Vince expertly demonstrates the product.

LISTEN! To his non-stop tirade about why you should buy the Schticky.

LAUGH! As Vince pokes fun at his own mug shot.

GASP! As Vince uses yet another double entendre, almost daring the FCC to end his commercials.

Schticky official website — www.schticky.com

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you . . . . . the Schticky!

The Schticky reusable lint roller TV commercial

Was that just awesome or what?

Let’s take a closer look at this TV commercial and see just what Vince is trying to sell us this time.

Schticky TV commercial — Vince presents the Schticky!

After almost three years of absence, Vince Offer is back to tell us about the Schticky, a washable, reusable lint roller.

Take a note of the product’s name.  Schticky.  Easy to say, slightly annoying to keep hearing over and over, and you know that many people aren’t going to know how to spell it correctly.  Marketing-wise, the first two parts are great as people will remember the name and keep saying it to their friends.  That style of talking will probably cause a spin off product or two by competitors in the near future, just like all of those ShamWow! knock offs that hit the shelves a few years ago.  But as far as people being easily able to spell it?  Um, not really.  There’ll be a ton of misspellings as people search for it online.

Whether you like the product’s name or not, it’s short and catchy, and that alone is a very powerful tool when selling an otherwise generic product — just like with the ShamWow! and Slap Chopper — two ordinary products with catchy names.

 

Schticky TV commercial — Only the schtickiest of grabbers can clean that horrific mess!

Egads!

What a horrible mess in the pantry!  How is this poor woman ever going to clean such an incredible spill on an easily accessible shelf?  Oh, if only there was a magic grabbing product with a sticky surface that could help her in this moment of peril!

Schticky TV commercial — I’ll schticky that fat right out of you, tubby!

She’s going to schtick it to her husband now!  The stereotypical fat husband napping in the chair is about to have his dirty and frighteningly undersized t-shirt cleaned with the Schticky.

Schticky TV commercial — “Problem with that shedding pussy?”

Did he really just say that on television?

Nooooooooooooooooooooooo!

I can hear the sirens now.  People are collapsing in their living rooms, completely shocked by the way that Vince was referring to the cat.  It’s chaos I tell ya.  Chaos!  Ahhhhhh!

A few years ago Vince claimed that, “You’re gonna love my nuts,” when doing a demonstration for the Slap Chopper.  Of course he was referring to the nuts he was chopping for an ice cream topping, but the use of the double entendre gave the illusion that he could have also been referring to something more appealing to say, prostitutes.  Perhaps we’ll hear another double entendre when Vince sells the next product.

As far as shedding pussies, I’ll say that this can easily be fixed with going hairless.  Hairless pussies are much less likely to shed.

Schticky TV commercial — Schticking it to the dog.

Using a lint roller on a dog?

I suppose.

Most people that I know have dogs choose to brush them on a semi-regular basis.  Brushing usually works well to collect the shedding hair, and some types of brushes can also massage the dog and cat’s skin in the process, giving them a pleasant experience.  I wonder how medium and long hair breeds of dogs would appreciate a visit from Mr. Schticky.  How about using the Schticky on a cat?

Schticky TV commercial — You’ll schticky that water in no time!

At this point in the commercial we’ve arrived at the product’s best selling feature.  Everything else witnessed was just the appetizer.

Unlike virtually all other lint rollers that require tearing off new sticky sheets and purchasing additional rolls of them, the Schticky can be washed with water, dried, and reused again immediately.  In this example, Vince washes the Sticky, tells us about it being “slippery when wet” (another double entendre), quickly dries it on a CLEAN towel (very important), and then schticks it on the wall next to the sink, demonstrating its schtickiness power after a rinsing.

But is this reusable feature enough to convince you to purchase the Schticky versus other lint rollers?

Schticky TV commercial — Schticking it to math skills!

It’s one thing to exaggerate when telling a consumer how much money a product could save them.

It’s another to exaggerate with more accurate math skills.

This TV commercial claims that the Schticky can save you over $100 a year if you are a person who uses two lint roller refill kits a month at the cost of $5 each.  That means that you’re roughly spending $10 a month, and times twelve months, that’ll be around $120 for the entire year.  If you’re going to scare your customers with a big number like $100, then you may as well try to be closer to reality when using assumed figures and give them the great big grand total of $120.

The downside to using $120 is that most people know that they don’t spend anywhere near that much money on lint rollers or refill kits.  They’ll know that you’re just trying to scare them.  But when using the $100 figure, in addition to it being a nice and round number, more people are likely to challenge it and wonder if they really do spend that much each year on basic cleaning supplies.  They know that the $100 is an exaggeration, but when they think about their shopping habits, they’re more likely to believe that their own spending on basic cleaning supplies is around that high and therefore see more of the value in the product.

