Honey do these pants make my butt look big?

For years life was easy on the outside of the dressing room for a guy. Wait for her to come out with the new jeans on and then blurt out with enthusiasm, “Your butt looks real small in those pants honey!” If you could keep a straight face, you might be out in an hour. Today the four horsemen of the Full Butt Hall of Fame, J-Lo, Beyonce, Shikira, and Jessica Biel, have really made it tricky to pull off the right answer.

Last week I was watching the Big Idea on CNBC and Donnie was wound up about a company that had a very elegant solution to this very problem. The test was my wife; she gave it two very big thumbs up!

$25 bucks, no surgery, no exercise, great butt.

Now don’t get too crazy guys sending a pair of Booty Pop Panties unannounced to your wife or girlfriend, it could backfire. You might be slumming the sofa at the dressing room again. Just send her a web link to bootypoppanties.com and tell her, “check out the before and after of this woman’s butt, you would never need anything like this.” Watch her reaction once she visits the site.

Consider this your own private focus group. You can learn a lot from this little experiment. I personally think this is a very big idea.

• Great name

• Registered trademarks

• Solid management

• Simple solution

• Growing market

• Inexpensive and fun.

This was a fun interview. Listen in as Susan Bloomstone, one of the Partners of Booty Pop Panties takes you from Big Idea to your wife’s behind in 9 minutes.

Interview with COO of Play-N-Trade on Franchise Whale

If you wanted to create a recipe for a massive gamer franchise, what ingredients would you put together?

• A dash of customer common sense, “Try before you buy.”

• Executives with experience at the most successful retail story of all time, Starbucks!

• Executives that launched a million title game, Tony Hawk Pro Skater.

Throw in some experience at Pepsi and you have one very experienced team to run your great franchise concept. Right?

Imagine how cool it would be to have all of that in one guy in your COO office.

I had a great chat with Tom McMahon, the new COO of Play-N-Trade. He has a broad base of experience to draw on, hands on gamer branding and a real down to earth approach about building the fabric of a franchising company. If you have been on this blog for a while, you will know I am a big fan of Play-N-Trade’s simple approach to gaming and franchising. Listen to the entire interview. Tom will give you some very specific tips for any entrepreneur, even if gaming is not your thing.

www.playntrade.com

Listen to Interview:

Why Malcolm X loved criticism and so should you.

“If you have no critics you’ll likely have no success.”

-Malcolm X

If you do not agree with an approach someone is taking in business, you must offer a proposal for a better solution. Ignoring the problem is not an option. Criticizing without a counter solution is not the right approach either. If you criticize without offering a better way, you are just being a pain in the butt. If we are trying to improve the process, then it is constructive even if our new approach does not become the ultimate solution. It opens our minds to reach the best possible outcome given a moving target of alternatives.

Constant creative destruction is the means to make a franchise strong, vibrant and viable.

Update on Loves:

On January 2^nd I sent the Assistant to Tom Love, the CEO of Love’s gas station chain an email after getting her voicemail. It highlighted a problem and my recommendation to solve it. So far, four weeks later, no answer. When you are big maybe you feel small problems are not important. In nature it’s not “big eats small” it’s “fast eats slow!” If you are the fastest in the jungle or your industry, you can sleep well at night.

Love’s Ranked #42 on the Forbes largest private companies in America, I am probably not considered a top priority. I am not sure if they have tried my recommendation in the story or not. If anyone can send me an updated photo of a new pump sticker at that location mentioned in the e-mail I will give them $50.00! Just a shot of the sticker and one shot with you and the store will do. I will post the photos and send you the cash. First photo update, first dibs on the cash for all you California highway drivers on the East 10.

Here is the e-mail I sent and a link to the story that prompted the e-mail.

“Information for Tom on his California Store

Hi Reta,

I called but missed you. Sorry to send an e-mail unannounced, I will be brief. I wanted to get a story to Tom we published, please print it and forward it to him for me when you can. We have a franchising blog at franchisewhale.com. The blog is a free subscription site that exists to infuse the spirit, theory and science of great licensing and franchising ideas to a global audience of creative business minds.

We are always looking to find hot business niches and improve the way existing companies interact with their respective markets. We found something I believe Tom will want to fix at the #207 Coachella California station. You had a lot of very angry customers four days before Christmas when my family pulled in to gas up. Here is a link to the problem, with my suggestions to fix it. I hope Tom finds it helpful.

http://franchisewhale.com/2007/12/no-love-at-loves-behind-pump-number-5.html

Also if Tom would like to respond, I would be more than happy to publish his response or do a 5 minute audio podcast with him. We have an audio section called "CEO Friday" we publish on iTunes.

