Waypoint Insurance - Risk & Business Magazine VIIC Spring 2016 | Page 13

they would gladly pay the higher price point. Why pay more for
a Detroit-made pen? It has been imbued with a sense of place.
Detroit’s reputation for manufacturing high-quality products
adds intrinsic value to the pen 3.

So, Shinola set up shop in the former General Motors Argonaut
research building, also home to an arts college. In 2013, the first
2500 Shinola watches hit the market, and they sold out in a week
at $550 each. Eighteen months later, Shinola grossed $80 million,
selling watches to clients as American as President Bill Clinton,
a proud owner of twelve watches. In 2015, Shinola plans to sell
250,000 watches, and a whole host of other Detroit-made luxurygoods.
Shinola‘s product-line has already expanded from wristwatches
to leather bags, bikes, iPhone cases, pocketknives, footballs even
pet supplies. Like Fossil, before it, Shinola is a lifestyle brand. The
Detroit team is also venturing into retail with plans to open 16
domestic and European stores.

Shinola’s marketing, not to mention the entire ethos of the brand,
is about Detroit. The city’s name is on every single one of their
products. Shinola markets the place they do business just as much,
if not more, than the business they do.
This is exactly the kind of corporate marketing tha