6 Questions For Joe Boxer Founder Nick Graham

Today’s column is written by Nick Graham, chief executive of NGO Inc. And founder of Joe Boxer. Joe Boxer String Bikini Underwear 4 Pack Medium 32-34 Mens 100 Cotton #9. Joe Boxer Men's String Bikini Briefs Underwear Tanga 4-pack Size XL. 5 out of 5 stars (1) Total Ratings 1, $22.12 New. 2 PK Joe Boxer Cotton Stretch/tag Shorts.
Nick Graham, the founder of Joe Boxer, is as close to the Father of Clever Boxers as it gets. According to his website (Graham himself didn’t respond to requests for comment), he started the neckwear and accessory company Summ in 1980, which was heavily influenced by the new wave and punk movements.

6 Questions For Joe Boxer Founder Nick Graham Crackers
6 Questions For Joe Boxer Founder Nick Graham Cracker
6 Questions For Joe Boxer Founder Nick Graham Jr
6 Questions For Joe Boxer Founder Nick Graham Lotz

From the moment you lay eyes on Joe Boxer's zanyundershorts, you know you're dealing with a company that doesn't take itselftoo seriously. Discover how founder and funnyman Nicholas Graham has used humorto build brand name awareness.

Joe Boxer's founder, Nick Graham, riding on the back of a convertible, headed a parade that included the New York Police Department pipe and drum band. Graham then hosted the fashion show that featured teens modeling back-to-school apparel and presided over a mock wedding of Joe Boxer and a woman representing Kmart.

Leave it to JoeBoxer to always leave you laughing. The company mascot after all, is Mr.Licky, the smiley-face with the giant tongue.

These days,Joe Boxer founder, Nicholas Graham’s side-splittingjokes and marketing stunts have him chuckling all the way to bank, as thecompany he started in 1985 has become wildly successful. The SanFrancisco-based apparel company and laugh factory now employs 125 and boasted1997 revenues of $100 million.

It’s not surprising that the 40-plus Graham, whoseformer title was Chief Underpants Officer, would reign over such anunconventional kingdom. After all, he’s always been a bit like a salmonswimming against the tide. The Calgary, Canada, native was kicked out of highschool. (“I was too damned smart,’’ he says in jest.) He ventured around Greeceand Sweden for several years “simply having a good time' until he decidedhe wanted to be a rock-and-roll icon and ventured to San Francisco, where hesang in a local band called Scream of Dreams. Though it was a cool lifestyle,by 1985, Graham realized he had to make a real living. Ever the entrepreneur,he started a small business, Summ, making men’s novelty ties. Later that yearwhen someone suggested wacky underwear might be a good follow-up act to his whimsicalties, he went for it. He drew upon his self-taught graphic design backgroundand created a line of boxer shorts with unexpected designs, typified by the“Imperial Hoser,' the now-infamous red tartan-plaid boxer that came with adetachable raccoon tail.

Graham's first wife helped to put together theoriginal samples, sewing them herself. They were unique enough to get theattention of a buyer from Macy’s California, who was so hyped that he purchasedthe entire line. The order was more than the duo could handle alone, so theycalled in a manufacturing firm. Thus was the humble beginning of Joe Boxer,which began with a mere $1,000 investment.

While you can find Joe Boxer underwear, casual andlounging apparel in 4,000 department stores, specialty shops and catalogsnationwide, you can also get “underwear to go’’ from the Joe Boxer underwearvending machine, also known as the Undo-Vendo. You get underwear that rangefrom $14-18 and a little surprise, a comedian’s voice telling you a joke fromthe machine and a reminder to laugh daily. By year’s end some 100 machines willbe installed at universities, fitness centers, airports, comedy clubs andbookstores.

How Graham built Joe Boxer into a brand is a story ofmarketing genius. First off, he threw out the rulebook, along with its praisesof target marketing. 'We’re broadly niched. We target anyone with a dollarin their pocket. We never said, 'Let’s focus on one segment,' says Grahamof the company's mass-marketing approach.

Graham’s also not big on demographics, though he payssome attention to them for specific products. But as far as the brand isconcerned, he’s not into stereotyping. Turning away from tradition once again,Graham hasn’t spent a penny to hire an outside agency to do marketing.'I’m cheap,' he laughs. 'There are brilliant agencies, but Ithink of us as a marketing and advertising agency.' And although Grahamhas never taken so much as a single marketing class, he obviously knows how tograb the attention of his customers.

