Where is Ciro Bottini, the man who sold everything on TV

The odds are small that a Brazilian with access to TV has not seen this face on the screen at some point, between the early 1990s and 2020. For more than 25 years, Ciro Bottini spent hours and hours on the air selling pots, appliances, watches, CDs, and whatever else might be of interest to Shoptime viewers, the first pay-TV sales channel in the country.

Shoptime went off the air in early June of this year, but since 2020 it no longer had its biggest star. Bottini, a former announcer on the radio and at a shopping center in São Paulo, decided to ask for the accounts that year for disagreeing with the company’s new management model and the innovations they tried to implement.

According to him, the beginning of the collapse occurred with the sale of the station by Globosat to Americanas, in 2005. “The company’s culture was very different Americanas has always been frowning”, he says, the opposite of what is conventionally called of “scowling” in his TV appearances.

It sounds like a salesman’s talk, but he swears it isn’t: more than making money (and a lot), his goal was to “enchant the viewer”. Friendly, smiling and with an impressive lip, Bottini always had a positive and enthusiastic speech, in which he avoided expressions like “perhaps”, “who knows”, “it could be”. More than reason, the customer has to be sure.

The “I deserve it” thing makes all the difference, and Ciro always knew that. He, of course, had some key words in his speech, after all, confident consumers open their wallets (here’s one of the first lessons of marketing courses).

“I’ve always really liked ‘incredible’, I stole that one from Steve Jobs, including (laughs). There are others, like ‘sensational’, ‘quality’ and ‘magnificent'”, he lists.

He was happy and he knew it—until new management came along.

“They tried to do new things every 90 days, it didn’t work. They tried to put on talk shows, but we had to sell products. That’s the point. It seems they didn’t understand”. it says. “And the collapse of Americanas was unbelievable. It’s a matter for the police,” he teases.

Since leaving Shoptime, three years have passed, and Bottini, 57, hasn’t stood still. He has already released two books on sales (of course) and has been dedicating himself to advertising campaigns and lectures. He opened a production company, Máquina de Propaganda, and continues his career with enthusiasm. “I don’t even think about retiring, I’ll be the sales mummy”, he jokes.