Pearson Education Marketing Success Stories Eskimo Joe's
Summary
TLDRStan Clark, founder of Eskimo Joe's in Stillwater, Oklahoma, shares the story of the establishment's humble beginnings as a 900-square-foot beer joint in 1975. The business quickly gained popularity through word of mouth and a loyal customer base, leading to the iconic t-shirt featuring 'Eskimo Joe and Buffy the Wonder Dog.' Faced with the challenge of the drinking age increase to 21, they pivoted to food service, which became a significant growth driver. Today, Eskimo Joe's has expanded to include two other restaurants, an online presence, and a promotional products business, leveraging their brand to provide marketing solutions for other companies.
Takeaways
- 🍻 Eskimo Joe's was founded in 1975 as a beer joint with a focus on providing a good time, great music, and ice-cold beer.
- 🏠 The business started in a small space of less than 900 square feet and quickly grew due to word-of-mouth advertising and a loyal customer base.
- 🐕 The logo featuring Eskimo Joe and Buffy the Wonder Dog was created on the first day and became a universal theme, selling all 72 t-shirts in the first week.
- 📈 The change in drinking age from 18 to 21 in Oklahoma was a significant challenge, prompting the business to consider diversifying or closing.
- 🍔 To adapt to the new regulations, Eskimo Joe's expanded its product mix by adding food service, which became a key growth driver for the business.
- 📈 The decision to add food service was successful, as it allowed the business to reach more people and grow the hospitality side alongside the retail business.
- 📈 In 1984, it was discovered that more people eat daily than drink, which helped Eskimo Joe's to overcome the challenge of the drinking age change and grow its food business.
- 📈 The business expanded to include a web store and social media presence, with nearly 50,000 fans on Facebook, surpassing their mailing list of 10,000.
- 🏢 Eskimo Joe's expanded to include two other restaurants in Stillwater, Giuseppe's Italian Kitchen and Mexico Joe's, both successful in their own right.
- 📊 The business uses standard retail metrics such as inventory turns and gross profit margin, but also considers the impact of their t-shirts as walking billboards.
- 🎁 Eskimo Joe's entered the promotional products business, offering marketing solutions and screen printing expertise to other companies.
Q & A
When did Eskimo Joe's first open its doors?
-Eskimo Joe's first opened on July 21st, 1975.
What was the original concept of Eskimo Joe's?
-Eskimo Joe's started as a beer joint offering a good time, great music, and ice-cold beer in less than 900 square feet.
What was the core product that Eskimo Joe's offered initially?
-The core product was a good time, with great music and ice-cold beer.
How did Eskimo Joe's grow its customer base initially?
-Eskimo Joe's grew its customer base through word of mouth advertising and a loyal crowd that really liked the place.
What was the significance of the t-shirt with the Eskimo Joe and Buffy the Wonder Dog logo?
-The t-shirt was a significant part of Eskimo Joe's branding and was for sale from the very first day of business, with all 72 sold in the first week.
What was the biggest challenge Eskimo Joe's faced?
-The biggest challenge was when the drinking age in Oklahoma was changed from 18 to 21, which threatened to take away their target market.
How did Eskimo Joe's adapt to the change in the drinking age?
-They adapted by adding food service to the mix, leveraging the brand name and facilities they already had, and growing the hospitality business along with the retail side.
What was the critical requirement for Eskimo Joe's to remain viable after the drinking age change?
-They had to get more than half of their revenues from non-alcoholic products in a six-month window to avoid becoming a 21 and over only establishment.
When did Eskimo Joe's expand to include a physical space for customers to interact with the products?
-Eskimo Joe's expanded to include a physical space in 1987 when they got a lease on the building next door.
How has Eskimo Joe's retail business evolved over time?
-The retail business has evolved from selling t-shirts over the bar to having an online web store and a significant social media presence, including nearly 50,000 fans on Facebook.
What other businesses does Eskimo Joe's own besides the original bar?
-Eskimo Joe's owns two other restaurants in Stillwater: Giuseppe's Italian Kitchen and Mexico Joe's.
How does Eskimo Joe's measure success in its retail business?
-They use standard metrics for any retailer such as inventory turns and gross profit margin, and also consider the impact of their t-shirts as walking billboards.
