Jack Daniel, Innovator
By Peter LloydWhen Jack Daniel moved his distillery into Moore County, Tennessee, it was to get away from a religious congregation. The former owner was a preacher from another county, where his congregation let him know he had to choose between the pulpit and the whiskey business.
So he sold his distillery to Jack Daniel and told him he had to move it.
By the time Moore County went dry, the Jack Daniel's distillery was too important to the people of Lynchburg for anyone to seriously suggest that it pull up stakes. Around there folks say, "don't kick a pullin' mule."
The same expression sums up the company's innovative, down-home marketing plan. At the time of this writing, it amounted to little more than carrying on a tradition of breaking marketing law established by Jack himself.
They say Jack was the first in the business to target the consumer rather than the trade. The first to fly promotional hot-air balloons. He put his product in a distinctive square bottle. Unheard of in those days. And he organized and trained a group of locals into the Silver Coronet Band.
The current owners sponsor the band and have even formed a new group, the Jack Daniel's Barrel House Band.
But the best part is the personal attention they pay to their loyal customers. My dad toured the distillery once. They made him a Tennessee Squire, gave him the deed to a square foot of land and wrote periodically to report on it. The letters were banged out on a standard typewriter.
Just goes to show that some of the world's best ideas have been carefully mellowed with age.
Peter Lloyd is co-creator with Stephen Grossman of Animal Crackers, the breakthrough problem-solving tool designed to crack your toughest problems.