posted by DL Byron on June 04 · Permalink
Amazon recently forced it’s merchants to get Universal Product Codes, so ok for Clip-n-Seal, I had to figure that all out, join the Uniform Code Council, and start generating codes. We only have 6 Clip-n-Seal products, 99 UPCs, and that means I’m gonna generate codes for myself, family, and whoever or whatever else.
I used the free Free online Barcode generator from Barcodes Inc to generate our labels. They also have a free barcode font. To learn more about UPCs, check
And you can start generating your own barcodes, even and just to label yourself.
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posted by DL Byron on April 28 · Permalink
A new site for Clip-n-Seal just rolled and cool — tons of work went into that and I’m totally digging it. Props to Scott Benish and Matthew Foster for the design, David Richard Voigt for the code, and Erin Kissane for the words.
One of the entrepreneurial accidents about Clip-n-Seal is that the original site, the one that we got so much attention for, was never really designed! It was a brochure that we banged out in about 4 hours one weekend to show to retailers. It was up for nearly 4 years.
Also, this new site marks an attempt by me to focus on authoring, blogging, and running the business and to get out of the code and pixels. Well, the 2 fresh crew didn’t need much direction!
Also and most relevant to our book is how the site doesn’t look like a blog, it just functions like one. The entire site is built with Movable Type 3.2, is hosted by Dreamhost, and uses Tags.app, a tagging plugin, developed by Tim Appnel.
We’re already working on phase 2 changes, a few bug fixes, and I’ll be posting about a product I’m very passionate about!
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posted by DL Byron on November 28 · Permalink
We’re expecting a good month for Clip-n-Seal sales, with most being sold as gifts. At Textura Design, we create DIY gift packs with Clip-n-Seals, sealing up snacks and treats and sending them off to friends and family. We’re also seeing increased Amazon sales, as shoppers find us there and leave good reviews.
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posted by DL Byron on July 12 · Permalink
I sang Ashes to Ashes with the kids this morning in the car. They liked the synth flourishes, and the, "I'm happy, hope you're happy too" lyrics. I was about to explain to them the importance of David Bowie, when I heard, "ashes to ashes, funk to funky, we know major tom's a junky," and thought about Space Oddity. That album and the hit title song were Bowie's first reinvention of himself. As I thought about it more, I realized the parallel with Discovery's mission to restore confidence in shuttle program. NASA is reinventing itself and about to fly. As I posted on the Clip-n-Seal blog, while we're thrilled to be a very small part of the shuttle program, we also realize the emotions and passions the Shuttle is carrying with it into flight.
If it's on board, we hope Clip-n-Seals work well and wish the crew good luck.
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posted by DL Byron on July 06 · Permalink
With the Clip-n-Seal Cold Mondo en route to Antarctica, for the British Antarctic Survey, I googled Antarctica Blogs and found 75 Degrees South, a blog written by Simon Coggins. Simon is a BAS researcher, "who left England in November 2003 to work for the British Antarctic Survey in Antarctica." BAS offers the fascinating Antarctic Diaries - Life Behind the Science and there's an Antarctica Technorati tag and one for Flikr. I also found the older Iceblog.
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posted by DL Byron on June 16 · Permalink
Today the Space Shuttle moved back to its Florida launch pad, a critical step in NASA's plan to launch it next month after a hiatus of more than two years. We're watching the Shuttle closely, hoping that Clip-n-Seals make it on flight. Our last update is that's it's a go, but that's not confirmed.
posted by DL Byron on June 15 · Permalink
The Seattle PI reported on our shipments to NASA earlier this week. Jeremy Wagstaff of the WSJ picked it up, as did Oyayubizoku, and Coudal.com. It’s remarkable really and I’ve paused during the week to think about the “little clip that could.” If it does fly, and we’re hoping for “all systems go,” we’ll post on more of the story and roll out some marketing around it.
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posted by DL Byron on February 11 · Permalink
After the Blog Business Summit, Jon Lunddal Froda and Jesper Bindslev from the Copenhagen Business School interviewed me. We discussed blogging, product blogs, and more. At the end Jon asked me, “why the Passion for Plastics?” Good question and I responded that it’s because we made a product, launched it, people responded, and actually bought it. If it had been a failure, you wouldn’t be hearing me talk about it so much.
That passion is also discussed in the March issue of Fast Company. The article about Clip-n-Seal (subscription or access code required for 30 days) discusses our successes with blogging and how you have to be authentic on your blog. Being authentic is being passionate and vice versa. That goes for plastics or whatever you blog.
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posted by DL Byron on January 10 · Permalink
Our friends at SVN, scooped our Amazon announcement today. During the roll out, Jason was incredibly patient with our constant, "hey check this out, is this cool, and does that photo look ok?" questions. Jason is always helping out and we appreciate it. If we had a Freshness Founders Club, SVN would be our first honorary member.
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posted by DL Byron on December 08 · Permalink
Scott got our 2005 Fast 50 entry in, with two days to go! The Fast 50 is Fast Company magazine's annual readers' challenge, a worldwide search for ordinary people doing extraordinary things. We think Clip-n-Seal is extraordinary and sent our entry in.
