Turning Simple Green into Pure Gold - Article

TURNING SIMPLE GREEN INTO PURE GOLD
Cleaning Up Big through Event Marketing
by Sara Pentz

Todd Bradley is riding a double crested wave of success as Director of Sales for Simple Green Pacific International, a Division of SUNSHINE MAKER, INC., Huntington Harbour, and as a World Champion in Outrigger Canoeing. But that wasn’t the case in the early 80’s when Bradley was stuck in hotel management in his home state of Hawaii.

His life changed dramatically when Bradley accidentally learned about a product called Simple Green, an all-purpose cleaner/degreaser/deodorizer used as a safer alternative to hazardous and toxic cleaners for removing grease, oil and dirt. Ironically, a friend gave him a sample on St. Patrick’s Day. He discovered the product was literally “pretty neat stuff.” He began handing out samples to friends at big companies and they ordered drum loads before he could even say ‘environmentally safer cleaner.’

Bradley decided he wanted to be the exclusive distributor for this amazing product in Hawaii. “I went to Simple Green headquarters in California and met owner Bruce Fabrizio in this tiny office in Sunset Beach. The company had not yet made $1 million in sales.”

Fabrizio told Bradley he’d have to sell four 40-foot container loads a year. That didn’t faize Bradley who, on the spot, put together his first order; then borrowed warehouse space from a friend and some money from the bank. That first year (l982) Bradley sold almost twice his first order and was off to the races.

That’s when success got in his way. The more Simple Green he sold, the deeper in debt he got. His expenses were outpacing his sales. So he sold his company to Fabrizio and became head of international marketing for Simple Green, opening a regional office in Hawaii.

“The product started to sell itself because we were in sync with the environmental movement of the 80’s,” explains Bradley. By the late 80’s Simple Green was a huge success in the Continental US, and it was time to target the international market, Asia in particular.

The Simple Green story began over twenty years ago, when Bruce FaBrizio and his father developed a safer alternative to the toxic cleaners originally designed to remove tannic acid, a by-product of coffee roasting, from roasting machinery.

It took three years to perfect the biodegradable, non-toxic, non-flammable, non-abrasive formula. After its initial success, Bruce began selling Simple Green to industrial customers in 55-gallon drums, which he delivered in his van, for use as a cleaner on equipment and floors.

"The world’s environment is too precious to ignore and the time is now to make a difference, even if it is one step at a time,” says Fabrizio. This position is at the core of the business.

By 1979 the initial retail marketing efforts were beginning to pay off. In 1981 Fabrizio formed Sunshine Makers, Inc. Simple Green was then introduced nationally into several new markets including hardware, consumer grocery & drug, GSA (government) and industrial classes of trade.

In the early 90’s, Fabrizio introduced the Environmental Technology Division in an effort to define the cutting edge of today’s cleaning solutions and set high standards for environmental responsibility. Today, over $3 millions have been spent to prove the safety and efficacy claims of Simple Green.

Back in Hawaii, Todd Bradley helped launch Simple Green internationally. With headquarters in Huntington Harbor, satellite offices have opened all over the world.

Simple Green is manufactured in Garden Grove as well as Georgia, New Zealand and Switzerland. There are distribution centers in Honolulu, France and Australia, and sales offices in Chicago and Philadelphia.

The Simple Green family of products has expanded to include lime remover, disinfectants, wheel cleaners, foaming BBQ, grill and microwave cleaners, scrubbing pads and hand cleaners. There is a professional strength automotive, marine, and bike cleaners. From floors and walls to pots and pans, from windows to sinks and drains, from stained carpets to greasy tools, Simple Green was everywhere.

The Original Simple Green and the entire family of Simple Green products are now a part of everyday life in millions of homes and industrial sites, not only in the United States but all over the world.

Still there was, for Bradley, more markets to target. “By l997 we had reached a saturation point. We knew that of every ten people who actually used our samples, seven became loyal customers. We had handed out millions of samples. There comes a point when you can’t hand out any more samples.”

The next step in the international marketing of Simple Green takes us back to Todd Bradley’s love of outrigger canoeing and the concept of increasing the number of impressions, and strengthening branding through event marketing.

Enter Tim Dougherty, Canoe Sport California, Inc., Mission Viejo, race promoter and builder of outrigger canoes. He created the Catalina Challenge race in l996. Once he met Todd Bradley and the other members of Team Green, the top outrigger canoe team racers in the world, (check out their race records) Simple Green became a sponsor of the race.

It was a natural match. Simple Green with its squeaky clean image teamed with a rising sport. The two would grow together feeding off each other’s reputation.

“About the time Simple Green got involved the outrigger canoe racing sport took off,” explains Dougherty. “They put together and sponsored clinics to outrigger communities teaching intermediate and novice paddlers. This group of guys are highly respected throughout the outrigger world with their knowledge and acomplishments. Simple Green gave the guys the freedom to travel and spread the word. It is the first company to drop major money into the sport. The exposure Simple Green is getting has turned their company into a household name. what they get out of it - the exposure - they brought four boats of guys over in April ’99. It’s brought the outrigger community into the 21 century as far as getting corporate sponsorship.”

Todd Bradley knows you don’t just throw your logo on some canoe and hope it works. “You have to make sure you get that logo right in the face of the public and the media,” he adds. And he has! With the Irish green outriggers with the Simple Green logo showing up in news stories and TV sports coverage, he’s achieved his goal. “And don’t forget,” he reminds us, “you’ll see those Simple Green outriggers not just on the water, but on the roads as they are hauled from race to race where they will create a kind of moving billboard.”

Dougherty chronicles the industry’s growth: “By 1993 there were over a dozen one man canoes in Southern California. In 1994 the sport was starting to take off. Hawaiian manufactures were back ordered for as long as six months. By 1997 there were over 100 canoes in Southern California. By 1999 the number of canoes in California tripled and the 1 man canoe became the watercraft of choice over surf ski's.”

Potential growth for Simple Green and outrigger canoe racing is simply enormous.

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