By the way, please let Tom know the receptionist who answers your main line is absolute tops! Whatever he is paying her it is not enough. Please tell her personally for me the way she interacts with callers is a case study in making a big company act like a small one. She is very good.

All the best,

Chad “

Remember Whale lovers! Before you fire of a complaint or criticism, you need to offer a better solution or you are wasting everyone’s time.

Criticism like rain, should be gentle enough to nourish a man’s growth without destroying his root.”

-Frank A. Clark

Thanks for your shower of ideas to make the Whale more user friendly. I have included a built in player on all podcasts now, so you can play directly from each story without downloading a podcast. Just click the blue button at the bottom of each interview we publish and it will play without leaving the story.

Interview with CEO of CherryPharm on Franchise Whale

Many great ideas happen by accident. John had a back injury and had a lot of time on his hands. He hung out in the backyard and ate copious amounts of cherries. The doctor was surprised at the pace of his recovery and asked what was going on? He mentioned the cherries and the rest is history.

John jumped head first into the science of cherries and you will be surprised what he found. We had a great chat with John about his new company, entrepreneurship and building a business based on science.

Jump out to cherrypharm.com and read the science behind cherry juice. I was surprised that the exotic fruits like Noni, JuJube, Goji and Acai have dramatically less antioxidants than cherries!

What new business ideas are in your backyard? Listen in as John Davy CEO of CherryPharm shares his take on building a business based on science. Retailers and wholesalers will want to connect with John and see what possibilities are available for their markets with this exciting new product. 50 cherries in one 8 ounce bottle and no marketing fluff, just the straight juice.

Grab the podcast here

Listen to it right now!

A random walk through the retail minefield

I caught up with an old friend last week and he told me about an experience he had buying a Christmas tree. Apparently trees are expensive now, I wouldn’t know, we take trips instead of the traditional mall frenzy and we love it. The kids can pick a place to go and we all get lost for a week together. It is really fantastic and I highly recommend it if you start while they are young. The only rules we have are, no repeats, it must be a new place each year and the Blackberry can’t be turned on until after the kids are asleep. I know it is not very traditional, forgive me, not the Blackberry comment, the holiday one. You are probably asking, “What about Santa?” When my kids come to me and ask, “Dad, is Santa for real?” I sit each one down, look into their innocent four year old eyes and let them know the Santa story is complete crap! I encourage them to keep what I have revealed a secret because some parents who enjoy lying to their children have not told their kids the truth so we need to respect their right to pull the wool over their own kid’s eyes. I know, it sounds like I am Ebenezer, trust me my Mother thinks she has raised a real nut job. I am just very anti anything that “Society” says needs to be “this way”. I still can’t believe my wife said yes, she totally respects my right to be a wacko. It has served me well in business because the really big breakouts, “10 baggers” are found going against the trend. In business doing what we did yesterday out of tradition is a sure way to the poor house over time.

I am getting off track, back to the tree. He bought the tree and asks a perfectly normal question, “Can you take it to the car for me?” Then he heard the words spewed out like raw retail sewage “We don’t do that”, things got real ugly after that. He took the tree, crashed down the aisle, knocked over other trees, Christmas décor, like a holiday twister all the way to the parking lot. No delivery is a raw nerve with the Puffster, he was even sober and he does not drink. I can only imagine what he would do with some holiday cheer in him.

He has a computer game store franchise and is a retail sicko to the point of giving great free advice to other franchisees because he just likes things to be “right”. He went on about a half dozen other stores with messed up retail branding and before he decided to pop a cap into someone I suggested he start a blog. If you have something that you are passionate about, get it out there. You will really feel better and you will get a deeper understanding and broader perspective about what you are passionate about. You will become the expert in that space. Next stop retail Consultant, write a book, who knows but starting a blog is the most effective way to move you into a position to make a change about what you care about.

I don’t notice the bad retail experiences because I guess to me they are all equally bad, it is the good experiences that jump out for me. Happy Holidays!

Victoria’s Secret they want to keep hidden

Sorry no pictures on this one readers. You can just imagine a woman dressed in $1 worth of material that is prepared, branded and marketed to make you believe that your girlfriend or wife will actually be a super model if she wears it. That is the magic of this brand that did 5 billion last year in gross sales in 2006, that’s a lot of panties! Imagine a small idea started by a Stanford grad to make it easier for men to buy lingerie, 30 years later we have one of the most well known brands in the world.

