Creating a Success Story During the Recession

February 27, 2011 - Elkhart Truth

Burston Marketing has made its own success during recession

Recipe for going out of business:

• take one marketing firm that makes and promotes cool items people want but just don’t really need
• mix with a horrific recession that forces companies to make deep cuts and curtail spending on things like marketing
• add in a bankrupt automaker as a major client
• sprinkle with plummeting consumer confidence and households struggling to buy even the necessities

Although these ingredients have been in plentiful supply since 2008, Burston Marketing has never pulled a "Business Closed" sign out of its oven. Instead it continued operating through the recession and is still operating from its building on Frederic Drive. The company's turn at cooking was undoubtedly subverted by a little bit of luck and the ability to see opportunities. But president Tom Stout offers a simple explanation for why the marketing firm, which has General Motors as a principal client, is still open. "We chose not to participate in the recession," he said. "If you think you are hurt, you are hurt."

Burston Marketing is a logo merchandiser. It labels stuff like sweat shirts, baseball caps, coffee mugs and keychains with company names and trademarks.   The work has a rocket-science element to it. Inside its display room, Burston confers with its clients to find out what they would like, what they are about and what they are trying to do. Then the marketing firm narrows the selection to the objects that fit the client. Slapping a logo on anything could muddle the message or convey the wrong image of the company. "People want to feel a part of something," Stout said, explaining the appeal of a logo-bearing product. "They want to show their brand, their allegiance."

For GM, Burston designs the logo, selects the products and creates the catalogue of clothing and nifty accessories for customers who own, drive or dream about Corvettes and Camaros. Recently it was awarded a similar job of promoting the Chevy Volt, the automaker's new electric car. Not every piece of clothing or gadget is popular with the intended audience. However, those "dogs," as Stout calls them, are always outnumbered by the products that are popular. During the holidays, Stout had the idea to contract with an Indianapolis-based candy maker to create chocolate Corvettes and Camaros. Burston posted the delicious treat on the websites and immediately started selling the one-pound boxes of red and green foil-wrapped cars. One caller bought three boxes and said he was going to display the candy roadsters in a jar rather than eat them. The incredulous Burston associate replied, "But it's chocolate." 

Burston's relationship with GM started in 1999. The agency had been handling the Hummer merchandise catalog and website for the manufacturer AM General and when the brand was sold to the automaker, Burston tagged along. So popular were the Hummer items that Burston put on the market that the jackets, polo shirts, luggage, bikes (yes, a Hummer bicycle) and posters have outlasted the vehicle's production. Owners continued to ask for the stuff after GM pitched the distinctive ride from its portfolio. That catalogue of Hummer paraphernalia continues although with fewer pages. "You always knew Hummer would end," Stout said of the vehicle's demise. "You didn't think it would be in one afternoon."  

Watching Hummer run out of gas was only one dilemma and more followed as all of GM stalled during the economic upheaval. The work done for the car company is a big part of Burston's business.   "As an official licensee of theirs, we needed them in business and to continue manufacturing the brands that we offer merchandise for," Stout explained. "We won some and lost some in their restructuring. The Pontiac Solstice and Hummer shut down; however, Corvette, Corvette Racing, Camaro and the Chevy Volt are all thriving." 

To help survive the recession, Burston focused more on its relationship with the racing industry. The American Le Mans Series is one of the company's main focuses. On the eight weekends the series sponsors an auto race in the United States, Stout travels to the site, sets up a table in the paddock area and hawks Corvette-branded race apparel to the fans of cars going fast.  Capitalizing on its relationship with GM, Burston just secured the licensing rights to do the website and catalogue for the Camaro and Corvette pace cars in the Indianapolis 500. Also, the company is showing concepts for products to Super Bowl officials that could be part of the 2012 football extravaganza in Indianapolis.

And as more work flows into the firm, Stout said he will look to other companies in Elkhart County that can provide the supplies, machining and materials for the items Burston creates. It is a mantra he urges other local businesses to adopt. He told the story of visiting the Greater Elkhart Chamber of Commerce Biz-Ness Expo at the RV/MH Hall of Fame. The trinkets and give-aways local companies were offering were all things Burston could make but, Stout said, they looked like they had been ordered over the Internet. "We need to support small businesses," he said. "We're asking them to support us. We need to support them."