Posted 1/5/2009

ZIPPO PLAN FOR CREATING AND KEEPING GOOD JOBS

George Blaisdell created the famous flip-top lighter during the depths of the Great Depression. He built a factory in Bradford, Pennsylvania, and created good jobs for American workers. Seventy-five years later, American workers in Bradford still make Zippo lighters with nary a job migrating overseas.

Creating a successful business during the Great Depression was a miracle. But keeping all the jobs in America for more than 70 years was an even bigger miracle.

How did George Blaisdell, his son and grandson accomplish what most pundits say is impossible?

First, Blaisdell designed and built a uniquely high-performance product. The Zippo would light a cigarette during the kinds of winds, which would blow out the flames provided by competing lighters and matches. This made Zippos ideal for all outdoor activities from tennis to golf to hunting.

Second, Blaisdell built an extremely durable product – one which would last a lifetime or two. Zippos have been passed down from grandfather to son to grandson.

Third, Blaisdell promoted the quality of his product with the promise, "If it breaks, we will fix it." There was no time limit on the offer. (Compare this with today's typical warranty of three months of labor and 12 months for parts.)

Fourth, Blaisdell created a broad market for the Zippo by restricting sales of his product to the military during World War II. Soon the Zippo found uses far beyond the lighting of cigarettes. Zippos became miniature furnaces, heating soldiers' food in their helmets. Zippos were used to signal friendly troops during night attacks. When flack knocked out instrument panel lights, pilots flicked on their Zippos to provide the light for reading their instruments. Next to a letter from home, the Zippo became a soldier's best friend.

And when the troops came home, they all brought their Zippos, creating a huge civilian demand. Today the Zippo is sold in 120 countries. More than 500 million will have been produced by 2010.

Today when jobs migrate overseas, the pundits are quick to blame unions and high wage rates. But that doesn't explain why Zippos are still made in Branford, Pennsylvania, where workers are paid many times more than workers in China.

We can still create good jobs in America – and keep them here. All we have to do is follow the Zippo plan:

1. Create a product that solves an irritating, emotional problem. Self-sealing tires are a current product example. But a nation of aging, aching backs could do with adjustable heights for sinks, wash basins and other appliances which require too much bending over.

2. Create a uniquely high-quality product. One that lasts and lasts. This worked for Mercedes, Honda, Toyota and Honda in the car business. It worked for George Forstner of Amana, who created the first truly durable refrigerator during a time when the national complaint was "the fridge is on the blink again."

3. Promote the product's unique performance, quality or durability. The "million mile Mercedes" and the "Energizer Bunny" are good examples.

4. Get the product into the hands of a thought leader group which will popularize it with the masses. Forget TV advertising. Make it popular with the people who blog, use Facebook and YouTube. And don't forget the military. Look at the popularity of desert and jungle camouflage-style fabrics and clothing. And assault rifles.

It is important to note that doing one or two of the above will not assure success. To find business success, create new American jobs, and keep them here requires the execution of all four elements of the plan.

While this may seem like an impossible plan to execute, some have done it.

Ford is a good example. In 1985, Ford decided to throw the Lincoln Town Car on the scrap heap by 1987. Research said the big lumbering car was "a dinosaur." The CEO despised the car and refused to let it be displayed at auto shows.

But a Zippo-headed consultant was brought in. He headed a team whose job was to preserve a car that accounted for the good jobs at Ford's Wixom, Michigan plant. The team developed and sold Ford management on a four-point plan to make the Town Car's sales boom.

1. Downsizing at Cadillac and Chrysler left the Lincoln Town Car as the last big car standing. This gave the car a performance advantage in cabin comfort, especially when driven over pot-holed city streets.

2. The size uniqueness was promoted with the famed "Valet Commercial," which showed that a restaurant valet couldn't tell the difference between the downsized Cadillac, Buick and Oldsmobile. But he was able to quickly retrieve the much longer Lincoln Town Car. (When that commercial was shown, several Cadillac dealers threatened to come to Detroit and kill Cadillac managers.)

3. The price of the Lincoln was increased several thousand dollars to enhance its image of uniqueness and perceived quality.

4. Ford attacked the limo market, where Cadillac held almost 90 percent share of stretch limos. Within two years, Lincoln captured, and retains, the dominant position in stretch limos. This prestige, thought-leader market washed over into the retail consumer market and enhanced the status of Lincoln.

In the following years, Town Car sales revived and prospered. Some analysts claim that the Town Car accounted for over 25% of Ford's worldwide profits during the 1980s and early 1990s. Most important, the good jobs at Wixom were preserved for twenty additional years.

Sadly, the plant is now closed. Ford management ignored the Town Car, blinded by their infatuation with trucks and SUVs.

But the Lincoln Town Car still soldiers on, more than 20 years after it was to be killed off.

The Lincoln Town Car example demonstrates that the Zippo Plan will work – even for a lackluster management.

If anyone is serious about creating and preserving good American jobs, they should look to Zippo founder George G. Blaisdell as an inspiration and example.

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