We are unabashed bulls on outsourcing, America was founded on outsourcing. The Crown’s factory was a young hungry colony across the Atlantic. Almost all of the apparel market was shifted to American manufacturers at one point. I am sure many British manufacturers, politicians and members of the media brought up the appalling conditions and loss of jobs the Yanks were taking away from the motherland, sound familiar? Short memories are easy marks for protectionist that like to throw the good and bad into the same pot.

The ugly side of outsourcing came to light last week that is no longer Victoria’s Secret. The National Labor Committee last week put out a report on a factory in Jordan that was pretty harsh. The report disclosed their contractor paid the workers .04 cents to sew a bikini in 3.5 minutes that retails for $14 just for the bottoms.

We are big fans of outsourcing but of course under humane conditions. How they verified the conditions at the factory were never clear in their article so we leave the judgment up to you.

Link to report

http://www.nlcnet.org/article.php?id=490

The same day the National Labor Committee report was released Suzanne Kapner of Fortune magazine reported that, Limited Brands insiders are treating themselves to an early holiday present in the form of $20.6 million in company stock purchases, a bullish sign for the struggling owner of the Victoria's Secret and Bath & Body Works retail chains.

Nine insiders, including CEO Les Wexner, have purchased $7.6 million of stock in the last three trading days, and plan to buy $13 million more during the next week, according to regulatory filings.

The insider buying is unusual for the Columbus, Ohio-based company. Directors and executives have not tended to be big purchasers of Limited stock in recent years. Buying now, at a time when the company's stock is trading near its 52-week-low, is a vote of confidence in Limited's future prospects, analysts said.

"The last time we remember an insider stepping up to the plate was in 2002, when director David Kollat [bought $2.5 million shares]," wrote Todd Slater of Lazard Capital Markets in a research note to investors Wednesday. "This time around, we are witnessing a much stronger vote of confidence."

With sales per square foot close to the top dog Costco they are betting that putting athletic wear in 30 of its test stores this past fall will keep the mojo rolling.

Sales per square foot:

Costco $918

Victoria’s Secret $731

Wal-Mart $438

Nordstrom’s $369

Licensing Tip: Got a fashion idea? It’s just cloth, trade the brand up and enjoy a fat profit and don’t forget to do your homework on where you outsource your labor.

What’s your favorite chew?

I was in a CVS last week and came across Chocolate Bubble Yum. I loved it! I always thought the everyday American staples would be a real hot seller in the gum category. To me pepperoni pizza, nachos, chicken wings in a gum would be a great seller! The good old crap we eat by the billions must be a hit in a gum too right? “Man I could really go for some sweet and sour pork, no time, hey give me a piece of gum!” Could we see the Cheesecake Factory team up with Wrigley’s to offer branded cheesecake bubble gum in the future?

The reason it got me thinking is the gum category is experiencing major bifurcation of growth right now. The traditional lines are tanking and the “Sugar free and Whitening” categories are booming. The traditional lines need a major shakeup.

I think we will see cross licensing programs take off and create a big new branded gum category very soon. If I saw Chocolate Bubble Yum in a loud package or Godiva Hazelnut Praline Gum in a rich gold and brown package side by side, they could get an extra buck out of me for sure to go premium.

The folks over at Informational Resources Inc. confirm the growth in the new gum category is for real as they see the trend in “Functional Foods” continue to gain market share. They really have a valuable website for anyone interested in licensing in food and beverage.

Information Resources Inc.

http://us.infores.com/

Trends to Watch

• Functional Foods & Beverages Hit Their Stride: With increased availability and greater consumer demand, functional foods and beverages, which offer health and disease prevention benefits beyond basic nutrition, are at the cusp of a major growth wave in the United States. Products delivering the following benefits are poised for growth: antioxidants, heart protection, digestive aids and weight loss.

• Growing Number of Gourmets: Take the immense popularity of the Food Network, add the increased availability of more exotic spices and ingredients and the newfound time among aging boomers, and you have all the right ingredients for a boom in gourmet products.

• Kids Rule: With more than 4 million babies born last year, the United States is officially in the midst of a new baby boom. There will be a huge focus on products, services, marketing and merchandising targeting younger children. Expect to see an explosion of healthier products targeting kids and manufacturer and retailer initiatives that will help parents and children select the right products to maintain a healthy diet.

• Environmental and Social Consciousness Increasingly Influential: Concern about the environment and fair treatment of employees of food producers has become a much more significant consideration in product and store selection during the past few years, and this trend will grow stronger. There will be increased focus among fair trade products, eco-friendly products, and sustainable packaging that is recyclable, re-usable, and/or made of biodegradable materials.

