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Inspiration Strikes Again.
Page 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 Re-orders are important, so Scott and his team imagined a product consisting of an initial container with growing medium and seed, to be followed by refill seed packages. But, how to make the container? Scott had another inspiration - this time, while eating ice cream and browsing through a catalog from the importer who supplied Buddy's eyes. Ice cream container. Cat eyes. Whiskers. Hmm. Scott zipped to the grocery store, sanded the printing off of a frosting container, called the importer and had him overnight the whiskers and eyes. The next day, he added the whiskers and eyes to the sanded container. Diane drew eyebrows and a grin, and the OzzyAtt® prototype was born. Marketing studies followed. Scott regularly travels as a corporate pilot, so he carried the OzzyAtt® prototype with him and showed it to pet stores around the country. The response was encouraging. Store owners said they'd carry OzzyAtt® if Bluegrass Buddy Corporation produced it. Time to shift into high gear! Scott hired artist Linda Smith, and worked closely with her to create his vision of OzzyAtt's® face. Linda is still with Bluegrass Buddy today, and has worked with Scott on the entire product line. She knows how he thinks, and he understands her artistic style. Next, Bluegrass Buddy needed containers. Scott approached the largest U.S. manufacturer of ice cream containers - one that regularly produces 25,000 in one day for just one company. The staff agreed to meet with Scott, and during the meeting, asked how many containers he wanted. Scott recalls, "I said - very softly - "1,500 or so?" The Vice President of the company answered. "We believe in what you're
doing here and feel you have a winner. If you pay for the printing plates,
we'll eat the setup cost and run 1,500." Scott left with a commitment
to invest $10,000. He knew that from this point on, it was either sink - or
swim. |
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