JustBalls wants to tap affinity market
JustBalls.com, which has repositioned itself to sell to the institutional market as well as to consumers, is trying out another new tack: affinity balls. The institutional ball market is $5 billion a year, but even bigger is the affinity and premium ball market: $60 billion, Paul Gilbert, vice president of marketing says. “We want to re-purpose the ball product category for gifting, commemoration cause marketing, fundraising, promotion and recognition,” Gilbert says. “We want to do for the ball category what MBNA did for the credit card marketplace, where they leveraged affinity organizations in a really remarkable way.”
To sell custom-logo ball products and programs into affinity groups–-and to make contact with those institutional customers--JustBalls is using some of the $13 million in venture funds it received last fall to build a field sales force. It has published a paper catalog and is planning still another relaunch of its web site to focus even more tightly on affinity and b2b sales, although individual shoppers can still buy from the site.
JustBalls management believes the changes are necessary to the survival of the company. “Onesie/twosie sales, high acquisition costs, a slow use-up category – it’s hardly a prescription for success,” Gilbert says.
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