“So much of the 'wow' comes from Nick. I don’t knowhow to explain how his brain works; he’s just creative,' says Lou AnnCalvert, the firm’s marketing director for the last 18 months. 'We havethese informal meetings and ideas happen.'

And the informal approach to building the Joe Boxerbrand name is working: According to Graham's estimation, his company has 77percent brand-name recognition, nipping on the heels of competitor TommyHilfiger, who has 80 percent brand recognition. Advertising maven Coca-Cola has99 percent, but Graham points out, “Tommy and Coke spend a lot of money toachieve that recognition. We do well with the teeny-weeny amount we spend onmarketing and advertising, typically about half a percent of annual revenues.’’

Therein lies another feat: Joe Boxer pulls off superstunts without spending a fortune. In 1997 the company invaded Reykjavik,Iceland, of all places. “We took over the country for 48 hours,' saysGraham of the exotic promotion that featured a weekend of salmon fishing,glacier snowmobiling and, of course, a fashion show featuring the company’s newcollection and an all-Icelandic cast, including a few sheep. The eccentricunderwear designer managed to get more than 100 fashion editors, weary from aweek eyeballing the New York collections at the annual '7th on Sixth'show, to gallivant across the globe.

“It was cheaper to fly to Iceland than to do a showin New York City, and we got 10 to 20 times the publicity kick,’’ says Graham.Outlandish? Yes, but that's Graham's style. And he has also staged orcollaborated on other goofy gimmicks, such as the highest unmanned underwearrocket launch in Black Rock, Nevada. Then there’s the world’s largest e-mailvia the first interactive electronic billboard, some 6,000-square feet in NewYork’s Times Square, which makes it possible for folks to talk to New York ontheir laptops or personal computers via e-mail at timesquare@joeboxer.com orvia the firm’s Web site. He also pulled off an in-flight underwear fashion showon Virgin Atlantic Airways.

Though the stunts seem far-fetched, they couldn’t bemore appropriate for the products. After all, boxer shorts that quack, inflate,are 3-D, have glowing messages (“no, no, no’’ in the daytime, “yes, yes, yes,’’at night), and have happy faces, cry out for zany, attention-grabbing antics.

Another cornerstone of Joe Boxer’s successfulmarketing strategy is doing good while doing well because Graham realizes thatbeing a responsible corporate citizen helps build brand equity. He has, forexample, helped to raise millions for AIDS charities, and Joe Boxer is theofficial underwear of Comic Relief, donating over $100,000 worth of boxershorts to charity. The company also teamed up with General Mills to enticecereal eaters to enter Joe Boxer contests on the back of Frosted Cheeriosboxes. Free boxers were offered, and for each of the 250,000 entries, Joe Boxermade a contribution to Literacy Partners, Inc. Graham also signed on to GeneralMotors' Concept: Cure, a project developed in 1997 in conjunction with theCouncil of Fashion Designers of America. GM chose four top fashion designers towork with the company to create one-of-a-kind vehicles that will be sold tobenefit breast cancer research.

6 Questions For Joe Boxer Founder Nick Graham Crackers

Co-branding has also worked like magic. Joe Boxertapped Warner Bros. to create a new line of cartoon-emblazoned sleepwear andunderwear. The 26-piece collection includes boxers, T-shirts and nightshirtsfeaturing the classic characters — with a twist, of course. On the laughableloungewear, Bugs Bunny cavorts with the Joe Boxer logo and Scooby Doo takes abite out of Licky. A “Cartoon Couture” fashion show at Warner Bros.’ flagshipStudio Store on Fifth Avenue in New York City this summer kicked off thecollection.

The company also partnered with Motorola on the JoeBoxer Cyberscooter, a rebuilt Vespa scooter that came fully equipped for fastcruising that was featured in the Neiman-Marcus’ Christmas catalog. Twelve ofthe 15 scooters made sold at a handsome $10,000 each.

And, as part of the Virgin Atlantic fashion show,folks who bought five pairs of Joe Boxers received a companion ticket to Londonon Virgin Atlantic Airways. The response was huge, enough to fill at least fivejumbo jets with those ready to see Big Ben.

Graham has also called on comedians time and timeagain to help boost brand awareness, sponsoring comedy nights at the Punchlinein San Francisco and Caroline’s Comedy Club in New York, where the first 50guests walked away with free underwear.

