Billings business teaches lessons in product marketing

For years, Ed Delegato has told his clients how to market their products.
Now that he’s marketing one of his own, he’s finding that some of his advice doesn’t work.
"We asked ourselves to do what we’ve asked the clients to do," he said. "But we were never
on the front line."

By JIM GRANSBERY
Of The Gazette Staff

Delegato acknowledges he has learned some things he didn’t know, like the effects of a "dynamic booth with high visual
impact" at a trade show.

"We told our clients in the past that this would attract
buyers to their booth. Act ually, they only stop if you trip ’em,"
he said, only half jokingly.

Delegato, who designs brand images and names for
products and services, wanted a product of his own. The
idea began forming about a decade ago.
"Do you want me to glamorize it or tell actually how it
came about?" he asked.

Images for others

Intense analysis is a by-law with Delegato, who arrived
in Billings in 1980. For the past 20 years he has created
images for others.
What he wanted for himself was a product in which
printing was the manufacturing process.
"When it is printed, it’s done," he said. "We did not want
to do a product that is complex." Food or technical products
are examples of complexity, requiring adherence to strict
regulatory standards and quality control both before and
after production.
He admits to promoting products that he was not crazy
about, items that are "me too" products that do not provide a
better product, but just another widget.
Delegato and his coterie of creative illustrators have tried to provide a good name, good look to products that people will
buy.

"There is a thin line, in our belief, in the ability to execute a plan that makes the product worth more and a little more
worthwhile," he said.
Delegato and his four employees know how to market "Western." They have done a number of successful brand images
and promotions with "sophisticated presentations" from hot cereal to chocolates to silver jewelry.
With their new product, the Delegato team has combined classical design with classical Western values.
The "product" is a Western greeting or gift card that centers on "the time-honored traditions of the West," he said.

"Society has changed, and some of those values have been injured, but they keep popping up."
Delegato was quick to note that the development of the cards began "way before 9/11, 10 years ago." He is not trying to
capitalize on the event, he said, but rather on a tradition.

The 16-card line features a color photograph accompanied by a aphorism of Western life. The photographer John
Rogers shot all the scenes in Montana except one.
"The past is a guidepost, not a hitching post," states one card. A winter scene of the Yellowstone River against the
south Rims near Billings is accompanied by "From time to time find yourself a place so peaceful that you can enter the quiet."

"Kind of a Western Zen," Delegato said.
The line is called Shadow West and the cards are designed to bring back the art of writing. With more interior writing
space the cards encourage the sender to compose a handwritten note.
"We over-estimated people’s desire to write," Delegato deadpanned.
"But seriously, buyers of greeting cards want the occasion identified and the words decided for them."
That was another aspect of the cards that was not anticipated, Delegato said. There were no categories such as
birthday, or congratulations or anniversary.

"That was going against the stream," he said. "It was a miscalculation and cut our market. We were not getting the
repeat business we thought we would." However, this past week, repeat orders were on the rise, Delegato reported.

Making it work

As a result of feedback, the cards have been categorized without changing any of the designs, he said. "A few words
have been added to make them work."
"We’ve learned that we are at the mercy of the will of the people," he said. "You cannot educate or train a person" at the
point of sale.
Once produced, the next challenge was "getting it out there," Delegato said. "We knew nothing, or very little, about doing
that."
The intention was not to go up against Hallmark. The real competition was Leaning Tree.
"That is the big one for us," Delegato said. While Leaning Tree is classy and self-effacing, Shadow West is a "more
sophisticated" card, he said.
A major decision was to go for slow, steady growth versus the quick sales, so the next hurdle was to build distribution
outlets.

Western clothing and supply retail outlets in the Intermountain West offered the market to serve because these stores
"have stayed fairly pure over the past two or three decades and have a loyal clientele," he said.
To find distributors, Delegato’s team tried a number of methods: mailing lists, phone calls, personal visits and trade
shows.
It was the trade shows that provided several marketing lessons. First, most trade shows have waiting lists and sign-ups
are a least six months in advance. "We were behind the curve to begin with," he said.
The team has been to five shows mostly in the West. A trip to Pigeon Forge, Tenn., was a bit out of sync. "It was about
pancakes and fudge," Delegato said wincing.

Display was another issue.
To use wood or cardboard display cases and how that might affect turnover and margins had to be addressed. "Dealers
like the cards, see them as an art form," he said. "And some want wood to add to that."
To date, the card line is available in about 100 outlets, the occasion card format is being included, it is being tied to
corporate products such as Pendleton Wool and the card box, with eight to 10 cards will provide another distribution channel.
Delegato said the card line is a separate entity from his brand image design and could turn into a revenue source.
"And it is an experiment in practicing what we preach," he said.
The Shadow West cards can be found in Billings at Gainan’s, The Wave, Lou Taubert Ranch Outfitters and Shipton’s Big
R stores.

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