One thing I’ve learned about marketing: Customers will remain loyal to your brand if they believe they have a personal stake in the product.
That’s something the Bollman Hat Co. has done in its move to onshore production of the Kangol 504 hat from China to its factory in Adamstown.
America’s oldest hatmaker, founded in 1868, Bollman needed funding to bring special machines, built in 1938, that weave the fabric for the 504, a beret-style cap favored by celebrities such as Samuel L. Jackson.
Jackson himself was the star of a video making an appeal to Kangol fans to contribute to a Kickstarter campaign began by Bollman to help raise funds to import the machinery. Unveiled on American Made Matters Day on Nov. 19, the campaign’s goal was to raise $100,000 through donations via Kickstarter’s website.
Gradually, 671 stepped up to the plate, and a $3,000 contribution by a woman from California on the campaign’s last day, Jan. 17, pushed it over the top. The total was $102,890.
Bollman honored that donation from California with a reward: a metal statue of Kangol’s kangaroo logo.
It was no accident that Bollman President and CEO Don Rongione picked American Made Matters Day to commence the campaign. The American Made Matters organization, which was founded by Rongione in 2009, is on a mission to educate U.S. consumers on buying products made at home. More than 375 companies in 45 states have joined the campaign.
Of course the appeal of American-made products has been a rallying cry for decades as offshore competition started flooding the U.S.
What Bollman has done with the Kickstarter campaign is give the consumers a different way to put some skin in the game.
Crowdfunding is also appealing in that it cuts down on the number of government – that is, taxpayer – grants or tax breaks a company needs to set up shop. Simply, a consumer who likes wearing Kangol 504 hats can donate a few dollars to help the manufacturer maintain production.
That money sent to Bollman will turn into a $50 hat purchase in the near future.
Contact Evan Jones: 610-371-5066 or ejones@readingeagle.com.
