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S02.E14: Coopersburg Sports


Tara Ariano
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Another older white guy with control issues and worries about lost masculinity, hoodathunk! I'm beginning to suspect this may be epidemic and not just a predilection of the show's casting. 

 

I liked the kids: they clearly knew what they were doing, and had sensible ideas about how to expand. Jackie especially seemed skilled and ambitious. Refreshing to see a sales call go well as opposed to being cringeworthy.

 

I immediately thought the company could also expand into mini hockey sticks, which could be league licensed and would fill in the seasonality issue. You may have this idea for free, Coopersburg! :)

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I was impressed with Jackie in the sales meeting. This man is lucky to have kids who are willing to help the family business, can behave professionally, are interested in bringing new ideas and know what they're doing. It was a refreshing change from some of the nonsense in other eps.

 

But... imo the suggestion upthread of doing mini hockey sticks is head and shoulders above the clunky "home-gating" merch they were pitching, including an over-priced wooden stool. Cracker Barrel by Marcus.

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Another older white guy with control issues and worries about lost masculinity, hoodathunk! I'm beginning to suspect this may be epidemic and not just a predilection of the show's casting. 

 

I liked the kids: they clearly knew what they were doing, and had sensible ideas about how to expand. Jackie especially seemed skilled and ambitious. Refreshing to see a sales call go well as opposed to being cringeworthy.

 

I immediately thought the company could also expand into mini hockey sticks, which could be league licensed and would fill in the seasonality issue. You may have this idea for free, Coopersburg! :)

Me 2.  My first comment was hockey!  Then rowing oars and frat paddles.

 

The sales call wasn't bad except they should have lead with asking the company what they needed and then brought out items that kinda matched those needs and tell them it can all be customized.

 

I was impressed with Jackie in the sales meeting. This man is lucky to have kids who are willing to help the family business, can behave professionally, are interested in bringing new ideas and know what they're doing. It was a refreshing change from some of the nonsense in other eps.

 

But... imo the suggestion upthread of doing mini hockey sticks is head and shoulders above the clunky "home-gating" merch they were pitching, including an over-priced wooden stool. Cracker Barrel by Marcus.

The homegating thing... meh...  Jackie has 2 ideas and won't let either go.  It's ask one person at one college what they want (lighters?  really?) and homegating.   Let's talk distribution.  For their current products, they sell to stadiums and colleges.  Not sure if the items are stocked at college bookstores or are online.  Let's go with physical location.  Where are these new items going to be sold?  Huge barstools and a football shaped cheese platter in stadiums or a campus bookstore?  Nope.  So all these new items will need to be sold in a new distribution channel.  And if it's retail brick and mortar, they have to take on the risk of inventory and returns. Big mistake.  

 

Marcus' idea of custom printing.  OK.  So no one else can raise a print head to print directly on an item?  Let's go with no.  Who is going to provide the inventory of items?  Is this going to be another Artistic Stitch but with laser printing?   How much can they make on this?   Who is going to pay a premium for this versus the regular transfer or stickers?

 

I'd be very leery of a 6 year lease on an $8000 month building when my current space is $1300.  Since there's seasonality, close down for 2 months, get the current space retrofitted and save a ton until they build a new product line, new distribution channel, and most importantly, new demand.

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frat paddles

 

I....do not know what this is. I'm afraid I know, but I don't want to google it to have it confirmed. Or to learn that there's an actual marketing niche waiting to be filled. :)

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I....do not know what this is. I'm afraid I know, but I don't want to google it to have it confirmed. Or to learn that there's an actual marketing niche waiting to be filled. :)

Hehe this cracked me up, attica!  They really do exist and any university that has a Greek society you will see paddles all over the bookstores or a brick and mortar store that only sells Fraternity/Sorority stuff.  I was a GDI in college so I don't know all the fine points but 20+ years ago I know the paddles were the end all be all of the Greek Circle at my university. 

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a teak TKE!

 

One thing that also stood out for me this episode was the Chase commercial embedded in the middle of the show.  Um, Chase isn't the only bank that offers free tools for small business.  All the biggies do.

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Yeah, the product placement was a little too obvious.  But cost-tracking was also something they needed, so I don't think it was out of line.  Not like Daymond John saying "Barbara you're enjoying that cheese dip so much I'm going to take a picture on my new T-Mobile phone and share it with the world via T-Mobile's 4G coverage."  The bar for integrated product placement has been set pretty low.

 

Another older white guy with control issues and worries about lost masculinity, hoodathunk! I'm beginning to suspect this may be epidemic and not just a predilection of the show's casting. 

I do think the casting goes out of their way to find people with personal issues, and "control freak" is an easy one to find among small business owners.  I don't know if it's Marcus seeing himself as part-counselor, or CNBC just thinking that personal growth makes good TV.  But that kind of focus makes me think they're deliberately showing us the "People" part of "People, Process, Product".

