Emmy Awardwinning talk show host and best-selling author Montel Williams discusses how living with a chronic disease transformed his life, prompting him to share what he’s learned with others through his Living Well with Montel brand of health and wellness products.
In 2008, Emmy Award-winning talk show host Montel Williams ventured into DRTV to promote his Living Well with Montel products.
Montel Williams was in the fast lane on the road to success in the early 1990s with a popular talk show, which would later earn him a coveted Daytime Emmy Award. Each day, television audiences tuned in as Williams would lend a sympathetic ear to his guests who revealed their real-life problems and gripping stories on air. The talk show host, however, would later find himself facing his own personal struggle.
In 1999, Williams was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, a debilitating disease that attacks the central nervous system. Williams battled depression and his illness privately while still maintaining a busy schedule hosting and producing the “Montel Williams Show” and working on other projects. Eventually, Williams chose to go public with his secret by writing such books as “Climbing Higher” and “Living Well: 21 Days to Transform Your Life, Supercharge Your Health, and Feel Spectacular.” In total, he has published eight books, four of which became New York Times best sellers.
His latest book, “Living Well Emotionally” debuted in bookstores on January 6, 2009 to favorable reviews.
Williams also signed a multi-year deal with syndicated radio network Air America to host a daily threehour talk radio program called “Montel Across America.” The program premiered on April 6, 2009, addressing social, political and health issues.
On May 16, 2008, the “Montel Williams Show” aired its final episode after a 17-year run. This paved the way for the TV and radio personality to work on launching a product line and brand—Living Well with Montel—teaming with DR company Tristar Products to help market the line using an innovative format called a talkmercial, which integrates a talk show with long-form DRTV.
Tristar and Williams rolled out a test campaign in December 2008 to promote his healthy living products. “The results were exactly what I was hoping they would be,” notes Keith Mirchandani, president and CEO of Tristar Products Inc. in Fairfield, N.J. “In our business, it’s very hard to come out with a winner—you begin with a concept and when you have a winner, you get very, very excited.”
What is it about Montel Williams that has drawn interest among television viewers? As Mirchandani explains: “People believe Montel because he’s a real person who has problems just like anyone else. He’s got passion and believes in what he’s saying.”
Electronic Retailer spoke to Williams to learn more about the life experiences that inspired his Living Well products and why he believes the talkmercial format will help transform the direct response industry.
Electronic Retailer: Tell us about the Living Well with Montel brand.
Montel Williams: I wrote the book “Living Well” about three years ago, which was book number seven for me. And it really was the follow-up to the book I wrote right before that, called “Climbing Higher,” which chronicled my journey with MS. But what I wanted to do was to give people some information about why I think I am doing well and why I have been credited by doctors as doing well based on the routine that I follow. So, I wrote the very first “Living Well” book to share with people what I have learned along the way from some of the top experts around the world on how to deal with chronic illness and continue to flourish and thrive.
ER: What led you to partner with Tristar and Keith Mirchandani?
Williams: I liquify about 60 to 70 percent of my what I consume every single day. And I was doing so utilizing one particular product, which was the only emulsifying blender in the marketplace at the time, the Vita-Mix blender, and I wrote about that in my book. I received letters from people all over the country who said, “Montel, I would really love to try to do what you do, but there’s no way I could possibly afford a $580 blender—it’s not happening.” That’s what really started this entire venture that’s culminated into a partnership with Tristar Products to create infomercials that would provide people with things that could help their lifestyle, help their healthcare footprint and at a price that people could afford. And truthfully, I approached Keith Mirchandani and Tristar because I had information from some people who said the company had been working on an emulsifier that had at least the same—or better—capabilities as a Vita-Mix blender. We got into a conversation about it and then Tristar got working as hard as they could. They did it and that’s what this entire process was borne out of.
ER: Was this your first foray into direct response? If so, why DR?
Williams: I’ve never really been involved with direct response. The first program that I got involved in was a commercial for pharma. It was called the PPA program—Partnership for Prescription Assistance—which was a commercial that ran for two-and-a-half years and in that period of time the program was in existence, this program ended up providing assistance for about 6 million of America’s 44 million uninsured and underinsured citizens by giving them free or nearly free prescription medication to a tune of almost $14 billion worth of medications. That’s the only television commercial that I had ever done.
And then when given an opportunity to get the information out about health and wellness, I had to look at some ways to do that. The DR method is not only a tried, true and proven strategy for getting information out, but also for getting response on products that might, in some ways, help people improve the way they live every day. And then I, of course, reached out to Tristar, which is one of the biggest DR companies in the world, and their reach seemed to be perfect. We were able to come to some unbelievable terms immediately and started identifying other products that we could develop and get to the consumer in a way that was not only going to save them money, but also make their life easier.
ER: According to a recent study, obesity rates are on the rise in 23 states. How do startling statistics like these affect a catalyst like yourself who is trying to spread the word about living a healthier lifestyle?