• Healthcare Emerges as the New Retail Battleground: Aging baby boomers facing rising incidence of chronic disease will drive demand for prescription and over-the counter remedies, foods and beverages offering specific health benefits and healthcare education and benefits. Watch for retailers to increase focus on onsite health clinics, online and in-store educational materials, and pharmacy marketing and promotion.

• Packaging Becomes a Powerful In-store Marketing Vehicle: The need to capture consumer attention and help them find the products they want inside the store will drive new packaging innovation aimed at standing out on the shelves. Expect bold colors, unique shapes and a consistent look and feel across products within a brand. In addition, packaging will be fully-leveraged as a mini-billboard for marketing messages.

Kiosks, licensing nirvana or web 2 point no?

We were at the kiosk show in New York this week. It was the first time I attended but I have always loved that feeling of smoking my fellow older passengers (Sorry Dad) at the airport and the speed pay at the grocery store. Simple tools for self service is always a very strong market to be into. Think Google, Amazon, E-Bay. They deliver an experience that makes you feel it has no end, choice without limits but organized in a way that is simple. The combination of endless choice and simple access is a very strong space for licensing. The evolution of higher levels of self service with greater interactivity, simplicity and choice will lead to higher adoption rates. Has the browser become noisy?

I was shocked what I found at the “World’s largest kiosk show” It was small, really really small.

Attention readers:

If you want to get involved in a Franchising space that has brutal competition, thin margins, high regulations and heavy start up costs, no need to read on. We like the undiscovered, under covered, fragmented and inefficient delivery spaces. When I looked out across the floor at those 93 little booths, a warm giddy feeling came over me like the first time I kissed Joan Davenport in Jr. High School in the dark smelly gym on movie night. (Sorry honey) :)- The Kiosk market is a baby, we are not in the third inning, they have not even thrown out the first pitch, the national anthem singer is still in the cab on the way to the ball park!

Kiosks are hot! People have it wrong, it is not just a website put out on a box for shoppers to trip over, when done right it has a totally different experience that leverages the power of simple self service and interactivity you do not get on your home box. To be positioned correctly, one must get to the basics of the psychology behind the web versus the retailer. When I want to buy something over the web at home, I need to “Seek Out” the retailer. When I am in the store the retailer needs to “Seek out” the consumer. Putting up a kiosk and streaming your website and think you will get sales is like putting up a lemonade stand as a kid and wonder why people are not excited to stop on that busy street and drink lemonade out of a crappy paper cup. “It worked at home, I drink lemonade!” The psychology is total opposite, the consumer is not at home. Airport kiosks are different all together because it is driven off of time and money, not time and choice, the psychology of non eCommerce kiosk or informational kiosks is totally different again. This is a unique market because once you understand the psychology of the very unique foot traffic, you can leverage the best of simple self service to have a really fun time in this space. In a way it is even easier and delivers a higher quality buyer then the web who may have been lead to you by a reference ad word and not a true search. If I am standing in front of snow tires, I probably am not price shopping for fax paper.

As a retailer with limited shelf space and competition with web based self service sites that do not have shelf scarcity, would I as a retailer be open to an interactive kiosks that will help me “Seek out” the shopper?

iPhone catalyst.

That little devise has given an unexpected boost to this entire industry. Apple declares “Touch is cool” guess what I want to do now, keyboards and a mouse are now like an old typewriter. If you can make something I can touch, make it big, make it simple and give me HD. I guess I do not have all that stuff on my home PC, mouse and keyboards look kinda old now, I like these kiosks, they make me feel good, when I feel good, I spend money. Katching! The cash drawer opens thanking the customer for their kind benevolence.

I’m in! Not “All In” but more than a big toe in the water, upper thigh in, the water feels good. I could share more but if I did you would not be able to sleep. Sleep tight and dream big!

Joel, thanks for making the trip up, I like your brain! And thanks to Brian, long live ING! Drove my sorry butt over to the next train station when I missed Jamaica stop to JFK, on the LIRR, lost in Blackberry land, raining like Chuck Heston was about ready to step out on the train platform raise his staff and say "Let my people go!"

I made my flight, it was rain delayed!

Dogs or coffee small is good big is better

Pink's and Starbucks, the ultimate retail success paradox. Starbucks, aptly named after the first mate in Moby Dick, has spawned caffeine syphilis around the world. With 7,521 self-operated and 5,647 licensed stores in 40 countries, its shocking to be somewhere without a store almost as shocking as the line around Pink's one and only location for the past 67 years.

Licensing Common thread tip; atmosphere and variety. Check out that menu, I need a Pink's and I am two states away. "We'll always have Starbucks". Thanks Rick.