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[tvoivozhd <tvoivozd AT infionline.net>]

I really like a capacity for sideways thinking in its most creative 
form---differentiating a mundane product from similar mundane products 
by simply altering packaging.






Selling cool in a bottle
How a startup called Method turned household cleaning

products into objects of desire.
January 28, 2004: 2:52 PM EST
By Bridget Finn, Business 2.0

San Francisco (Business 2.0) - Like many 20-somethings

during the dotcom boom, Eric Ryan and Adam Lowry ditched

their day jobs to start a business.

But instead of taking the Internet route, the pair headed

somewhere decidedly less glamorous: the grocery store. In

search of a bright idea, they walked the aisles looking

for a consumer product in need of a makeover.
Method's 25 oz bottle of dish soap -- hmmm, minty.      
Method's 25 oz bottle of dish soap -- hmmm, minty.

Their eureka moment? Shelves of dish soap and household

cleaning supplies were not only dominated by dinosaurs

like Procter & Gamble and Colgate-Palmolive but also

plagued by uniformity -- endless rows of identically

shaped bottles, distinguished only by their labels.

Just a year later, Ryan and Lowry launched Method, a line

of nontoxic cleaning products so sleekly packaged you want

to store them next to the sink instead of under it.

What began with the then-roommates mixing cleaning

solutions in their kitchen has since bubbled into an 18-

person San Francisco startup that reaps more than $10

million in annual revenue and goes head-to-head with the

heavy hitters in 10,000 stores nationwide.

While specialty retailers like Williams-Sonoma and Sur La

Table sell naturally derived, but expensive, cleaning

products, Method differentiates itself by offering cool

packaging and scents like lavender, mandarin, and cucumber

at affordable prices.

And by recruiting hotshot industrial designer Karim

Rashid, Method capitalized on the Target-led trend of

bringing cutting-edge style to mass-market products.
Head to head

So how do Ryan, 30, and Lowry, 29, battle it out with big

-name brands? It helps that they both hail from

entrepreneurial families and boast highly relevant

resumes.

Ryan's advertising and branding experience included stints

at Fallon and other agencies, working with clients like

Saturn, Gap, and Colgate, for which he helped launch a new

toothpaste.

Lowry, meanwhile, worked as a chemical engineer,

developing biodegradable trash bags and paint that bonds

to plastic.

Neither had much management savvy, so before Method

products even hit stores, they hired consumer-goods

veteran Alastair Dorward -- who had served for six years

as a consultant for Bain & Co. and had launched a soup

brand in the United States called Covent Garden -- to be

the fledgling company's CEO.

But Method was still largely a do-it-yourself operation.

Ryan came up with a transparent bottle design, and they

contracted with local manufacturers to make the solution

and containers.

At first, the pair filled the bottles themselves with 5-

gallon pails and funnels; for the labels, they took their

own photos featuring Lowry's hands next to a sink.

To get the first products -- glass, kitchen, shower, and

bathroom sprays -- on shelves, the duo took prototypes

door-to-door to San Francisco-area stores.

But when they made the first sale -- to local grocer

Mollie Stone's in February 2001 -- Method had only a

prototype, and the retailer wanted its first shipment in a

matter of hours.

The pair began frantically calling friends and family

who'd been testing samples of Method's spray cleaners. "We

wiped down half-used bottles, topped them off, and drove

to the store," Lowry recalls.

Crisis averted, Lowry then visited Mollie Stone's each

week to restock shelves and count the number of bottles

sold. Using that data, he persuaded more local stores to

carry Method.

And though venture capitalists had scoffed at Method's

business plan during the dotcom boom ("They said, 'Will it

be sold online?'" Ryan remembers), the local sales data

also hooked investors, led by an affiliate of the Simon

Property Group, a retail real estate firm.
On to the big leagues

With 20 stores onboard, Lowry and Ryan took their self-

collected sales figures to national chains. Despite

Method's small scale, major retailers agreed to give the

products a shot.

Method first scored shelf space at Albertsons, later

expanding to Safeway and regional retailers Wegmans and

Ralphs. To meet national demand but minimize shipping and

distribution costs, Method contracted in every region of

the country with manufacturers that could speedily bring

the products to market.

Method wanted to keep a low profile and a low budget, so

the company avoided advertising and let the packaging sell

the product.

But to get into Target, Method wanted a big-name designer.

Ryan and Lowry had an idea for an upside-down dish soap,

complete with a one-way valve like those used in ketchup

and salad dressing containers.

So they approached Rashid, an industrial designer who'd

worked with Prada and Armani. Ryan says, "We sent him an

e-mail and said, 'Here's a great opportunity to reinvent

this iconic shape that sits on every sink across America.

'"

Rashid accepted the challenge, creating a 25-ounce bottle

resembling an oversize fluorescent chess pawn, plus a

smaller teardrop-shaped container.

With only Rashid's sketches to make the sale, Method

pitched to a roomful of Target execs in April 2002.

The company scored a trial run, but the product had to be

ready in just nine weeks. "We sold it before it was

designed, and we shipped it before they even saw it,"

Lowry says. To get the bottle ready fast, Method purchased

a one-way valve from a bottle-cap and closure manufacturer

called Seaquist. (Later the design was improved, with a

new valve from Zeller Plastik built into the base of the

bottle.)

Last February the line was extended to 1,100 Target stores

nationwide. Method soon realized that the soap -- which

sells for just $2 to $3 -- was doing something unheard of

in the cleaning space: prompting impulse buys.

In May, Method began selling a line of hand wash, also

packaged in Rashid-designed bottles, at Target and other

outlets, and it will soon launch a floor-care line and

cleaning wipes.

Because of its small scale and national manufacturing

network, Method can release products more rapidly than

corporate giants. But Lowry and Ryan worry that big brands

could eventually launch copycat designs. Though P&G --

maker of Dawn -- won't reveal how or if it plans to

respond, spokeswoman Lachelle Lewis says the company views

Method as a competitor.

In the meantime, Method hopes to stay under the radar

until its brand loyalty is so strong that ripoffs won't

have much effect. Already, the company has a following;

customers have started writing in to request new products.

And with double the number of offerings set for release

next year, Method could really start to clean up.  Top of

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