In any event, it was a shoestring affair, especially because Hawken, the chief executive, as a matter of principle, refused to borrow additional funds or take a salary, determined to make do with his seed money. He was also an iconoclast in his approach to the mail-order business.
He rejected the strategy of renting a large number of lists and sending off hundred of thousands of initial catalogs to do a sampling. From there, the best performing lists would be chosen and a much larger mailing done.
Hawken explained in his Inc. Nor did I appreciate the come-ons about discounts and the 'surprise gift' to be included with my order, or photography so overdone that the actual looked a little shabby And then there were the numbers that reached a contract phone-service clerk who knew absolutely nothing about the products I was ordering. It was a simple black-and-white affair, and rather than mail out , to mostly uninterested consumers, it sent just catalogs to people who requested them.
The company kept placing its tiny magazine ads, which "didn't amount to much in themselves," Hawken wrote in Inc. People began to wonder, 'Well, what are these tools?
It had built its own list to , names, and only now did the company rent its first outside mailing list. Because the company had achieved some prominence, the mailing produced good results. The company's success in the gardening market did not go unnoticed, however.
But after testing out three different company names and mailing catalogs to one million customers, Brookstone failed to break through. According to Hawken, "Brookstone didn't have the permission of the marketplace.
Zeal, experience, and tons of money were simply not a substitute. They will bring out the newest products for Atlanta. Please Sign In and use this article's on page print button to print this article.
By Marcy Lamm — Staff Writer. The initial model worked well based on its core story and location Marin County. As the company grew and got away from its story, it lost its reason for being and eventually lost relevance with consumers. Frankly, I had not realized the company had gone through several ownership changes—which usually does tend to dilute to some degree the vision of the founders.
Reputation, quality, and beliefs still have substantial value, and I believe they do make a difference in business. I trusted and respected the company and its stated values. Now that I can afford whatever tool I wish, I do not want to find them among the sea of mediocrity or worse.
I would pay a premium for items which gave good value for my investment and I would choose a company that held firm to its roots when I share those values. In my opinion, it was always bad management with no real vision of what it could have become—and still could!
What dreams we had for both—all dashed by corporate machinations. Enough said. How can an accomplished consumer products marketer own a highly regarded retail brand and squander it? Those of us who have worked with large complex organizations know all too well how this can happen.
Yes there is a marketplace opportunity at the intersection of organic gardening and the current consumer zeitgeist. The challenge will be developing a deep understanding of the consumer segments as they are today and crafting the right mix of authority, information and products to build an offer. Max is right. As a luxury brand, in this economy and at the prices they were marketing goods, both the execution and the financial structure had to be pristine.
This would seem to be a textbook case of both a misreading of the market and a culture clash, one group seeing brand equity, line extension and economies of scale and the other, apparently, envisioning an extended version of a Beatrix Potter book come to life; and as with many failed efforts to expand a niche player, it flounders around in retail purgatory for several years until someone finally puts it out of its misery.
So in a sense, no one—and everyone—is at fault, because the scheme is impossible. That having been said, I find Mr. Its Web site already has stopped accepting orders, hanging out a virtual chalkboard sign reading, "Thank you for 30 wonderful years in the garden.
The move will leave employees nationwide, including those at its Novato headquarters, without a job. On Thursday, Sarah Bracken , 32, a consumer researcher, headed to the Berkeley store in hopes of taking advantage of the discounts.
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