May 18, 2005

"Nuts to You!!"

Happy Birthday, Matt!

Ten years ago, you had the whacked out idea of selling boiled peanuts and other southern "delicacies" via a catalog sent to I-don't-know-who. Instead of a catalog that looks like anything anyone else sends out, you chose a itty bitty format with smudgy black type on yellowish paper and illustrations that look like they were drawn with your left foot (in the dark). You bound the catalogs by stitching them with an ancient sewing machine, and you made it reasonably difficult for anyone to know that they existed.

Lo and behold, your business rocks...because it has an incredible integrity, a faithfulness to who it is and a firm resolve never to be anything other than true to itself.

Would that there were more brands like that!

Look at GM. Who the heck IS that company any more? Where's the integrity in ANY of their brands. Now there are Chevrolets that act like Cadillacs, and Cadillacs that act like Chevrolets. No wonder GM is circling the drain.

Brand integrity is key.

GM doesn't have it. They should study Lee Bros. Boiled Peanuts.

PR Works...Creatively Targeted PR Works Better

My friend Gale Epstein has a company called Hanky Panky (great name!). She designs and sells women's underwear, and - over the past several years - steadily built up her company to more than $15 million in sales, thanks to great product (so says my wife!!) and solid press in appropriate publications like Vogue and In Style.

But ever since Hanky Panky was featured in an article in the Wall Street Journal (page one above the fold), featuring the company's most popular product - a thong - Hanky Panky's revenues have doubled to $30 million. Not because Gale's customers or potential customers saw the article (although many did), but because the Journal validated the importance of her business...and that made retailers take note, take her much more seriously, place bigger orders and promote her products more.

All too often, companies only promote to a single constituency, their ultimate consumer. But there are lots of links in the supply chain, and a creatively targeted PR effort will touch them all.