Review by Brad Harner in KIN 332 (Section 2)
Peter Beveridge decided one night when he was watching baseball, and saw some baseball players wearing eyeblack patches, that he was going to create a company using this idea already created. He thought that he could put a symbol or logo, such as a Nike “swoosh”, on this patch and sell them. Soon after, he followed his vision and became CEO of the recently created eyeblack.com which is increasing revenue by 35 percent annually. The main trick to his company is that he gets a lot of publicity from fans seeing the players wear his product on the field. Mr. Beveridge has recently signed NFL football players Stevie Johnson and Marshawn Lynch to help promote his new product.
The CEO, Peter Beveridge, believes he can get many fans to start wearing these patches below their eyes when they see famous, well known, athletes wearing them. He had to convince MLB and NFL to approve this product for their players to use, which was not an easy task. MLB and NFL were not questioning whether or not the players would wear the product but rather if this product would sell to fans. They finally approved eyeblack.com and have not regretted their decisions thus far. The company sold 5 million pairs in 2010 and hopes to sell upwards of 7 million pairs of eyeblack patches this year. Eyeblack.com decided to test the product out on some universities to see how the players liked the product before the company produced these patches in bulk. Virginia Tech, University of Miami, University of Florida, and University of Maryland were the schools selected by the company to test out the product. The players gave valuable feedback to the company and the patches have caught on like wildfire since.
I am interested to see if this company will eventually get big deals with sponsors like Allstate or AT&T and get players to wear these products. In my mind there is no better spot to advertise than on a professional athlete’s face while they are playing the game. Player’s faces are shown on television very often throughout a game which could be a very desirable spot for an advertisement.
Peter Beveridge decided one night when he was watching baseball, and saw some baseball players wearing eyeblack patches, that he was going to create a company using this idea already created. He thought that he could put a symbol or logo, such as a Nike “swoosh”, on this patch and sell them. Soon after, he followed his vision and became CEO of the recently created eyeblack.com which is increasing revenue by 35 percent annually. The main trick to his company is that he gets a lot of publicity from fans seeing the players wear his product on the field. Mr. Beveridge has recently signed NFL football players Stevie Johnson and Marshawn Lynch to help promote his new product.
The CEO, Peter Beveridge, believes he can get many fans to start wearing these patches below their eyes when they see famous, well known, athletes wearing them. He had to convince MLB and NFL to approve this product for their players to use, which was not an easy task. MLB and NFL were not questioning whether or not the players would wear the product but rather if this product would sell to fans. They finally approved eyeblack.com and have not regretted their decisions thus far. The company sold 5 million pairs in 2010 and hopes to sell upwards of 7 million pairs of eyeblack patches this year. Eyeblack.com decided to test the product out on some universities to see how the players liked the product before the company produced these patches in bulk. Virginia Tech, University of Miami, University of Florida, and University of Maryland were the schools selected by the company to test out the product. The players gave valuable feedback to the company and the patches have caught on like wildfire since.
I am interested to see if this company will eventually get big deals with sponsors like Allstate or AT&T and get players to wear these products. In my mind there is no better spot to advertise than on a professional athlete’s face while they are playing the game. Player’s faces are shown on television very often throughout a game which could be a very desirable spot for an advertisement.
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EyeBlack.com is a company/website that sells customized eye black for athletes and fans. The designs on the eye black range from team logos, to phrases, to Eyeblack.com’s most recent idea – company logos. Eye black has been around since about the 1920’s when Babe Ruth was the first player ever officially reported to use it. His purpose to wearing the eye black was to reduce the glare, and he used pure grease. This was common, as the first eye black consisted of burnt chalk or grease. Eye black as since then evolved into black tape patches.
CEO Peter Beveridge came up with the idea for EyeBlack.com when he was watching a baseball game about 8 years ago and saw all the players wearing eye black patches. He realized that this could be a profitable opportunity to customize the eye black with designs. He founded EyeBlack.com in 2003 and since then, profits have risen 30-40% per year. Peter estimates that half of all NFL teams, 90% of major college teams, and many MLB teams are using EyeBlack.com products. In addition to that many fans, high school athletes, and middle school athletes are using their products.
EyeBlack.com has tremendous marketing implications. The company’s most recent products have aimed at putting company logos on the eye black. A Nike swoosh or the AT&T logo are just a couple examples of what the designs could be. This means that corporate sponsors will have another opportunity to put their logo on players and advertise their product. Another marketing implication of EyeBlack.com is teams being able to market themselves in a new way. As fans see more and more athletes wearing the eye black, they will become interested in doing the same. There is already a strong EyeBlack.com retail market for fans, according to Peter Beveridge. EyeBlack.com seems to have a very high ceiling for growth, and I have a feeling we will be hearing a lot about them in the years to come.
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