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posted by DL Byron on November 19 · Permalink
The team has been reminding me to "write Oprah," so today I finally wrote a pitch on Blogging and Clip-n-Seal and sent it to Be on the Show
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The blogosphere has reached the tipping point for personal sites, politics, and now businesses. My company invented a product and built a brand and market for it in the blogosphere. It has been a great success for us. We are a small business, with no marketing budget, and used blogs, in part, because getting into large retailers is very difficult.
2 years ago, I found myself out of work in the dotcom crash, had an idea for a product, invented it, built it, and launched it. I knew web design, so I started writing about the product on our site, as a blog, and the product started selling.
Now we are focusing on the market that came to us via our blog.
I suggest you have a blogger show with various bloggers who can talk about their success, including our story.
Here's our website:
Clip-n-Seal provides an air- and watertight seal to keep food and other products fresh.
And a link about blogs:
Thanks
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posted by DL Byron on November 12 · Permalink
This week we collaborated with ID Fuel to launch a Design Contest called “Bonfire #3.” Clip-n-Seal is focusing on industrial applications and we are interested in what new closure concepts industrial designers can develop. Contest participants are encouraged to design a new interesting or unusual Clip-n-Seal product in a though-provoking way. We are offering some great prizes to the winners and their idea may make it to market.
An example is the Clip-n-Seal Shoe Concept designed by the Inventables Concept Studio and included in the November Design Aid, a hands-on, subscription magazine distributed to Fortune 500 companies. The contest extends DesignAid to designers everywhere. Clip-n-Seal built their brand and business in the blogosphere and now wants to give other designers a chance to offer an innovative product in a new industrial market.
Of course, the contest will be blogged and we are managing it with Basecamp.
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posted by DL Byron on November 09 · Permalink
Since we launched two years ago, an industrial market has found our product via Google, AdWords, and Blogs. Our original plan was to break into big-box retail, but as the industrial uses emerged, a new market for Clip-n-Seal developed. Specialty retailers continue to offer Clip-n-Seal and we sell directly to our customers via our website, but a big part of our strategy is to focus on industrial applications and to develop a new retail product from a successful industrial use.
Earlier this year, Inventables found us via an ID Fuel blog post and decided to feature Clip-n-Seal in their November DesignAid, a magazine of new materials packaged for Fortune 500 companies. We are very excited about DesignAid because it supports our effort to increase industrial applications. To coincide with the publication, we collaborated with ID Fuel to launch Bonfire 3#: Clip-n-Seal It!, a design contest. DesignAid is not accessible to everyone, so we wanted a way to get other industrial designers involved and see what ideas they develop. The Clip-n-Seal shoe concept drawing is an example. ID Fuel also published an interview where we discuss how we brought Clip-n-Seal to market.
Also interesting is the full-circle blog marketing: Clip-n-Seal to ID Fuel to Inventables back to ID Fuel and Clip-n-Seal. DesignAid is reaching potential corporate, industrial customers, the IDFuel contest is reaching even more designers, and the blogosphere is part of our business model.
We are expecting some outstanding opportunities and ideas to come from DesignAid and the ID Fuel Contest. A creative spark started Clip-n-Seal and creativity, in new markets, drives us today.
The Clip-n-Seal news page has more info and the related press releases. Core77 posts More from the Trenches about the interview.
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posted by DL Byron on April 26 · Permalink
Clip-n-Seal hit the Trifecta of Blog Marketing last week: Boing Boing, 37Signals, Gizmodo. I'm just starting to get caught up with all the other Texturadesign, Inc. business. On deck for this week:
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posted by DL Byron on April 14 · Permalink
I'll be on a panel discussing how to use Weblogs to communicate with your customers at WebVisions 2004, this July in Portland, Oregon. I haven't attended WebVisions previously, but I know it attracts a great lineup.
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posted by DL Byron on March 11 · Permalink
In preparation for Byron’s appearance on the Blogging for Business Panel he asked me to write up some of my thoughts on how the Clip-n-Seal blog has affected the Brand…
I think the blog has extended our brand by exposing the human side of the business. In a world increasingly overrun by faceless mega-corporations, being small can in many ways be a brand asset. I believe there is an emerging trend for people to buy from local businesses, to buy things locally, to support the corner market, to help keep the little guy in business and stave off the Wal-Mart-tization of our country.
Clip-n-Seal is a small company started by a group of designers - we don’t hide that, we celebrate it. The blog gives a personal voice to the site, something that people can relate to. Yes, we are trying to sell you Clip-n-Seals, but we’re also sharing the excitement that comes with starting a company. I think there is a growing number of people who appreciate and respect that. And those are the people that tell their friends about us, those are the ones that are the key to our success.
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posted by DL Byron on September 09 · Permalink
Pausing from adjusting the speakers once again in our home theater, I read "all blog marketers are going to hell." Blogstakes has been a remarkable branding success for Clip-n-Seal. Type Clip-n-Seal into any search engine and see the return. What we found the most interesting, is that some bloggers have added Clip-n-Seal to their list o' links, right next to their other favorites. I think they appreciate our approach. The web has been my career and I'm using my skills and medium to market a product I invented. I feel good about that. Much better than the dotcoms fantasies I once lived. A recent Seattle PI business article explains how we went from From High to Low Tech.
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