“We’ve had a lot of success with our partnerships.While we’re open to many kinds of arrangements, we have to ask how we can addvalue to their brand and what they can do for ours, as well as how the consumerwins in the deal too,' says Graham.

Don’t think, however, that Graham is sopublicity-hungry that anything goes. 'While we’ll pretty much tryanything, we won’t do anything that insults people or align ourselves withalcohol or tobacco companies,' he says, in a rare moment of seriousness.While there are limits, Graham is mostly fearless, and he believes that evenpromos that have a low level of success are good for his bottom line.

“I have low expectations. Sure some events could havebeen more effective, but they still are little pieces that make up the bigpicture, so I don’t see failure,' he explains.

One event that didn’t go well was last summer’spromotion to send a Joe Boxer fan to Iceland to catch comedian Jerry Seinfeldduring his world tour. To enter their names into the drawing, entrants had tosoak a deejay at a dunking booth. Originally, Graham had hoped that he would beable to tap consumers nationwide, but because he purchased the airline ticketsat the last minute near the Fourth of July holiday, the company was only ableto do a promotion with a local New York radio station.

“We couldn’t get to the retailers that fast. Thepromotion was rushed. It took place on the [morning of] July 7^th. Asit turned out, the winner had to have a passport and be ready to leave New Yorkthat night. We would have liked to have had similar promotions in variouscities,' remarks Collette Landi Sipperly, public relations and marketingmanager for Joe Boxer.

You might ask, why use humor to build brandawareness? “'Cause I like it, and I’m the boss,' is Graham's explanation.“Really though, humor is fresh, it’s not used every day, particularly in ourindustry.' Humor is also a potent weapon in the battle with competitors.Humor makes Joe Boxer shine among those vying for the industry spotlight. And it’salso paid off on the bottom line: The firm grew steadily during the first sixyears, slowed a bit in the early ’90s, and for the last three years, revenueshave surged a healthy 40 percent per year. Graham’s keeping mum though aboutwhere he expects revenues to hit this year.

While Joe Boxer was hot out of the starting gate withzany undies, folks like Hilfiger and others are staking their claim in the $2-3billion men’s underwear market. Although new players are entering the game,Graham claims not to be fazed by them. “I see mortality as my biggestcompetitor. Everyone else, I don’t worry too much about,' he says. 'Ikeep my eye on what they’re doing, but we do our own thing. We have to staytrue to ourselves. If we get boring, the consumers will move away quickly.'

But even Graham knows that he can't completelydiscount competing companies, and his response has been diversification. Notsurprisingly, however, the company uses the same comical approach to all of itsproduct lines, which now include watches, women and children's underwear andlounge and sleepwear for everyone. “I figured that we could use our funphilosophy for a variety of products,' says Graham.

No matter what products the company adds to its listof offerings, Graham strives to ensure that the name Joe Boxer remains foremostin the consumers' minds. “Some people still see us as just an underwearcompany. That’s why it’s important to be seen as a brand, not a product. Thevalue is in the brand. Anybody can make a product, but they can’t duplicate abrand,' he says, offering his favorite mantra: “The brand is the amusementpark, and the products are the souvenirs.'

For the man whose mind never ceases, Graham is notcontent to suck up his success and exhale with relief. Rather, he's designing hisplan to further build the brand — and the idea du jour is a television sitcombased on a 'typical' day at Joe Boxer. “This company is acomedy,' he jokes. Calvert agrees, “It gets kind of wild around here,’’especially since some 30 percent to 40 percent of the staff is in thehigh-energy under-30 club.

6 Questions For Joe Boxer Founder Nick Graham Cracker

Also in the works: a lineof Joe Boxer home furnishings, including towels, sheets and other goodies. Inaddition to increasing market share, the company is intent on internationalexpansion. Right now, the company’s products are available in Canada, Australiaand parts of England, and its biggest challenge is to keep hitting marketinghomeruns overseas.

“Staying innovative andhaving that continue to translate into revenues and brand recognition,'Graham says, is a tall order, for him and his marketing pros.

Five years from now, Graham jokes, Joe Boxer will berunning the government — at least we thinkhe's kidding. With Nicholas Graham, you just never can tell.

Company:JoeBoxer

URL: www.joeboxer.com

Founder:Nicholas Graham

Industry:Underwear and casual apparel

6 Questions For Joe Boxer Founder Nick Graham Jr

Location:SanFrancisco

Founded:1985

Revenues:$100 million (1997)

6 Questions For Joe Boxer Founder Nick Graham Lotz

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