What is the promotional products business that Eskimo Joe's is involved in?
-Eskimo Joe's is involved in selling direct business to business, providing marketing solutions and promotional products to help other companies with their marketing efforts.
What types of products does Eskimo Joe's offer in its promotional products business?
-They offer a wide range of promotional products from inexpensive items like keychains and plastic cups to high-end corporate gift items, with a special focus on t-shirt design and screen-printed t-shirts.
Outlines
🍻 Beginnings of Eskimo Joe's
Stan Clark introduces Eskimo Joe's, a bar that opened on July 21st, 1975 in Stillwater, Oklahoma. Initially, it was a small beer joint with a focus on providing a good time with great music and ice-cold beer. The business started spontaneously without a master plan and quickly gained popularity due to word-of-mouth advertising and a loyal customer base. The iconic logo featuring Eskimo Joe and Buffy the Wonder Dog was introduced on the first day, and its popularity indicated the bar's potential for success. The challenge of the drinking age being raised from 18 to 21 in Oklahoma was overcome by adding food service and expanding the product mix, which ultimately led to significant growth in both the hospitality and retail sides of the business.
🚀 Expansion and Evolution of Eskimo Joe's Brand
Eskimo Joe's expanded its business model by incorporating food service and leveraging its brand name to reach a wider audience. The decision to add food during a critical period was pivotal, as it allowed the business to thrive when the drinking age was raised. Stan Clark highlights the importance of the t-shirt business, which became a significant revenue stream, with over 10 million Eskimo Joe's t-shirts sold worldwide. The business also ventured into the promotional products industry, offering marketing solutions and screen printing services to other companies. Today, Eskimo Joe's operates an online store and has a strong social media presence, with nearly 50,000 fans on Facebook. Additionally, the company owns two other successful restaurants in Stillwater: Giuseppe's Italian Kitchen and Mexico Joe's.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Eskimo Joe's
💡Beer joint
💡Core product
💡Loyalty
💡T-shirt
💡Drinking age
💡Food service
💡Hospitality business
💡Expansion
💡Promotional products
💡Social media
Highlights
Eskimo Joe's was founded in Stillwater, Oklahoma on July 21st, 1975 as a small beer joint.
The core product was a good time with great music and ice cold beer.
Eskimo Joe's started with less than 900 square feet and no master plan, just a spontaneous idea.
The business quickly grew through word of mouth and a loyal customer base.
The iconic Eskimo Joe and Buffy the Wonder Dog logo was introduced on the first day and sold 72 t-shirts in the first week.
The logo's universal theme of a boy and his dog with a big smile was key to the business's friendly and welcoming image.
When the drinking age was raised to 21 in Oklahoma, Eskimo Joe's faced its biggest challenge.
The business had three options: keep the bar, focus on retail t-shirts, or expand the product mix with food service.
Adding food service and leveraging the brand name helped Eskimo Joe's stay viable and grow the hospitality business.
In 1984, it was discovered that more people eat daily than drink, which helped Eskimo Joe's food business grow.
Eskimo Joe's expanded in 1987 by leasing the building next door and has since expanded it five times.
Today, most direct business is done via the internet and Eskimo Joe's has an online store operating 24/7.
Eskimo Joe's has a strong social media presence with nearly 50,000 Facebook fans, surpassing their mailing list.
There are two other successful restaurants in Stillwater - Giuseppe's Italian Kitchen and Mexico Joe's.
Eskimo Joe's uses standard retail metrics like inventory turns and gross profit margin, along with the impact of being a walking billboard.
Over 10 million Eskimo Joe's t-shirts are distributed worldwide, making it a significant promotional product.
The company expanded into the promotional products business, selling B2B and providing marketing solutions with screen printing and design expertise.
