Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, October 20, 1993 TAG: 9310200445
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DOUG LESMERISES STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Kustom Cards International Inc., a Walnut Avenue business card printer turned magnet maker, is "the only company doing true photographic magnets in the country," claims company sales representative Bruce Lawrence.
He said 98 percent of the company's orders come from customers like pizza shops, high schools and public service organizations - locally and worldwide.
Mill Mountain Theatre, Blue Ridge Beverage and the Salem Police Department are some of the company's local customers, but Kustom Cards also has distributors in Iceland, Germany and Australia. Recently, however, Lawrence landed a big fish: Limbaugh.
He's hoping that the popular conservative radio talk-show host will lead Kustom to even bluer waters.
"I think there are going to be numerous other opportunities, because Rush is a great draw," said Lawrence. "It will serve to open doors."
Lawrence contracted with Limbaugh's promotional department to make the magnets.
It took three months to finally cinch the deal and involved "just taking the time to call and call and call," Lawrence said.
The magnets, in two styles with a full-color photo of Limbaugh, were distributed mostly to radio stations and then used by interested stations as promotions for their broadcasts of Limbaugh's daily program.
Now, the magnets are going to be used in a Limbaugh catalog to be sent to vendors of Rush merchandise.
"Getting us into a catalog is something I had been working toward," Lawrence said.
Kustom already has produced about 30,000 Limbaugh magnets and Lawrence thinks being in the catalog should lead the company to easily double that number by Christmas.
The company also recently made souvenir magnets for Pope John Paul II's visit this summer to Denver. A Colorado distributor arranged the deal and Kustom Cards cranked out 45,000 colorful magnets in two versions - one a full-face shot and the other showing the Pope holding a chalice.
Although the company's 400 distributors are at this point indispensable to the business, Lawrence said he hopes eventually to rely less on them.
"Only about 200 of the distributors are active," meaning they bring in at least one order a month, Lawrence said.
He would like to take more accounts on his own and go for "the big ones," like Limbaugh.
The magnets are manufactured by a staff of eight in a gray brick building in Vinton.
Photos are developed and glued on strips of magnetic backing. The strips are put in a die cutter and cut almost all the way through. Workers then manually punch out the magnets along the machine-made cuts.
Lawrence says the company has developed a special process of die cutting, making its products distinct. Normal die cutting would rip the magnets apart, he said.
The company has handled magnet orders ranging from 100 to the 45,000 papal job. The average order is for 1,000 to 2,000 magnets and takes about 12 days to produce. However, the company has done an order in two days on deadline.
Arline Chamberlain, the company's vice president, said the company manufactures approximately 2 million magnets a year. The wholesale price is $215 for 250 magnets, the minimum order, she said. Retail prices are generally 150 percent higher than wholesale.
The company was started six years ago, producing photographic business cards in a small shop on Winston Avenue in Vinton. The switch to mostly magnet-making came about five years ago.
Company president Kathy Baker came up with the idea.
"Kathy just looked at a magnet on her fridge and asked her husband why we couldn't put our product on a magnet," Lawrence said. "We started experimenting."
"Without the magnets, we'd probably be history," Chamberlain said.
The company still struggled, but was helped by a move to the new building and a cross-training program that gradually trimmed the staff from 22 to eight, cutting those who were "wasting time," while keeping up production volume.
Kustom expects to turn a profit for the first time this year.
"We came very close [to shutting down]," Lawrence said. "We had some close scrapes. Everyone has sacrificed."
by CNB