In One Ear, Inc.







	CHILLED CHAMPAGNE We work hard at understanding each client’s business. Take the Chilled Champagne CD made expressly for World Market. We knew that World Market sold thousand of cases of Champagne every Christmas at unbelievably low prices. And, we saw a huge opportunity to sell additional items with each champagne purchase. That’s how we came up with the Chilled Champagne CD - an impulse item that customers picked up as they shopped for their favorite sparkling wine. We put together a hip compilation featuring the fashionable “chilled” style of music and even added Champagne Cocktail recipes on the inside cover as something extra for the consumer to enjoy. Plus, we designed the CD cover to clearly represent a champagne celebration so it would fit well with champagne displays. It was one-stop shopping with beverages, drink recipes, and music for a holiday party all in one place. As an additional benefit to our client, we were able to price the CD program to enhance their profits and offset tight champagne margins. THE WITCHING HOUR We have the great ability to understand the needs of our clients. Naturally, many of them start by giving us a blank page. Williams Sonoma requested a CD for Halloween…that’s all they said. There was no direction on content, tone or genre. While almost every Halloween compilation includes the obvious like Boris Pickett’s Monster Mash, Sheb Wolley’s Purple People Eater, and Oingo Boingo’s Dead Man’s Party, we preferred to produce a CD that fits our client’s level of sophistication by programming a Halloween CD for adults- one that was not only smart and fun, but could also be enjoyed year ‘round. The result was a sophisticated mix of Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughn, & Nina Simone (among others) singing from the American “standards” songbook that includes Between the Devil & the Deep Blue Sea, Witchcraft, Ding, Dong, the Witch is Dead and That Old Black Magic. So, what made this compilation just right for any time of the year? It wasn’t just the music. We had a BIG idea that applied to more than just this CD. As the purveyor of the finest kitchen and tabletop products, Williams Sonoma cultivates customers that are interested in entertaining. Our marketing scheme brought their existing CDs together into two cohesive programs, the Dinner Companion CD series and the Drink Companion CD series. The Witching Hour was a perfect fit for the Drink Companion series, enabling it to be displayed with other Halloween items before the holiday, and thereafter, with the Drink Companion Series. There was no need for after-season markdowns and the program encouraged the customer to collect the entire line up! MY FAVORITE THINGS It’s incredibly hard to do an original holiday CD. Good holiday repertoire is limited and new Christmas repertoire is usually unavailable for licensing for several years. In addition, most retailers want to play it safe due to the pressure of the holiday selling season. We were asked by Williams-Sonoma to do a “traditional-sounding, familiar” holiday CD. We proudly delivered it with an interesting twist that would appeal to the sophistication of the Williams Sonoma customer. In addition to traditional sounds, we included two songs that were familiar to the ear, but not usually associated with Christmas- Louis Armstrong’s Wonderful World and My Favorite Things, performed by Cyrus Chestnut & Anita Baker. These recordings blended well with holiday music due to their sound and their message. To top it off, through our strong industry connections, we arranged for an original and exclusive version of I’ll Be Home for Christmas to be recorded by Ledisi, an incredible, up-and- coming Bay Area based artist. This unusual twist to the CD resulted in radio airplay of Ledisi’s recording in a number of major U.S. markets. DJ’s announced the exceptional new holiday song as exclusively available at Williams Sonoma- free marketing that drove new customers into their stores THE HUNGER SITE - TRAVELER’01 Compilation CDs offer a perfect opportunity for non-profit organizations to raise money. The Hunger Site approached us to partner with them on a CD that could raise money to feed hungry people worldwide. Their budget was slim and their audience was small, which created a challenge with pricing and the required minimum purchase. We wanted to help them with their project and looked outside of our business for partners who could help us help them. We arranged to produce an exclusive package by partnering with Six Degrees Records. With The Hunger Site dedicated to feeding people around the world, a “discovery” disc of world dance music seemed to fit perfectly. The result, Traveler ’01, was a remarkable CD compilation that fit nicely within The Hunger Site budget. The music was great, The Hunger Site was happy, and hungry people got fed. What else could be better? MARGARITAS EN LA PLAYA After producing more than a half-dozen CDs for Williams-Sonoma, we saw further opportunities that would increase their CD sales. Their customer demographics supported our hunch, so, equipped with their market research and our intuition, we partnered with them to make six changes to their CD business, as follows. 1) Present new, interesting and different music that their customers could “discover”. 2) Clarify, expressly for the consumer, how each CD may be used by establishing two cohesive programs, the “Drink Companion” and the “Dinner Companion” series. 3) Upgrade the packaging to fit the quality of product that Williams Sonoma is known for and to support the new music. The common jewel case changed to a custom printed package with two fold-over flaps. 4) Add inserts with liner notes to make the discovery process more information-rich and add value to the product. 5) Examine the existing product line for ways to place CDs into existing departments. (Imagine how well Margaritas en la Playa works into a summer margaritas display!) 6) Raise CD prices a nominal amount. Our experience showed that a price increase for this kind of quality product, timed with a packaging change, would not hurt sales. The overall results of our six-step upgrade were extremely favorable. The customers voted positively. Williams-Sonoma CD sales are up, their gross margins are up, and, due to the success of the six-step plan, they added additional CD compilations to their assortment.