This series of articles seeks to examine the character attributes of highly successful leaders, regardless of their adherence to a strong faith or moral standard. In presenting these thoughts, Leadership Ministries is not agreeing with or advocating these traits or practices, but rather presents these as ideas for discussion and development in your own leadership journey.

Ronald Martin Popeil (1935-2021) was an American inventor and marketing personality. His TV infomercials became an overnight staple, and earned him more than $2 billion in sales during his 40-year run. He invented the products he sold, such as the Chop-O-Matic food slicer, the Ronco Pocket Fisherman, the Electric Pasta Maker and the Showtime Rotisserie and Barbecue.[1] Popeil had a striking smile, and on TV always looked like he was happy and enjoying himself. It was a positive, uplifting message, even if manufactured just to sell a product. 

From nothing to something. Ron was born in the Bronx. His parents divorced when he was a child, and he moved to Chicago to live with his grandparents. He laments that he didn’t have a real childhood. Popeil comments, “I never had a birthday party.” By his teenage years, he had thrown himself into selling his father’s inventions, starting at a local Walgreens. He had a terrible connection with his father, though, and the relationship was all business. They went their separate ways, with Ron exceeding his father’s success by marketing his own inventions through retail outlets. He suffered financially in the recession of the early 1980s. But then came the age of the infomercial. Spending $33,000 to make his first 30-minute late night advertisement, he pocketed more than $90 million in sales. His skill at the TV pitch was perfect. “There’s only two times in an infomercial when you ask for money. The first comes at the halfway point, after viewers have seen the product in action; the second comes about five minutes later, after a testimonial or two.”

Always inventing. Popeil continued to work on new products throughout his career. Even after retiring he continued to think of new ideas. His last product, the 5-In-1 Turkey Fryer and Food Cooking System, he had been working on for more than a decade. He considered himself primarily an inventor versus a marketer, believing that a product had to be thought-through and work well, or it would not be successful. He said, “I'm an inventor first and a marketer second. Other people in our business take the spaghetti approach. They throw a lot of stuff against the wall and hope something sticks. The failure rate is dependent solely on what you’re throwing up against the wall. I don’t operate that way. I’m willing to make a serious investment in an idea and take two to two and one-half years of my life to create it, to get behind it and understand it and take it to the marketplace.”

Popeil’s inventions included “Mr. Microphone,” the Veg-O-Matic, a rhinestone and stud setter, and GLH (a hairspray to cover bald spots). There was also a machine that cleaned vinyl records, an inside-the-egg scrambler, a set of self-sharpening knives, a spray gun for garden hoses, a bagel cutter, a smokeless ash tray—the list is endless.[2] Popeil said, “I ask myself, What can I give people that they don’t already have?”[3]

“But wait, there’s more!” Popeil’s marketing prowess was legendary. During his TV infomercials, he would introduce his product, and then add more accessories and incentives during the sales pitch, often ending with a “two for the price of one” deal. He coined many marketing phrases, the most famous of which was, “But wait, there’s more!” Popeil seeded the TV audience with owners of his products to give real and glowing testimonials. The remaining seats were filled with paid audience members, who received $35 each, plus lunch. “None of the people in my infomercials are given a piece of the action,” he said. Later came the home shopping channels, like QVC. Popeil holds the record for selling $1.25 million worth of his product there in just 12 minutes. Australian media CEO Leon Dreimann said, “When I saw him making chocolate pasta on TV, that was it. My mouth started watering. I wanted that machine there and then.”

Popeil was married three times and had five daughters and four grandchildren. He attended the University of Illinois for a year before dropping out. All of his inventions are archived in the Smithsonian Institute.[4] He was healthy and active until his death in 2021 at the age of 86, which was attributed to a brain hemorrhage.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ron_Popeil

[2] https://people.howstuffworks.com/11-items-sold-by-ron-popeil.htm

[3] https://www.nytimes.com/1994/12/11/business/profile-he-s-back-the-amazing-human-selling-machine.html

[4] https://parade.com/1241848/jerylbrunner/ron-popeil-most-popular-products/

Cover photo: ronpopeil.com