Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, April 5, 1994 TAG: 9404050054
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: EMORY LENGTH: Medium
Tendick said Monday that the advice he got from the students at Emory & Henry College "wasn't up to par" with what he gets from professionals. "It was much better.
"The practical ideas they submitted, the product positioning, advertising and development, were without question some of the best things I've seen cross my desk in 30 years," said Tendick, founder and chairman of Lamplight Farms in suburban Milwaukee.
Lamplight will incorporate the students' ideas into its marketing plan for the new products, Tendick said.
"The surprising thing is, we pay hundreds of thousands of dollars to so-called professional experts to give us well-researched, thoughtful programs, and in most of these areas, they didn't begin to hold a candle to what these students had written."
Tendick, who is on the Emory & Henry board of visitors, offered $3,000 in prize money to students entering the essay contest. He will announce the three winners tonight at a company-funded awards banquet in Abingdon.
Lamplight has its own sales and marketing staff and retains a major marketing firm, Tendick said.
"But we apparently live so close to the forest that we truly no longer see the trees," he said.
They also didn't see the sportsmen like Tammy Taylor's father.
Taylor, of Saltville, said she recalled her father's difficulty with the lamp he uses to see while fishing on the Holston River at night.
"The usual lamps attract so many insects, it's hard to get any fishing done," said Taylor, one of seven students who wrote essays on their research and marketing strategies.
She suggested Lamplight promote a citronella lamp that would provide light while repelling bugs.
Tendick said he is taking the advice of several students who suggested Lamplight sell a citronella cream and advertise it as safer than chemical sprays.
Lamplight plans to introduce a cream next year, he said.
Another student argued that Lamplight should use radio advertising for the new products rather than high-cost television ads, Tendick said.
Lamplight, a 30-year-old privately held company with 250 employees, produces oil lamps, candles and related lighting products. Tendick would not disclose specific annual sales, but said the amount is "in the middle eight figures."
Tendick said he approached Emory & Henry after judging a similar student essay contest in Chicago sponsored by Air France. He said other company executives should take advantage of the brain power on college campuses because it would help them and help students gain realistic business experience.
The professional ad men and women, he said, often lose perspective because of the "politics" inherent in the relationships between consultants and corporations, Tendick said. "Most advice is tainted to make us feel good."
by CNB