What this has to do with “Go Green!” isn’t exactly clear.

Sure, you won’t be purchasing any of the refill kits, but the amount of extra water you’ll be using WASHING the Schticky is going to offset that by quite an amount.  Maybe the “green” that you’ll be saving will be those dollar bills that aren’t being used to purchasing those refill kits each month.

Schticky TV commercial — Schticking it to a cock……..roach.

With a quick toss over his right shoulder, Vince expertly threw the Schticky at the wall, smashing a cockroach and scaring his friend in the process.  Whether or not this was real doesn’t matter.  This was a hilarious scene and you know that people are going to be talking about it positively on the forums.  Others will attempt to duplicate it in their own YouTube and Facebook videos.

Schticky TV commercial — Hey, baby.  I like the way you schticky me!

That’s right, folks.  According to Vince, you can “Use Schticky any time, any place, and with any one.”

Most pitchmen would have done without that last part, but Vince’s selling style tends to dab into the slightly naughty levels of humor.  The only issue with this scene is why the guy is paying attention to the smoking hot stewardess (sorry, that’s “flight attendant” these days, right?)  when his smoking hot (presumably) girlfriend is right next to him.  Then again, with the three good looking ladies and one guy in this scene, it clearly shows you whose attention they’re trying to grab in this part of the commercial.

Schticky TV commercial — Schticking it for a mug shot.

This one scene is going to make Vince Offer a legendary TV pitchman.  He was already famous for the ShamWow! commercials, and he got more people’s attention when he talked about his nuts in the Slap Chopper TV commercial.  But going so far as to making fun of his own mug shot from when he was arrested on February 7, 2009 in Miami, Florida?  That’s the stuff of legends.

 

Schticky TV commercial — You’re gonna love my Big Schticky!

No TV offer is complete without some sort of freebie.  In the case of the Schticky, Vince tells us that he’s also throwing in the Big Schticky.  That’s right.  The BIG one.

Schticky TV commercial — Oooh!  Pennies!  How shiny!  Wait.  What were we talking about?  What’s a Schticky?  I’m confused.

With the Big Schticky you’ll be picking up those pennies thirty cents at a time.  Or maybe even more.  This is just a small example of the grabbing power of the Big Schticky.

Schticky TV commercial — We’ll schweeten the deal ONLY if you call now!

Okay, Vince, this part of your commercial is really lame.  We ALL know that the deal doesn’t last for only the next twenty minutes.  You’re not on the Home Shopping Network running a live special promotion.  This is an ordinary TV commercial.  The website does not have a fancy countdown clock or even expiration notice of the current offer.

When Vince does the whole “. . . if you call now within the next twenty minutes because we can’t do this all day,” it’s just cheesy.  It was just as lame during the ShamWow! commercial when he went, “Are you following me, camera guy?”  Stick with selling the product and don’t act like this is a live demonstration.  And don’t talk to the camera guy.

After this we’re hit with the product offer.  According to the product’s website, for only $33.85 ($19.95 + $7.95 (S&H for Schticky & Little Schticky) + $5.95 (S&H for the “free” Big Schticky)) you’ll receive all three Schtickies and pay for all of the shipping and handling fees.  If you live in a few certain U.S. states or across the Canadian border, then your final price will be a bit higher.  Considering that you’re spending a minimum of $33.85, just how much value will the average person find in such a product?

FINAL THOUGHTS

When it comes to selling what seem like ordinary products, Vince Offer is one of the more entertaining personalities in the industry.  His quick and snappy style keeps you interested, and his antics are frequently discussed by others.  Many of his antics have been criticized as not being original, but the bottom line is that people keep talking about him and his products.  That entertainment value alone will classify Vince Offer as one of the more famous and entertaining pitchmen along with the late Billy Mays.

As far as the Schticky commercial, this one is pretty entertaining with the highlights being him throwing the Schticky over his should and hitting the cockroach, and him mocking his own mug shot photo.  But did the commercial do well enough to convince people to order this lint roller and not the generic ones found in nearly every home and grocery store?

The Schticky’s biggest selling feature is that the sticky surface is washable and thus reusable as long as it stays sticky, errr, schticky to the touch.  Oddly enough, this feature was mentioned only once and most of the scenes were instead demonstrations that most lint rollers could handle.  It’s that washable feature that sets the Schticky apart from its competitors.

My only question here is, how long, on average, does the Schticky remain sticky enough to be used effectively?  The product may have a ten-year guarantee, but how many times is the average person going to have to have it replaced?  Is it worth the final cost of the product?

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All of the Schticky commercial images were screenshots of a TV commercial available on YouTube at the time of this article’s publishing.  For more product information, please visit the company’s website, www.schticky.com.

Schticky is a registered trademark.

RellimZone.com is not affiliated with Schticky.