This story appears in the
July 2000 issue of
Entrepreneur.
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Brooks O'Kane thinks nothing of challenging his customers .
. . to games of Ping-Pong, that is. In fact, the 39-year-old
Sunpoint Products founder actually printed that challenge on one of
his company's products-and he's had more than one customer
take him up on it.
Such outlandish stunts have become the hallmark of
O'Kane's marketing strategy for his company's two
primary products, ClearVue glass cleaner and Red Cross Nurse
disinfectant. His cheeky style has helped him grow his Lawrence,
Massachusetts business from zero to $5 million in less than five
years. (Although he's since sold the ClearVue name and
automotive aftermarket business to Turtle Wax, he maintains the
license to distribute the product to retailers.)
And while outrageous stunts can sometimes backfire, O'Kane
seems to have hit a good balance of funny and effective. He's
been known to stand in grocery lines and pay for everything in
ClearVue purchasers' baskets. He's also shown up bearing
gifts at the homes of loyal customers.
"Our secrets to success are developing some kind of an
emotional bond with our customers, and being really different and
generating word-of-mouth," says O'Kane. "I mean, who
has any emotional bond with Windex or Glass Plus?"
Gwen Moran is president of Moran Marketing Associates. She is
currently compiling a marketing workbook titled Promote Your
Business. E-mail her at moranmarketing@erols.com.
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