Some dribble a ball, others bobble a doll
Streetsboro company dreams up promotions

Erika D. Smith
Beacon Journal staff writer
March 23, 2004

Who says making a spectacle of yourself is a bad idea?

It certainly worked for LeBron James - the bobblehead. He had the Dunbar armored truck, the gun-toting guards, the news helicopter, the reporters, Moondog...

Yes, the bobblehead's debut created quite a scene outside Gund Arena earlier this month. And Corporate ImageWorks, the Cleveland Cavaliers' sole promotional marketing provider, hopes to cause another one tonight and again if the team makes the playoffs.

Hype, you see, is the Streetsboro company's specialty.

"It's really to come up with creative ways for a client to promote their brand," said Bill Miko, Corporate ImageWorks' "Chief Idea Guy."

The Cavaliers hired the company at the beginning of the season to help create some excitement. Back then, everybody knew we had LeBron, but nobody knew the Cavs would go so far, so fast.

"They were relying on entertainment to sort of keep things going, to keep people coming to the games," Miko said.

Corporate ImageWorks supplies all the freebies that fans get before each game and at halftime. Energetic youths called the "Scream Team" usually shoot printed T-shirts and basketballs up into the stands - between back flips, of course - to keep the crowd in the game.

Tonight, the company plans to take things up a notch when it gives away a limited number of Russian nesting dolls modeled after three Cavs players. The first 10,000 fans to rush Gund Arena will get a voucher to redeem their doll sets before the end of the game against the Phoenix Suns.

Will the plastic versions of DeSagana Diop, Eric Williams and Dajuan Wagner require the "protection" of a Dunbar armored truck like LeBron's mini-me did?

Doubtful. (After all, that stunt is old.) But Miko is promising another "event."

Keep 'em entertained

Cavaliers' President Len Komoroski said the idea is to keep fans entertained from the time they enter Gund Arena until the time they leave.

"We can't control what goes on on the floor...but we can augment the game experience," he said.

With that in mind, the franchise added the mascot Moondog, revamped the Cavaliers Girls dance team, and dotted the concourse with games and face-painting stands. Premium items, such as the LeBron bobblehead, just further the effect.

"We value our fans and realize they are making an investment by supporting this team," Komoroski said. "Corporate ImageWorks is a great partner and they complement our goal to entertain people."

Om March 3, fans lined up hours before the Cavs game against the Atlanta Hawks to get their LeBron bobbleheads.

Many walked away shaking their heads in disappointment. Others left the game nodding, knowing they had an eBay moneymaker in their grasp. The limited-edition dolls are going for more than $100 on the auction web site these days.

Miko isn't suprised.

"There's a whole group of collectors out there who want to focus on giveaways," he said.

It also didn't hurt that the Cavs' giveaway of choice wa a bobblehead.

In the last few years, bobbleheads have become the toy of choice for many collectors. Many believe the current craze started in 1999, when San Francisco's baseball team, the Giants, gave the dolls away during a marketing promotion at one of their games.

Unlike the bobbleheads of the 1960's, which were generic, pudgy, cherubic-faced figures, today's bobbleheads actually resemble their real counterparts. Everyone from the Cat in the Hat to Cap'n Crunch to Rocket has a head that wiggles these days.

"Collecting (them) is just real popular right now," said Dan Hare, who runs The Toys Time Forgot. "Baby boomers are getting older and we're pack rats."

The Canal Fulton store sells dozens of different bobbleheads, or nodders, for about $20 apiece.

"I've got people coming in and they take one of everything," he said. "Some guy jsut came in and spent $500 on nodders. He got two of each - one to display and the other to keep in the box."

Shortly after the boblehead circus on March3, Hare said his supply of the LeBron dolls disappeared off the shelves. It didn't matter that they weren't made by Corporate ImageWorks or part of a limited edition.

"I knew that they were going to fly," he said.

Not all bobbleheads are created equal. Some are taller than others. Some are more detailed. In fact, bobbleheads of the same person can look completely different if they're designed by different companies.

But most companies use the same process to capture a person's likeness. By looking at photographs taken from multiple angles, designers mold a clay prototype to match. Then the bobblehead is mass produced, often overseas.

In the case of the LeBron bobblehead, a company in Xiamen, China, sculpted the Akron native's face pictures and emailed pictures back to Corporate ImageWorks and the Cavs for tweaking and approval. The design process took about a month.

James didn't even see his tiny replica until it was finished.

"Bobbleheads are difficult to do," Miko said. "It's really how much money you have to spend. You do the best with the money you have."

Marketing experience

Corporate ImageWorks three-year contract with the Cavaliers is its first foray into the NBA, but the company isn't new to the promotional marketing game.

Founded as Sherwood Promotions in 1987, the company changed its name last year to better reflect its bread-and-butter business - creating, printing and distributing personalized products for such corporations as Sherwin-Williams, Dannon Yogurt and Davey Tree. Knicknacks like hats, mugs, pens, T-shirts and calendars are popular.

"Our real niche is doing work for the corporate market," Miko said.

The company has more than 1,000 clients and does business in North America, Europe and Asia. Its 25 employees help ship more than 500,000 orders a year, often from Streetsboro.

Corporate ImageWorks is a gutsy player in its $15 billion industry filled with small fry.

The average promotional products distributor does about $100,000 worth of business a year and is run from a small office. But Corporate ImageWorks has an extensive office, warehouse and distribution center on State Route 43. It also dabble in the specialty market of professional sports.

"Because it (the industry) has grown so much, everybody thinks they can do it. But they don't have the capitol to handle mistakes on the back end," said Jon Clark, owner and president of Palm Tree Promotions Inc. in Port Charlotte, Fla.

Since 1990, the industry has grown from $10 billion to $17 billion, and declined to $15 billion since the recession, said Clark, who has been in the business for more than a decade. Corporations continue to be the primary clients, but sports - from NASCAR to the PGA - have always been fertile ground for business.

"Sports marketing can be a new channel of growth for us," Miko said.

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