Ginsu

History

Ginsu knives were originally called Quikut, made by a company in Fremont, Ohio. Since "Quikut" lacked panache, Ed Valenti, Barry Becher, and copywriter Arthur Schiff created a name that alluded to the exceptional sharpness and durability of Japanese Samurai swords (known as katana).

As Valenti told the Palm Beach Post in 2011, "We were mindful that the last thing anyone wanted was another set of knives. The challenge was to position the product so that it made every other knife you owned obsolete."

The resulting Ginsu ads copied the hard sell direct marketing techniques of carnival hawkers pioneering TV pitchman Ron Popeil had adapted to the medium in the 1960s. In the process, they helped solidify the formula for the modern infomercial. Equally voluble and ubiquitous, late 1970s U.S. television advertisements for the "amazing" Ginsu knife asked, "How much would you pay? Don't answer!", urged viewers to "Call now! Operators are standing by!" and included the signature "But wait! There's more!", which became a popular infomercial catch phrase ever since.

Media scholar Robert Thompson, of Syracuse University, called the Ginsu advertising campaign "the pitch of all pitches." "Ginsu has everything a great direct-response commercial could have," said John Witek, a marketing consultant and author of Response Television: Combat Advertising of the 1980s. "Ginsu had humor, demonstration, and a precisely structured series of premium offers I call 'the lots-for-a-little approach'."

Valenti and Becher later repeated the advertising formula with other products such as the Miracle Slicer, Royal Durasteel mixing bowls, Vacufresh storage containers, the Chainge Adjustable Necklace, and Armourcote Cookware.TV pitchmen Billy Mays and Vince Offer employed the hard-sell informercial to great success in more contemporary times.

While the name Ginsu was created from whole cloth, Becher later translated the word as meaning "I never have to work again".

In April 2009, a stretch of road in Warwick, Rhode Island, which passes the office of Ed Valenti was named "Ginsu Way".

The Ginsu Brand Today

As of 2017 Ginsu Knives are still manufactured and sold. The Quikut and Ginsu brands have both been manufactured in Walnut Ridge, Arkansas, since the merging of the Douglas (vacuum cleaners) and Quikut (knives) companies in 1964. Douglas Quikut also manufactures ReadiVac and American Angler brands.

In 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, and 2015 Consumer Reports reviewed the Ginsu Chikara knife set in their comparison of fifty knife sets and rated it as their "Best Buy".