Transcripts
[Music]
sorry barbara couldn't be with me here
she did tell me to
get a beer and some cheese fries over at
eskimo joe's
hi i'm stan clark welcome to eskimo
joe's in stillwater oklahoma
[Music]
well we first opened eskimo joe's july
21st 1975 basically i'd call it a beer
joint we started in this room we're
sitting in just less than 900 square
feet and really our core product was uh
was a good time great music and ice cold
beer that's about all we had we did it
two months out of college so it's not
like we had some big master plan or
anything it was a spur of the moment
idea on a sunday afternoon two months
later we opened the doors very quickly
realized that we had a little something
magic going here and people really
really liked the place and uh through
word of mouth advertising and very
slowly honestly but
we grew the crowd and the crowd we had
was very loyal they really really liked
the place so
i i knew we had something pretty special
going very quickly
the very first day we opened for
business we had a t-shirt for sale
behind the bar and it's exactly what you
see in this circle it's eskimo joe and
buffy the wonder dog
and uh you know in hindsight it's such a
universal theme it's a boy and his dog
it's very simple but i think that big
smile draws you in it's friendly
welcoming and that's what our business
is all about interestingly we sold all
72 the very first week we were open so i
knew there was some magic in that logo
early on i didn't have any idea where it
was going to take us
[Music]
[Applause]
when they changed the drinking age in
oklahoma from 18 to 21 it was absolutely
the biggest challenge we ever faced by
them were very popular great cash
flowing business sold hundreds of
thousands of these t-shirts so you know
we're an institution in all modesty at
oklahoma state very popular place
but hey it was going to take our target
market away from us so we really kind of
had three choices as we saw
we thought maybe we'd just see if we
could stumble along and keep the bar
business going maybe try to focus on the
retail side the t-shirt business or we
thought maybe we would expand the
product mix and the hours of operation
add food to the concept before we could
leverage the same name and the same
facilities and maybe that would be a way
to stay viable or lastly we thought
about you know maybe you just close the
bar completely and just focus on the
t-shirts well we ended up going with the
idea of adding food service to the mix
and leveraging all the facility the
brand name we already had going and we
knew we could grow the hospitality
business along with the retail side if
we had a if we had a better mix if we
had a mix that could that could reach
more people
we uh we got a kitchen built we added on
some seating on the uh an atrium to get
more year-round seats we had a very
critical timetable we had to get more
than half of our revenues from
non-alcoholic products in a six-month
window but we'd had to post this place
21 and over only which would have killed
us completely and i was just tickled to
death to find out in 1984 that actually
more people eat every day than drink
every day
so in all candor that challenge our
biggest hurdle if you will turned out to
be the best thing that ever happened to
us because really ever since 1984 the
food piece of it has been really the
growth side of the business and along
with that the retail branch just
exploded so things really grew quickly
from that point forward in 1987 we had a
chance to get a lease on the building
right next door to eskimo joe's we're
standing in that space now we've
expanded it about five times since then
it wasn't this big when we started but
at least it was a place people could
actually walk in touch and feel the
product because up until 1987 we sold
every t-shirt we ever sold right over
the bar at eskimo joe's today
most of our direct business is done via
the internet we still get some direct
calls on the 800 line from our catalogs
which we still send out but most of that
comes via the web of course we have a
web store that's out there 24 7.
so that's the direction and recently in
the last less than a year now we've been
on facebook and we've got almost 50 000
fans already on facebook heck our
mailing list is still only 10 000. so
that deal just has exploded and the
opportunity to touch that many people on
a daily if we choose basis is just
phenomenal today we have two other
restaurants in stillwater one is
giuseppe's italian kitchen the other one
is mexico joe's beautiful stand-alone
buildings and prime locations actually
sharing
common parking lots next door to one
another and both very very successful in
their own right
[Music]
we use standard metrics really i think
for any retailer just in terms of
inventory turns gross profit margin
those kinds of things
but you know for us
there's also the added impact it's a
billboard it's a walking billboard and
fortunately today there's north of 10
million of these things out there around
the world
we decided to take what the marketplace
had rewarded us most handsomely with and
that was the eskimo joe's brand and got
into the promotional products business
so we actually go out today and sell
direct business to business to other
businesses and try to help them in their
marketing efforts
so as a promotional products distributor
we are basically there to provide
marketing solutions and to make other
companies look great and we do that with
our screen printing expertise our
graphics design team and any and every
promotional product imaginable from the
most inexpensive
made in china for example key chain
plastic cups all the way through really
high-end corporate gift items everything
in between and but of course we
especially like to help people with
t-shirt design and screen printed
t-shirts
this is stan clark thanks for visiting
eskimo joe's still waters jumping little
jig joy
[Music]
[Music]
[Music]
you
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