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| Image via Ahoodie |
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| Image via Business Week |
He was named as Business Week's number one Young Entrepreneur of the Year in 2008 at the age of 26.
He spoke of how he turned a simple idea into the successful business it is today. He spoke how he thinks his concept is strange, but strange is good. Strange is important.
And, I can tell you, his entrepreneurial mindset was really inspiring to say the least. And, I certainly learned a lot about marketing during his key note presentation.
I came to learn about Johnny Cupcakes in 2010 from Twitter and followed him since then. Of course, at first, I thought it was just a cupcake brand, but it wasn't. It's actually a t-shirt brand, with physical stores decked out to look like bakeries.
A lot of his brand awareness came as a result of word-of-mouth. Johnny spoke about how he did not advertise his brand, but the beauty of word-of-mouth of his brand, to his surprise, spread not only domestically but internationally. And this was because of the following;
- Packaging
- Experience
- Keep people talking
- Travel
- Network
- Build a community
- Re-invest into the brand
- Keep positive
- Thrills and surprise
Further important notes I took from this session are:
- Approach people you know AND don't know
- Leave social circle and meet new people
- Don't worry about getting broke
- Everyone should have a business card
- Do more of what makes you happy!
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| Johnny Cupcakes Pop-Up Store in Sydney |
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| The little gift he hid under our seats as a 'surprise' strategy. |
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| Meet & Greet! I was tired by this time while carrying heavy textbooks, but I was real happy to meet him! This moment will go down to one of my highlights of the year. To learn more about Johnny Cupcakes, watch this video; Lots o' Love, Linda |
