Cornerstone Promotion, The Fader magazine
Company description:
Lifestyle marketing company, culture magazine
Founders: Jon Cohen, 36,
and Rob Stone, 36
Location: New York
City
Projected 2004 sales:
Approaching $20 million
Fresh Alternative: Music
industry veterans Jon Cohen and Rob Stone launched Cornerstone
Promotion in 1996 to help music companies promote artists to niche
audiences-but they quickly realized the same nontraditional,
grass-roots approach could be applied elsewhere. Now Coca-Cola,
Disney, Microsoft and Sony-Ericsson are among the roster of
corporations seeking out Cornerstone's cultural and marketing
know-how.
Immersed: With 25 being
the average age of Cornerstone's staff, they can speak with
great authority on youth culture. "This company was built by
people who live, eat and breathe what they do here," Cohen
attests. "They love music, film, the lifestyle of what this
place is all about, and that's the important thing we look for
in a new hire."
Content Continues Below
Youth Brigade:The
Fader magazine was born in 1999 to promote Cornerstone's
website and soon took on a life of its own. "With Cornerstone
being so service-oriented," says Stone, "we wanted to
build something that represented our taste and our values, how we
saw culture at the time." The magazine's initial lack of
distribution and Cornerstone's preference for alternative
marketing methods set the foundation for their FARM (Field
Activation Research Marketing) Team. Paid team members ranging from
ages 18 to 25 (many were loyal readers) first spread the word about
The Fader by acting as "ambassadors" and meeting
with influential people-such as college radio station programmers,
talent bookers, and young photographers and writers-to introduce
the magazine. Today, The Fader is a subscription-based
magazine with eight issues per year, while the FARM team creates
word-of-mouth for Cornerstone projects and keeps Cornerstone in the
know on the latest buzz.
Broadened Horizons: The
magazine's new division, Fader Films, has released its first
project, and two more films may appear at Sundance 2005. With
offices in Chicago and New York, the co-founders hope to spread
their marketing genius to Europe and Japan. -A.Y.P.
eFashion Solutions LLC
Company description:
Operations management for fashion manufacturers' e-commerce
sites
Founders: Edward Foy,
33, and Jennifer Foy, 32
Location: Secaucus, New
Jersey
Projected 2004 sales:
$25 million to $30 million
ePioneers: In the
dotcom heyday, Edward Foy and fellow Calvin Klein Jeanswear sales
account executive Jennifer Silano thought more clothing
manufacturers should use the internet as an added revenue stream.
Launching eFashion Solutions in 2000, they took their business
model to fashion trade shows, where they touted their turnkey
package: eFashion Solutions would design the signature website,
manage the customer call center, handle fulfillment, and even
provide reverse logistics. The couple, who also married that year,
kept working toward their dream, even while credit card debt
mounted.
Full-Service Appeal:
"We focus on what we call the 'wow factor'-constantly
wowing our first client and our second client so the industry would
talk about us," says Jennifer. After landing the trendy
juniors line XOXO as their first client, word-of-mouth quickly drew
other pop culture brands seeking an online flagship store, such as
urban apparel giants Baby Phat, JLo and Rocawear. In September, the
Foys added international websites to the mix.
Focal Point: In the
beginning, Edward remembers trying to offer their services to just
about everyone. "We weren't focused enough on our
industry, where our knowledge was." When they did land
fashion-minded clients, they tried too hard to do everything for
them. Appreciative for the business, the Foys would do extra work
gratis. When certain clients started regarding this as a right,
policy changed. "Now we service to the letter of the
contract," says Jennifer.
Branded: The Foys
take great care to build the eFashion Solutions brand. "We
don't have the money Coca-Cola has to build this brand around
our name," says Edward, "so it's the experiences
people have with us." -A.Y.P.
All Star Wines & Spirits
Company description:
Upscale wine and spirits shop
Founder: Craig Allen,
35
Location: Latham, New
York
Projected 2004 sales:
Approaching $5 million
Worms to Wine: At age 6,
Craig Allen launched his first business-selling worms. His friend
dug them up, his mom sold them, and Allen oversaw the operation.
Years later, armed with a marketing degree, Allen turned down a
career at Procter & Gamble to stay at the liquor store where he
worked and learn more about wine. "Wine is something
that's recession proof," says Allen. "It's a
product that lends [itself] to a very social atmosphere."
Strong Spirits:
Compiling the best ideas from hundreds of stores, Allen designed
his from the ground up, showcasing tens of thousands of bottles.
But before he could even open his doors, he was caught in a series
of battles against the state of New York. Most significant was a
six-month struggle that finally won New York alcohol retailers the
right to be open for business on Sundays.
Doing Overtime: Despite
the legal battles, Allen has grown the business by double digits
almost every month for the past six years. His current project:
launching a wine bar and tapas restaurant next to his store. To top
it all off, he uses his business to give back to the community,
having founded or co-founded three annual charity wine-tasting
events that net $150,000 a year. What's his secret? Says Allen,
"My slogan from Day One has been: We're not smarter than
anyone else, but we're willing to work a little bit
harder." -S.W.
Page
1 |
2 |
3 | 4 |
5 