How Should a Start-Up Business with
a Social Mission Market Its Sunglasses
with Bamboo Frames?
Vincent Ko showed his entrepreneurial potential in high
school in Rockville, Maryland, when, as a young hockey
player, he invented a drying rack for hockey pads that he sold
to his teammates, then on eBay, and finally on a Web site for
the company he created. A few years later, while attending
George Washington University in Washington, D.C., Ko and
two friends, Luke Lagera and Mike Mills, were inspired by
the growing social entrepreneurship movement and the success of companies such as TOMS shoes, a company founded
by Blake Mycoskie that donates a pair of shoes to someone in need for every pair it sells. One day while walking
through the Georgetown shopping district, the friends noticed a display of sunglasses and decided to create a business
that would market cool sunglasses and provide eye examinations to someone in need for every pair sold. In keeping with
the idea of a socially responsible company, Ko suggested
that they make their sunglasses frames from eco-friendly
bamboo, a lightweight, sturdy wood that grows extremely
fast. Having grown up in China, Ko was familiar with the
properties of the renewable wood and knew that it was the
perfect material from which to make sunglasses frames.
They created a company, Panda Sunglasses, and set out
to find companies that could make the product they envisioned. Ko knew bamboo was the most commonly used wood
in China, so the team began looking for a company in China
to manufacture the frames to their specifications. Not only
did they find a Chinese wood shop that would make their
sunglasses frames, but they also located a Chinese eye wear
manufacturer to produce the polarized lenses. Pairing the two
companies gave them their unique, stylish sunglasses, which
float. They created a Web site and began selling them at $120
a pair. Through a connection that Lagera had, the young
entrepreneurs found an ideal partner in the Tribal Outreach
Medical Association (TOMA), a nonprofit organization that
provides eye examinations and other health services for tribal
communities. They quickly reached a deal: For every pair of
Panda Sunglasses sold, the company would pay for one eye
exam through TOMA.
The entrepreneurs’ next challenge was to market their
unique sunglasses and their potential to help people in need.
They knew that without sales, their effort at “conscious capitalism” would be for naught. None of the three cofounders
had any experience in the retail industry, but they learned
quickly on the job. The young men had just graduated and
took “regular” jobs to pay their bills, but they remained
dedicated to making Panda Sunglasses a success. After testing sales of their sunglasses online, the trio began applying for
spots in various trade shows geared toward accessories. One
of the shows they applied to was the prestigious ENK International trade show, which attracts more than 250,000 buyers
and press members from across the globe. Companies that are
accepted to the juried show find sales leads that generate total
sales of more than $1 billion. Mills sent Ko an e-mail in which
he joked that they would be willing to set up in a broom closet
at ENK if their application were accepted. Ko forwarded that
e-mail to executives at ENK, who responded with, “We’ll find
you a booth instead.” At the ENK show, Ko says he and his
cofounders, fresh out of college, created a booth that featured
a giant bamboo backdrop that attracted a great deal of attention. At one point, they struck up a conversation with three
women, who they learned were buyers from the retail chain
Nordstrom. The trade show opened many doors for the young
company, and less than two years after starting, Panda Sunglasses was generating annual sales of $350,000.
Questions
- How can social entrepreneurs such as the founders of
Panda Sunglasses use their companies’ social missions
to attract customers and promote their businesses? - How should the founders of Panda Sunglasses define
a unique selling proposition for their company that
resonates with customers? - Write a brief memo to the founders of Panda
Sunglasses outlining a bootstrap marketing plan
for the company. - Use the business model canvas to illustrate Panda Sunglasses’s business model. Can you identify other revenue
streams that could support the company? How can the
company strengthen its relationships with customers? - How should the founders of Panda Sunglasses use
social media to market their company and its products?
What can they do to increase the traffic to and generate
more sales from their company’s Web site?