Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, December 28, 1993 TAG: 9312280148
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: ARLINGTON LENGTH: Medium
Cowpower Inc. sells magnets shaped to look like a Holstein's spots.
"I saw a California surfer dude who had spray-painted them on his VW, and I figured if he would go to the trouble to do that, people would buy them," said Marty Valentine, sole employee of Cowpower.
The magnets come in black, brown or white and lend a chic, if not necessarily bucolic, look to the family minivan. Red spots are available, but only in California.
With an initial investment of $500 and some credit, Valentine drew a spot and found a die cutter to stamp it out.
A year later, he has sold more than 2,000 of the six-inch spots, at $11.95 for a pack of 12.
Valentine has begun selling smaller packages of spots he said are popular as mailbox decorations.
In Virginia, the spots are hard to find. They are marketed through catalogs and some gift shops. Valentine said he hopes to find a larger company to license the product.
Cows are hot, or cool, at the moment.
A popular design on T-shirts, coffee mugs and greeting cards, some items picture a cartoon cow in sunglasses with the inscription "Udderly Cool."
Cow prints are popular, as are cow slippers, towels and plates, marketing experts say.
The cow craze mystifies dairy experts, who say milk sales are declining.
"They are popular, but I don't know why they are," said Ralph Strock, business manager for the Middle Atlantic Milk Marketing Association.
Dick Snyder, general manager of the Holy Cow catalog, said people like the docile animals because they are comforting.
"There is a serenity and a simplicity and an honesty about a cow and the way a cow looks at you," Snyder said. "That, coupled with their interesting coloring," makes cows popular, he said.
Snyder said his company publishes 400,000 retail catalogs annually.
New Englanders, who produce a large percentage of the country's milk, are his biggest customers, Valentine said. Californians are also big buyers, and the red spot is selling well there, Valentine said.
He only expects the spots to sell for a few years, until people tire of the fad.
"They are a trend," he said.
by CNB