Page 9 - Ty Warner Case Study

Warner's marketing skills were honed at Dakin (Dakin - originally established
in 1955 closed down in 1995). While working the shops of his native Illinois, he
seems to have discovered his vocation and undergone something of a
personality change - he purchased a white Rolls Royce convertible, arriving for
sales appointments with retailers dressed very eccentrically in a knee-length fur
coat and a top hat while carrying a cane. A gimmick he once said was calculated
to make people curious about what he was selling.

After Dakin

Ty said,
"It was all to get in to see the buyer. I figured if I was eccentric-

looking in Indiana, people would think, 'What is he selling? Let's
look in his case.'"

Paul Roche, Ty's former supervisor at Dakin said, "he was probably the best
salesman I ever met."

Ty left Dakin after 18 years, in 1980 apparently suffering from burn-out and
traveled to Italy where he stayed with friends.
'It's the opposite of what we do here,' he later noted. 'Everyone

knows each other. They have a three-hour lunch, swim, lay in the
sun. It's a very enjoyable lifestyle.'

In Italy, Ty became intrigued by the different varieties of stuffed cat toys sold in
Italy that were not available in the USA.

Inspired by these plush animals Ty returned to the USA in 1983, the year his
father died. Using $50,000 he inherited from his father, accumulated savings
from his Dakin earnings and money from his mortgaged condo, he founded the

Ty (company) and Ty Inc. in 1986.

He hired two workers, Miss Nickels (spokeswoman) and Patricia Roche, who

moved on to head the UK operation. However, from the start, employees of Ty
Inc. had to pledge never to talk about the company or their boss in public. Those

who did were fired. Even some of Warner's closest business associates