Mike Rowe, host of Discovery Channel's popular television show Dirty Jobs, is becoming better known as a pitchman in many circles than for his acumen as a cleaner upper. Best known on Madison Avenue for hawking Ford automobiles, Lee jeans and Viva paper towels, he also has a footwear line.
In an article last year signaling his sponsorship of Viva paper towels, Advertising Age referred to Mr. Rowe this way: "Perhaps not since Michael Jordan or Billy Mays in their heydays has one man pitched so many products so prominently and simultaneously."
"We saw him as a person who really connects with the everyday person," Geoffrey Golub, Viva brand manager, told Ad Age. The brand also obviously saw the cleaning connection to his show.
Cat Footwear first teamed with Mr. Rowe on the Fall 2011 launch of the Mike Rowe Works by Cat Footwear work boots collection and is now launching a 'Made in the USA' line for holiday 2012.
"He is very passionate about the skilled trades and honoring the American worker," Kelly Ballou, marketing manager for Cat Footwear, said in a statement. "We felt strongly that a Made in the USA work boot with his name on it was a necessary part of this collection."
Is Mr. Rowe overexposed?
"I don't think he's really overexposed in terms of being authentic," Paul Kuzma, chief creative officer of Tris3ct, the agency which came up with the Viva campaign, told Ad Age, last year. "What we liked most was Mike's honest opinion of things. ... We need to tell people that Viva is a really tough towel. It kind of has an image problem, and so we thought if we took the dirtiest guy in America and put him together with his mom we'd have a winning combination."