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High Visibility: Sunny Reality
High Visibility features companies, products and collections that are raising brand awareness through strategic partnerships, sponsorships, consumer advertising campaigns and tie-ins to prominent events. To be considered for inclusion please contact senior editor,
Deirdre Carroll.
Two West Coast sunglass manufacturers, one that carves its product out
of wood and the other that uses high-tech materials, are being broadcast
nationwide on reality shows…
Shwood, the wooden sunglasses manufacturer based in Portland, Ore., has won Dell’s America’s Favorite Small Business contest. In addition to receiving $25,000 in Dell products pre-loaded with Microsoft solutions suited to the company’s needs and a $50,000 MasterCard prepaid card that can be used toward business expenses,
Shwood is also being profiled on the online reality show
"Dell Presents America’s Favorite Small Business," which airs Tuesdays and Thursdays, October 25 to November 10, on
Dell’s SMB Facebook page.
The competition began August 15, 2011, when U.S.-based businesses with 25 or fewer employees were offered the chance to submit a short video explaining why they should be named America’s Favorite Small Business. Judges from Dell, MasterCard and Microsoft whittled the more than 200 video entries down to the best 10 and then invited the public to vote for the winner. Tens of thousands of votes later, Shwood was selected.
The company was founded in 2005 by Eric Singer, who began handcarving wooden sunglasses in his garage. Today, Shwood’s 20 employees create sunglasses from sustainably harvested wood for distribution through fashion-forward, brick-and-mortar boutiques. Demand has caused them to outgrow their 3,500-square-foot shop, and they are now on the verge of moving into a much larger facility that can accommodate greater production. As seen in the online reality series, they are currently closing in on a space five times the size of their current one.
The partners of Shwood plan to use their $25,000 in Dell products to upgrade their network and outfit their office with brand new computers and printers. They will also establish real-time tracking solutions at each of the stations of their production lines. With their $50,000 prepaid card from MasterCard, they are evaluating upgrades to some of their laser woodcutting equipment to boost production.
Performance sunglass manufacturer, Kaenon Polarized will be featured on the second season of Bloomberg Television’s reality-documentary series "
The Mentor" on Tuesday, November 8 at 9 p.m.
Kaenon’s brand story will be told by co-founding brothers Steve and Darren Rosenberg who will also discuss how to tackle new growth as the premium sunglass brand prepares to celebrate its 10th anniversary.
“This is the first time that Steve and I have spoken so publicly about our business,” said Darren Rosenberg, COO. “Certainly this is the first time that we have allowed television cameras into our office and warehouses. I think this show will offer our consumers and fans a unique perspective of our business and brand strategy.” Created by Bloomberg, "The Mentor" will provide rare insight into Kaenon’s strategies and market challenges. In addition, the show will discuss Kaenon’s brand history, including its patented SR-91 polarized lens technology. Retail guru and former Wall Street CEO, Jay Margolis, acted as the episode’s “mentor,” visiting with Steve and Darren to discuss business strategies for continued growth and brand development while navigating through turbulent economic conditions. “As a result of our experience with The Mentor,” said Darren Rosenberg, “we challenged ourselves to explore new brand and retail strategies to further improve the way we engage our customers and evolve our relationships with retail partners.”
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jsailer@jobson.com
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