Power Play
Strategies for creating products that dominate the marketplace
Russ Leatherman had a great idea. Frustrated by calling movie
theaters for show times only to get a busy signal, Leatherman
conceived of an interactive telephone movie guide. The caller would
have access to a complete listing of theaters and show times in his
or her area, and could even pre-purchase tickets.
In 1989, while developing the concept from their base in Los
Angeles, Leatherman and his partners, Douglas Hoitenga and Rob
Gukeisen, met up with Andrew Jarecki and Adam Slutsky, who were
working on a similar idea in New York. The five men became a team,
and today MovieFone, as the partners dubbed the concept, handles
calls from up to 2.5 million moviegoers per week in 28 cities
across the country.
Theirs is the story of a company using existing technology and
consumer demand to create a new invention, then using proactive
strategies to block the competition and dominate the market. Read
on . . . there are plenty of lessons to be learned.
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