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Rob Albert sold $46 million worth of products in 1999 andexpects to sell $120 million this year. He's also gotten fiveproducts onto the shelves of major retailers.without spendinga dime on advertising. How has Albert, 34, accomplished everyinventor's dream? By building his San Diego-based company,Evergreen Research and Marketing LLC, on one simple premise: Smallmanufacturers' products need a little something extra to standout among the competition.
This premise has proved good as gold since Albert started hisfirst business in 1989, selling horse shampoo with his brothers tofeed and tack stores. Albert visited stores throughout Florida andwas struggling to get sales when he learned some people were usingthe horse shampoo on their own tangled hair. When Albert realizedthat a shampoo that could detangle a horse's mane couldcertainly detangle even the gnarliest human hair, fireworks wentoff in his head. Within two years, more than 450 newspaper articleswere published on the Horse Shampoo. Albert sold over $30 millionof product, mostly in major retail stores, before selling thecompany in 1994.
Was the product memorable? Well, my wife still remembers herinitial double take when she first saw Horse Shampoo on the shelf.An impression that strong means more sales.
A Unique Insect Repellant Product
After selling the business, Albert took a couple of years offand moved to San Diego, where he started reading about thedangerous side effects of many insect repellents. "My friendJoe Panzitta had a similar interest in chemistry, and was workingon a new, natural insect repellent," says Albert."Together, we finalized the product."
Albert sensed that the product's exotic ingredients wouldspark people's curiosity. "It's made with Indonesianlemon-grass oil, Philippine geranium oil and good old NorthAmerican citronella oil," he explains.
But he also realized that he faced two obstacles: peopledidn't want sticky insect-repellent oil on their skin, and anylotion, even one with great ingredients, would have troublestanding out in the marketplace. "I was trying to think of anew way to package the product when I learned some plastics couldsoak up fragrances." he says. "That's how I came upwith the Bug Button, which is a plastic button that people couldwear right on their clothes." The Bug Button boasted a fewmajor advantages: It smells nice, doesn't touch the skin and isreusable.
Thanks to a great name and a distinctive delivery system, theproduct caught people's eyes. Albert sold about 20 million BugButtons in this product's first two years at an average retailprice of about $1 each. Some of Albert's major retailers havebeen Canadian Tire, Grand Union, K-Mart, Meyer's, Rite-Aid DrugStores and Walgreens.
More Inventive Products To Come
Albert's new products just keep on coming. In November 1999,he introduced his Brainwash Shampoo, which contains ginkgo biloba,a herb believed to trigger quicker thinking. Albert got the ideawhen reading about vaccines being administered through the scalp.According to his research, the vaccines use the hair follicles as aconduit into the blood stream.
Albert's new shampoo was almost immediately stocked by bothMays Drug and Warehouse Drug Store. Needless to say, consumers looktwice when they see the name Brainwash. And, once again, Albert hadfound just the sort of unusual angle the media drool over. Otherproducts Albert plans to introduce this year are Gardener'sSecret hand lotion and a line of olive-oil-based cosmetics.
Many first-time inventors think minor changes are all they needto catch the public eye. That's rarely the case. You have tofind the unique features of a product and mold them into aninteresting story. To be distinctive, you have to be bold anddaring and get people to do a double take.
Most important, you should know when to do a double takeyourself. Albert saw the marketing possibilities in hearsay that afew people used a horse shampoo on their own hair. Whereas mostpeople would have brushed that incident off as just a funny storyto share with friends, Albert envisioned a great marketing program,an eye-catching product and a huge sales success.
Want Some Attention?
Here are some of the more popular tactics for getting prospectsto notice you:
1. An unexpected name. Nameslike Brainwash and HorseShampoo add a little fun to people'slives. Other products or businesses that have used this techniqueare the Weed Weasel and Hard Rock Cafe.
2. An unusual productconfiguration. Albert's Bug Button was a completelydifferent way to present bug repellent. The success of Palm Pilotis partly due to people's surprise at its small size.
3. A unique design.Mini-disc players and the iMac colored computers both hadsurprising designs that caught people's attention. One reasonbehind the success of the Sony Walkman was that its small headphonedesign quickly captured the affection of its target teenmarket.
4. A task made easy.Downloading new music off the Internet with MP3 players is a snap,as compared to taping from radio to a cassette tape. Foodprocessors, snow blowers and closet organizers were also productsthat made mundane tasks simple.
5. Catchy ad campaigns.Clean Shower was introduced by radio talk show hosts discussing howthey kept their bathrooms clean. What made this campaign stand out?The deejays didn't work off a prepared script but instead saidwhatever they wanted to about the product.
6. Bold, different, dangerous andfun. Snowboards, in-line skates, windsurfing boards andskateboards all proved that big changes in equipment are easier tosell than small improvements to existing products.
7. Status. SUVs, Starbuckscoffee, Tommy Hilfiger clothes, cell phones, pagers and Oakleysunglasses all succeeded because people initially identified themas status symbols.
8. An unmet need. Minivanssucceeded due to the need for family vehicles. Big Bertha golfclubs sold well because they helped older golfers keep theirdistance on drives. Single-portion gourmet dinners addressed themarket reality that families often don't eat meals together.Gardener's Secret hand lotion has great potential becausegardening is very tough on hands, and no one else has a lotion thatis specially formulated to compensate for the effects gardening hason hands.
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 Want More?Rob Albert of Evergreen Research and Marketing LLC has found thatmany inexperienced BIZ Experiencess depend too much on advertising andnot enough on free PR and proper product packaging. His Web site,www.pressguru.com, showsentrepreneurs and inventors some tactics for success. It covers twotopics inventors should find interesting: how to make a productinteresting to the media by writing great press releases, and howto get your product noticed by choosing the right color, shape andsize of its package. | |||||
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