Published: September 09, 2008
What Do Bacon, Zombies and Commies All Have in Common?
By Rocco "Boss Hog" Loosbrock
Recently, I have been building a relationship with a company that shares our passion for bacon, but they have a different twist and that is they sell many bacon related novelty items.
In a recent interview I asked Kevin and Django of www.merchbot.com several questions such as, why do they do what they do. There response was quite entertaining. Django said, "We love selling stupid stuff, but this is really just a big excuse for me to buy fake dog poop and zombie action figures by the dozens."
www.Merch-bot.com is like many other businesses, they started with one simple idea that was a funny t-shirt design. Django knew that he needed to get that shirt out there and distribute it. He was already a professional screen printer and knew a lot about the business and he felt his shirt could be a huge success as he said it was, "Fifty percent political statement, fifty percent absurdity and 100% funny".
At first Django started throwing ideas out there and hoped that they'd stick. He tried things from the Communist symbol printed on shirts and hoodies to anything that he thought was funny. As his business began to grow he had a revelation that he could grow his business by offering toys and novelty items.
Django gives a lot of credit to his side kick Kevin Robinson who has been there since the very beginning. Kevin runs their retail store in Bellingham, Washington and a shipping warehouse. Kevin, says, "It's a dream job. Where else can you play remote-controlled fart pranks on customers all day long while you're feeding them samples of our Bacon Mints and giving affirmative answers to questions like, 'do you have the hamburger phone from Juno?'"
One of the biggest challenges for Merch-Bot is keeping up with and anticipating trends. "Bacon is huge right now, don't ask me why," said Django. He also offered that, "two years ago, it was pirates with a dash of zombies that filled Christmas shopping carts." When I asked what next, he offered, "Who knows? Cavemen? Ray guns? I hope so."
Merch-Bot has fingers in more than just the one pie. In addition to a well-established novelty site, the company also has several offshoot sites like www.meat-o-matic.com, shopzombie.com, and www.hammersicklestuff.com. They have also started a brand new wholesale division to help distribute bacon t-shirts, hammer and sickle hoodies, political stickers and zombie jewelry.
Lastly Django and Kevin said "When we take over the world, beanies with propellers will be a mandatory part of your daily uniform. We will name our country Merchbotvia, and the language will sound mostly like burps, vomits and farts. "But with meaningful inflections."
Signing off at Pigging out!
Rocco "Boss Hog" Loosbrock
www.baconfreak.com
(NewsBlaze readers use coupon code Blaze to get 10% off your next order)
Rocco owns and runs a Bacon of the Month Club called The Bacon Freak Bacon is Meat Candy Club as well as a Wine Club called the Coastal Vineyard Wine Club
Search News