 

The homegating thing... meh...  Jackie has 2 ideas and won't let either go.  It's ask one person at one college what they want (lighters?  really?) and homegating.   Let's talk distribution.  For their current products, they sell to stadiums and colleges.  Not sure if the items are stocked at college bookstores or are online.  Let's go with physical location.  Where are these new items going to be sold?  Huge barstools and a football shaped cheese platter in stadiums or a campus bookstore?  Nope.  So all these new items will need to be sold in a new distribution channel.  And if it's retail brick and mortar, they have to take on the risk of inventory and returns. Big mistake. 

 

You make excellent points.  However, with Marcus' cash infusion they're safe enough to do some exploration.  Right now they'll attempt 50 new SKUs.  Two years from now 45 will have been killed off, 5 will have done well, and a couple more will have sprung up as offshoots of those 5.  When they need to find new sales, that's not a bad way to go.

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a teak TKE!

 

One thing that also stood out for me this episode was the Chase commercial embedded in the middle of the show.  Um, Chase isn't the only bank that offers free tools for small business.  All the biggies do.

 

My brain read that as free stools for small business. :) Why pay for one of Marcus's wooden stools when Chase will get you one for free?

 

Lola and Amarsir, you have brought more salient points than the entire episode did!

 

Btw Marcus has said the Chase ad won't happen again. Not sure if it's because he didn't like the way it came across or because of the criticism he got.

 

The NHL already has at least one- licensed to make mini hockey sticks. I have one made by Wincraft. For instance:

http://www.wincraft.com/wincraft.html?conference=15321&league_name=91161&product_type_sub_cat=101751&team_name=91191

 

They're composite, not real wood, but I wonder how much more someone would be willing to pay for real wood since it's just a novelty item. Back in the 70s they were made of (cheap) wood but that was the olden days when dinosaurs roamed the earth and no one got their stuff from China. If there's a way to make real wood ones reasonably priced then it's a market they should have looked at. I agree that cutting boards and salt shakers don't really seem geared to the college crowd.

Edited by glowlights
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I wonder how much of marketing college-branded stuff is actually aimed at parents and alums. I bet it's most of the non-sweatshirt, non-shotglass market. So cutting boards and salt shakers seem like a fine idea to me! 

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I wonder how much of marketing college-branded stuff is actually aimed at parents and alums. I bet it's most of the non-sweatshirt, non-shotglass market. So cutting boards and salt shakers seem like a fine idea to me! 

 

Good point!

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Btw Marcus has said the Chase ad won't happen again. Not sure if it's because he didn't like the way it came across or because of the criticism he got.

 

Or because his deal with Chase only stipulated the once.

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Btw Marcus has said the Chase ad won't happen again. Not sure if it's because he didn't like the way it came across or because of the criticism he got.

 

 

It could have been just a   one-time  courtesy........  a  "return the favor"  thing.     

 

from Marcus's twitter:  "Chase is my bank, gave me my first loan, & I use them everywhere."

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I liked this episode. Dad came around nicely. I liked how he didn't just run his mouth every time someone said something he didn't like. That was refreshing after all those people who argue incessantly on this show.

 

I've never watched a hockey game in my life, have no interest in the sport, but I, too, found myself thinking about hockey sticks. I also thought of retro tennis rackets as wall decor. Once I stopped thinking about the baseball bats and MLB and saw that their product was printing on wood, I could see how promising things could be.

Edited by mojito
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Can I just say how astonished I am about the prevalence in this show of shorts-wearing by senior staff? Is this the new American dream? Own your own biz so you can dress super cazh at the office?

 

I used to think I had a wide and varied job history, but this surprises me so much, I can no longer think so.

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This has been driving me nuts: does anyone else recognize Jackie from another reality show a few years ago, or someone who looks exactly like her?

Kinda looks like one of the cast from Jerseylicious (Style network).

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NO, I have never been on TV before. But thanks for all the insults people :)


This has been driving me nuts: does anyone else recognize Jackie from another reality show a few years ago, or someone who looks exactly like her?

nope

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Hey Jackie, Sorry if you took offense - wasn't meant as an insult. Honestly recall someone else just like you, same speech, mannerisms, everything. You have a doppelganger. :) Hope it's all going well at Coopersburg.

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NO, I have never been on TV before. But thanks for all the insults people :)

nope

I didn't write any of the comments about your looks but I, too, thought that you had a familiar "look" about you.  You look lovely in a particular sweet Italian-American, very put-together way - certainly not trashy.  (I am from Philly so I am familiar with those types ;-D)  You and your brother were a breath of fresh air on a very good episode.

 

I just watched the latest Profit episode and when they revealed the re-done pet store and they showed a dog treats wooden cut out sign, I was wondering if Coopersburg Sports made them?  That seems to be how Marcus rolls.

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