On Aug. 4, Jo Ann suffered from a heart attack. Jack was out of town on a fishing trip, and even though Jo Ann cried for help and even threw an alarm clock out the window, no one heard her cries from their somewhat secluded home. The family’s dog, Bear, barked and barked to no avail. Lulu, however, knew Jo Ann needed help quickly and waddled into action. Lulu made her way to the nearest road, scraping her skin in the process and leaving it torn and bleeding. Once she reached the road, she laid down as if to play dead. Not long after that, a passing driver saw Lulu and stopped to check on her. Once Lulu was sure she had the driver’s attention, she got up and waddled back toward her home, leading the driver to where Jo Ann lay on the floor. When the driver found Jo Ann, he immediately called 911, and emergency services took her to a medical center for open-heart surgery. Had just 15 more minutes passed without help, Jo Ann would have died. For her heroism, Lulu received the Tiffany gold hero’s medal from the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and made multiple television appearances as her fame spread. Hopefully, she was smart enough to know just how much she was appreciated. MAN’S SMARTEST FRIEND Lulu the Pot-Bellied Pig’s Cunning Plan to Save Her Owner
According to animal experts, pigs are smarter than any other domestic animal, including cats and dogs. That may seem hard to believe, as you probably associate pigs with a pink, smelly animal that oinks and rolls around in the muck. However, the story of how Lulu the pot-bellied pig saved her owner’s life might persuade you to reconsider. Back in 1998 (otherwise this story would have certainly gone viral), Lulu the pig was a permanent fixture at Jo Ann and Jack Altsman’s property in Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania. They had initially only taken Lulu from her original owner, the Altsmans’ daughter, for a temporary stay, but they ended up bonding with Lulu, and she was with them for much longer than expected.
Scrubbing Their Way Into the Soap Industry
How Dr. Squatch Found Its Foothold
One of the keys to starting a successful business is to market a new idea. That’s why so many startups these days come from the digital frontier — it’s where all the new ideas are. However, with a keen eye for how you can fill a niche in an already saturated industry, you can still make millions. That’s the story behind Jack Haldrup’s company, Dr. Squatch.
That said, those soaps weren’t making it beyond the farmers markets to where the average guy would be likely to purchase them. Soaps have been marketed almost exclusively to women — and Haldrup wanted to change that. Thus, the all-natural bar soap from Dr. Squatch was born.
Haldrup had found a unique angle in the bar soap industry: a soap made for men, marketed to men. However, in this digital age, a niche product is only as valuable as your ability to market it. Haldrup took a risk early on and paid $20,000 for a humorous, professionally done video ad. It paid off, garnering Dr. Squatch another 6,000 subscribers. The video has around 114 million views now.
If the name sounds familiar, it’s probably because they aired their product at the Super Bowl earlier this year, that product being bar soap. That’s right — Haldrup has made his millions off bar soap.
Haldrup’s introduction to the bar soap market began with a personal need for a different kind of soap. He has a common autoimmune skin condition called psoriasis, which means regular supermarket soaps cause his skin to burn and become dry and irritated. However, when he started buying gentler, natural soaps from farmers markets, he realized those soaps were better for anyone’s skin, not just someone with a skin condition.
A viral video is one thing, but a Super Bowl ad is quite another. After the ad aired, 63% of males reported a “positive intent” from the ad and engaged with the brand after that. It just goes to show how far an innovative product and approach to marketing can take your business in an industry that once seemed scrubbed free of niches.
2 WWW.POPALOCKKY.COM
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