Marketing through the eyes of a young girl: brand, purpose, mission, and intentional marketing.
When I was 8 years old my mother went back to work as a part-time bookkeeper for a man named Harold Dobbs and his company, D.B.S. Advisory Services Inc. DBS was an advertising agency devoted to the liquor industry, specifically cooperative advertising by the Associated Buy Liquors Rite Merchants, Inc. for the Buy Rite liquor stores. What started as a storefront with 4 or 5 liquor stores in Queens, quickly grew to hundreds of Buy Rite stores across the five boroughs, then state-wide, then to other states. Ultimately being sold to an iconic Wall Street investor from Rumson, New Jersey.
Those of us of a certain age may remember the Buy Rite business, which took out full page ads in local newspapers that were filled with wine and liquor bottles, the sale prices, some kind of greeting (such as This Week’s Bargains or Holiday Discount Sale) and most importantly the ‘call to action’ — the list of stores participating and where to buy. The ads, and the logo, also featured Mr. Buy Rite himself — a short, plump, happy man. And even a trademarked slogan: BE A LIKKER PIKKER.
As an 8-year-old all of this mesmerized me. I loved going into my mother’s office and watching the advertisement creation — hundreds of little bottles pasted one by one to an artwork board sized for a specific newspaper. The ads may not have been elegant, and the process a bit slow, but the concept was masterful for its time.
As I got a bit older, 10 or 11, and my mother now full time, I would ‘work’ for Harold on my days off from school. There were mailings to work on — printing copies of the weekly flyer and other information for the stores on the new Xerox machine. After, I would add the flyers to a folding machine, and then another machine where I would stuff the folded flyers into mailing envelopes, later adding address labels to each — so they would be ready to be picked up by the post office and mailed out. Life was certainly simpler then.
I would relax by the bar in the boardroom (since folding and stuffing could become tiring) — where there was always a gigantic container of pretzels — and any type of soft drink a kid could wish for. The back of the bar was adorned with promotional pieces — a collector’s edition of a spirit with the Likker Pikker Buy Rite logo on it as well as bowls of other useful Buy Rite items — such as keychains, shot glasses, wine openers, decanters, ash trays — early SWAG at its best.
And during the entire day, I would hear Harold booming on the phone, schmoozing with a wine company, making a deal with a distiller, planning a trip for all the retailers to connect with each other, pitching a new store owner on what could be planned for them, should they join the cooperative.
At the end of the afternoon, Harold would call me into his office and thank me for my efforts that day. He would tell me how he valued the work that I did, and how the office would never have been able to get this work done without me. And then he would present me with a check for 7 hours of work, at minimum wage, which was perhaps $1.65/hour — my check, $11.55. To me it was a fortune. And a signal that I was a successful working girl.
Looking back, I saw that I was surrounded by the birth of promotional marketing and advertising at its best. A company with a strong brand, mission, and purpose. And it was a growing, successful business. Created by marketing and advertising professionals. These were not just people with jobs — these were professionals creating something that otherwise would not have existed. With a strong sense of purpose. What we would now refer to as intentional marketing.
I have kept my late mother’s Buy Rite mementos — since they remind me not just of her and of those early days, but of my initial interest in marketing. And of the best boss I ever had: Harold Dobbs. The guy in the corner office — who took the time to reward the little kid with $11.55. Who thanked me for my efforts and instilled a work ethic in me that no one has ever been able to take away.
We all have a story. What is yours?
