CHAPTER 22THE (BAD) AMERICAN DREAM
Our first goal in 2012 was to find a distributor who could sell our products to the people of America. KKR, a private equity firm that was interested in acquiring us, had some good contacts in the United States, and, wanting to demonstrate in advance what a great partner they could be to us, smoothed the way for us to present to a host of America's top retailers at an upcoming convention in Miami.
Our team back in Australia worked like crazy behind the scenes to come up with a promotional ad package that would excite and incentivise these retailers to stock us. The retailers needed to know we had the operational capability to service this huge market and could fund a national advertising campaign to support the launch of a new brand into this intensely competitive market.
To prove our credentials, we compiled a highlights reel of all the international reality show formats we had been involved with in Australia: The Voice, Dancing with the Stars, MasterChef, the Tour de France, the Australian Open, and of course, the ultimate reality show, the Olympics, which had really put us on the world map.
We needed a global ambassador to complete the picture and tie all the promotional elements together. This ambassador would need to represent everything our brand was — premium, proven and aspirational. They would need to be healthy, authentic, above reproach and have an impeccable track record. Mitch Catlin made a short list of desirable ambassadors ...
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