Williams: Well, it’s not just the obesity rate. We are the leading nation in type 2 diabetes; we have some of the highest rates of osteoarthritis; and we have some of the highest rates of heart disease. As a matter of fact, it’s one of the leading killers of women in America today. And so, as the President and the country look to impact everyone’s individual healthcare footprint through an aggressive Because I’m putting food through my body in a liquid form, I’m cleaning my colon and digestive tract. I’m also eating fruits and vegetables—so therefore, I’ve lost weight and body fat percentage and I am definitely trying my best to maintain as healthy a form as I possibly can. This is what other people can do with products that we have through this partnership with Tristar. One of the other products that I’m very proud of is a pressure cooker. Pressurecooking has been something that’s been on the periphery of cooking in America. Although it’s been widely accepted in Europe and around the reform of the healthcare program, [these plans] won’t come into play until 2013. Insurance companies don’t have to change their rules and regulations until 2013. Yet, there are things that people can start doing immediately. And that’s the reason why I’ve been so aggressively trying to help people get the information that I have learned. What’s that old saying: “To whom much is given, much is expected”? How can you have information that you know can have a substantial impact on people’s lives and not share it with them? That’s part of the reason why I’ve embarked on this mission. The HealthMaster emulsifier helps get into your body more nutritious foods than what people are consuming.
Because I’m putting food through my body in a liquid form, I’m cleaning my colon and digestive tract. I’m also eating fruits and vegetables—so therefore, I’ve lost weight and body fat percentage and I am definitely trying my best to maintain as healthy a form as I possibly can. This is what other people can do with products that we have through this partnership with Tristar. One of the other products that I’m very proud of is a pressure cooker. Pressurecooking has been something that’s been on the periphery of cooking in America. Although it’s been widely accepted in Europe and around the world for the last 30 to 40 years, it’s really not an item that a lot of people have in their homes. They don’t know how easy these items are to use and cook a nutritious, healthy meal in less time to serve their entire family. So, I’m looking for items that I know are going to impact not only our health, but also save people time.
ER: What is the talkmercial format?
Williams: I produced and owned “The Montel Williams Show” for 17 years. And I thought we could blend the two formats—talk show and infomercial— together a little differently than what has been done before, given that most infomercials run half-hour installments. It was a pretty aggressive idea, but we thought if the half hour works, there’s a way to meld the two and turn it into a full hour. In an hour, you can provide so much more information than just calls to action.
So, what is the talkmercial format? It’s really taking an issue, identifying all its associated problems, attempting to come up with solutions, and marrying a product to that. Most infomercials don’t allow enough time to be able to actually spell out, delineate and identify what the full problem is and we wanted to be able to come up with a format that would give a little bit more flexibility in being able to outline those things and offer some solutions.
ER: On your show, you stress the fact that you use all the products being promoted. How involved are you in the product development phase?
Williams: Any product that I’m going to do that has my name on it, I’m going to be in on from beginning to end.
ER: You’ve been a part of the television medium since 1991. Of course much has changed in the past 18 years with the introduction of the Internet, social networking and satellite radio. As a television figure, what are your thoughts about this fragmentation of media?
Williams: I think it’s for the best. I mean, there was a time when there were two games in town: television and radio. Now, because of the fact that networks are having an inordinately tough time trying to come up with programming to fill their hours of the day, they can’t afford the $10 and $20 million per year dramatic series or the $20 million per year comedic experiences. That’s the reason why television has shifted over to this reality format, which is cheaper and easier for them to produce. And that’s why I thought about the talkmercial format: 1) The idea is stations need programming and if it’s quality programming that’s going to help people, stations will probably gravitate to us as a vendor to see if they can participate; and 2) the fact that people aren’t going to television any more for appointments makes a format like that perfect for the talkmercial because it’s on at various times of the day. You don’t actually have to pop in and see it at 3 o’clock in the afternoon, just check your local listings because it’s on 15 times a day. Also, people get an opportunity to see it through other mediums. I mean, right now if you go online to the Tristar website, Living Well website and various other places, you can get snippets of every one of our infomercials and find information about each one of our products. That’s doing nothing but helping drive people to take a look at the long form when it airs.
ER: What have you learned from your experience working in DR?
Williams: I’m glad that Keith Mirchandani and Tristar offered us the opportunity to partner because I’ve learned so much. This has helped me understand that in this world, there are some things that have been formulaic in the past, but they don’t have to be formulaic as we continue on. I’ve also learned the difficulty of making sure that in that 30 minutes or one hour, you get across all the information that you want to get across and at the same time do it in a way that’s not offensive to your viewers, doesn’t make them feel as if this is something being crammed down their throats. They can walk away at the end of that hour—even if they don’t buy your product—with some knowledge that could help them better their lives. And that’s another reason why I’ve been so excited about this format. Information is what’s important, and I don’t think information is mutually exclusive with the infomercial format.
“People believe Montel because he’s a real person who has problems just like anyone else. He’s got passion and believes in what he’s saying.”
—Keith Mirchandani, Tristar Products Inc.