Silicon Valley's New Pitchman
Thursday, July 22, 2010 at 2:10PM 
Flipboard, the new “personalized, social magazine” for the iPad officially launched yesterday to some nice reviews all around. (We concur, the app is quite cool.)
But this post isn't about Flipboard; you can find plenty of info on why it's awesome, why it's a flop, or whether or not it's legal elsewhere. This is about the uber-relaxed, seated man featured in the demo video, Adam Lisagor — A.K.A. Lonelysandwich — who can also be heard on the You Look Nice Today podcast. He's kind of a big deal on the Internet.
Mr. Lisagor, 32, previously edited televsion commercials and worked on visual effects for for films. He now creates videos for tech companies that are intended to demonstrate how their newfangled product works.
Check out this video Lisagor made for Flipboard — he's the antithesis of Billy Mays.
Not your typical pitchman right? Mr. Lisagor is sitting on a couch, he has a mellow delivery — an anti-pitch pitch. CNET described the style as "overly smug," and Kara Swisher at All Things Digital called him an "unusually sleepy demoer." But that's the point, Lisagor is just a dude — maybe a friend of a friend or some guy that you saw at the MGMT or JoCo show the other night.
But there is another reason why he might seem familiar. Lisagor also starred in two demo videos for Square, the new (equally buzzed about) platform creeated by Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey. What is Square you ask? Watch and learn.
So what do these two products have in common besides demos with prominently featured couches? They're both "really cool." It's 2010, Flipboard and Square don’t need some over-the-top pitcher shilling their stuff, just some dude to show how it’s done. After all, it ain't a ShamWow. The attitude is, "just check it out. You'll like it. And if you don't? Whatever, your loss."
Here's one more demo for Birdhouse, a notepad app for Twitter that was designed by Mr. Lisagor. Sadly, there isn't a couch but there are occasional cameos from a few geek icons.
And finally, watch this interview from SXSW to learn more about the man who you'll likely be seeing a lot more of in the future.
Reader Comments (3)
Thank you so much for the kind writeup, Whose Voice friends and recognizers. I'm honored to be featured here, and I'll send this clipping to my mom because she likes to read this kind of stuff, too.
And you know what, Rick Broida at CNET? I don't think you know what that word means.
And you know what, Kara Swisher, who wrote the following: "Here’s the video, which–except for the unusually sleepy demoer for the free app–pretty much explains it all"? Here is your blog post, which–except for the single clumsiest sentence ever written to malign my demeanor for the free iPad app–pretty much says things about things.
Glad I could take this opportunity to work out some stuff. Love you, WViT.
Best. Comment. Ever. Thanks for the kind words, Adam.
And, also thank you for including my interview with Adam in this write-up. That interview was a fantastic time talking with a guy I admire that ended up opening a few doors for me over the past few months. I'm glad that other people have found it as useful and inspiring as I had hoped they would.
I didn't send this to my mom, because I'm still going over the basics of exactly what it is that I *do* for a living. Adding this layer of notoriety would only serve to tear down every shred of hard work I've built upon over the years.
Fantastic site, guys.