Company: The Very, Very Good Earth
Timeframe: January to April 2004
Few people would credit bunnies with inspirational PR decisions, but Ben Kubelsky found his most successful promotional campaigns thanks to a trio of bunnies - two with long
floppy ears and one with a talent for working the camera.
Kubelsky was the founder and president of The Very, Very Good Earth, a retail chain specializing in environmentally friendly consumer goods. Founded in the mid-1980s,
The Very, Very Good Earth began with a single storefront in San Francisco's Castro District. Originally, his PR efforts came by word-of-mouth recommendations and the occasional
sponsorship of local nonprofit fundraisers (having a location in one of the city's top neighborhoods for pedestrian traffic didn't hurt). Financial success built slowly but
surely, and at the end of the 1990s Kubelsky was able to branch out with stores in Oakland and Palo Alto.
However, the dot-com bubble burst coupled with the recessionary economy at the start of this decade did significant damage to the Bay Area economy. Kubelsky was not immune to
the situation, and by 2003 he was forced to close the Oakland and Palo Alto stores. The San Francisco location managed to maintain a loyal customer base, but the city's declining
tourism industry (particularly after 9/11) created a tighter squeeze on his bottom line.
On a slow January 2004 morning, Kubelsky was alone in his store with his two pet rabbits, Eric and Ernie. The front display window of the store had a fenced off area for the
rabbits to scamper about and play in. During the course of the day, Kubelsky noticed people would stop and look into the window at the rabbits - not for a quick peek, but spend
considerable time gazing at time.
"This was the first time I seriously noticed that," recalls Kubelsky, who occasionally brought the rabbits to the store to keep him and his staff company during slower selling
periods. "For the most part, the front window of the store was only used for displays of whatever merchandise we had on sale. We'd set up mannequins if we were pushing clothing
made from organic materials, or create a make-believe garden if we were pushing our gardening equipment. But the rabbits were getting more attention than our traditional window
displays."
As the day wore on, a constant stream of people stopped to tap at the window and marvel at the rabbits. "At one point, we had a couple who spent up to 10 minutes enchanted
with Eric and Ernie," adds Kubelsky. "But what was even better was that many of the people - I'd say about 75-85% of them - actually came into the store to talk about the
rabbits, and then to look around. And many of those people said they didn't even realize we were here!"
All In The Family
Kubelsky wondered about building on the bunnies-in-the-window situation with an attraction that would bring a larger crowd.
"That Sunday, I was at a family dinner and I brought up the subject," he says. "I remarked that I wished I could get a celebrity who could spend the day making a guest
appearance in the store window. And across the table from me, my sister-in-law chimed in: 'Well, I'm a celebrity!' And I felt so dumb that I didn't think of her!"
Kubelsky's sister-in-law was a bunny, as in the Playboy type: Petra Verkaik, the model who holds the record for the most appearances in the pages of Playboy.
With no goading whatsoever, Kubelsky's glamorous sister-in-law set a date to make a day-long guest appearance at his store.
For Kubelsky, having Petra Verkaik in his store window just because she was married to his brother wasn't exactly a strong PR hook. "We decided to promote her appearance by
showing Petra's dedication to a healthy environment and to ecologically friendly products," he says. "After all, the store sold clothing made from organic materials and we had
organic hair and make-up products as well. And this wasn't entirely a stretch, since Petra was a regular customer and genuinely believed in what we were doing."
Verkaik hooked up Kubelsky with a local PR rep, who agreed to handle the promotion in a barter deal (the rep received $500 in store merchandise in exchange for her work).
All About Petra
Verkaik's appearance was timed for a Saturday in April. Press releases and publicity photos of the Playboy model were distributed throughout the Bay Area media, and the
store's phone barely stopped ringing. TV stations called to double check Kubelsky's location (this was his first-ever appearance on television) and a few local weekly newspapers
sought out advance interviews with Verkaik prior to the event (she happily obliged).
The big day itself was bigger than Kubelsky anticipated. "We crafted a throne made from one of the lawn chairs we were selling," he says. "Petra was in the window waving out
to the crowds while trying to keep a conversation going with people coming into the store to take her picture and get an autograph. My brother and I did double-duty as security
to make sure people were moving in an orderly manner."
The local television news stations also came around, and interviews were conducted in the window with onlookers and shoppers watching in delight. One newspaper,though, was a
bit catty of the promotion, stating: "Petra Verkaik is here to call attention to the environment - and, not surprisingly, to herself."
The result of the one-day promotion was remarkable. "The Very, Very Good Earth took in approximately $20,000 in sales from that one day," Kubelsky proclaims. "An average
Saturday in April would normally ring up less than $2,000 - often much less after the economy tanked. For some items, such as underwear and toys, we were completely sold out - we
had to go back into the storage room twice just to restock the shelves."
Sadly, Kubelsky had to close The Very, Very Good Earth in late 2004. "If those bunnies inspired me a few years earlier, maybe I'd still be in business," he says, with a
sigh.
Contact: Ben Kubelsky, [email protected].
Lessons Learned: Doing In-Store Promotions
Doing promotion within the confines of a retail unit can often be tricky. If your PR campaign includes activities and events within a store aisle, here are some pointers you
may wish to consider:
- Make sure your event doesn't disrupt store traffic. This may sound too obvious, but you'd be surprised how many times an in-store promotion gets in the way of
shoppers trying to go about their business. Make sure your promotion is in a section of a store where you can control the human ebb and flow without having the overflow of event
attendees creating a barrier to floor traffic or any sort of a spatial blockage that could possibly create problems. Most stores that host regular promotions know the game, but
retail outlets hosting their very first in-store promotion will need to weigh several considerations before allowing your activity into their aisles.
- Pick a day when you are guaranteed an audience. That old saw about "timing is everything" isn't too far from wrong. Make sure you time your in-store promotion to
ensure your target market will be present. For example, a promotion aimed at school kids would seem foolish if it is slated when classes are still in session. Yes, it is
elementary advice, but we can state cases where that simple advice was ignored and the results were ghastly.
- Hello, risk management! If you have not done a thorough contingency drill of any possible problem that could arise from an event, then you are not doing your job
properly. Make sure you are in touch with the managers at the event's location to determine their insurance policies, their emergency exit plans, and their in-store security
detail. This may ultimately be nothing but an academic exercise, but for that one in a million chance of a major problem you will be prepared for the unexpected.