Business...the Babson Way Band-Ed. Marketing, an FME business at Babson College that specializes in selling customize silicone wristbands, soars in sales as the company's success continues to grow.
(PRWEB) March 29, 2005 -- We've all seen the popularity of Lance Armstrong's yellow "LiveStrong" wristbands soar within the past couple of years, so one FME company set out to make big bucks with a similar idea. "Band-Ed. Marketing", headed by CEO Phil Han, has taken the wristband a step further.
Band-Ed. Marketing is an FME company that has developed high quality wristbands that are uniquely customized for their customers. Their sales consist of bulk orders placed by companies or organizations, as Band-Ed. Marketing plays the middle-man between their customers and their supplier in China.
Phil says that their idea stemmed from Lance Armstrong's "LiveStrong" wristbands, but their original idea was to sell the wristbands in large quantities to numerous schools in the greater Boston area, "hoping that each school would purchase them and use them to identify college students from the different schools," effectively boosting school pride. Once they began trying to sell to nearby schools, Band-Ed Marketing realized their idea just wasn't plausible because it was too complicated to coordinate with individual schools.
Despite there being two other competing customized silicone bracelets companies, Phil says "business is incredible; we have yet to feel the pressure from competition." Since Band-Ed. Marketing is targeting various markets on and off campus, this is most likely due to their focus on off-campus customers as well as those that are on campus.
With sales continuously coming in from between 500 to 5000 wristbands at a time, there is obviously a great interest and demand for their product. Sales have ranged from non-profits to minor league hockey teams.
There doesn't seem to be any personnel problems thanks to the HR department. So far they have scheduled a bowling trip, passed out Valentines with inspirational quotations and lollipops, and they have even given out motivational CD's (the Band-Ed. Marketing soundtrack). The HR department is currently planning a lunch outing and a springtime backyard BBQ. "What's more encouraging is each member's desire to contribute to our company. As people from various departments have truly taken the initiative to actively participate in various ways, the company as a whole benefits."
Band-Ed. Marketing's community service project is with the Special Olympics of Massachusetts. They are organizing a swim meet and carnival for the members on April 9th at Babson's pool.
Band-Ed. Marketing has recently decided to sell "BELIEVE" wristbands on-campus and they will be in stock on March 28. They will say "BELIEVE" and will be available in red, white, blue, and black. If you are interested in bulk orders you can contact Band-Ed. Marketing to place an order through the sales department via their website www.BandEdMarketing.com. "For fun, we have even created a store on our website where people can buy our official company t-shirt and trucker hat."
One of the most interesting pieces of information about this company is that they are the first FME businesses to formally propose a business acquisition. "Our acquisition included the purchase of another FME business to add to our current 28 member team." The idea came up when their business realized that they wanted to branch out to increase sales, and the best way to do this was to create a promotional department which would set up events to promote the customize silicone wristbands. Although the administration gave their approval, the acquisition never went through. "Instead, the company we wanted to acquire had decided to sell our wristbands as a supplement to their own service/product to generate sales revenue." Most interesting is the fact that a competing wristband company on campus has decided to use Band-Ed. Marketing as their supplier. Now that's how we do business at Babson!
By Stephen Silver
Babson Free Press, March 10, 2005
