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Ten years ago we became acquainted with Sun Swinger Glasses when our president noticed an ad in the Business Opportunities section of the newspaper announcing that, because of a dispute between the owners, they had shut down the company and wanted to sell the product line. The company had inventory and costly plastic injection molding tooling and equipment that had been sitting idle for over five years. We contacted one of the owners and negotiated a licensing arrangement where we agreed to pay a royalty in exchange for exclusive marketing and manufacturing rights and full use of the inventory, tooling, and equipment. Next we did our usual marketing "due diligence" and sales tool modification. We redesigned the packaging and sales literature and promoted the product through direct mailings to gift and mass merchandising markets. In addition, we directly sold to novelty, boutiques, and clothing stores. Once we got the product started, we decided to sub-license all our rights to a company with manufacturing facilities in Taiwan. This company, in turn, successfully marketed the product through their world-wide distribution network of sales reps selling to retailers world wide. Eventually we sold the tooling and rights to a plastic molding company that produced novelty items for companies such as McDonald's, and we shared the proceeds with the original owner/inventor. |
