BBC - SuperPower: On the road in Brazil: bogus Blackberries and changing hemispheres at half-time 18/03/10 19:31
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/
On the road in Brazil: bogus Blackberries and
changing hemispheres at half-time
Michael Duncan | 17:22 UK time, Thursday, 25 February 2010
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/
"Day 3: visited what is described as a business incubator, an organisation dedicated to nurturing small technology firms in the grounds of the University of Sao Paulo.
I met a remarkable entrepreneur Patrick Choate who seems to have perfected the art of making money out of very little, using the power of the internet.
He buys carbon fibre tubes normally used in the exhaust pipes of high performance motorcycles, slices them up into wristband sized rings, and sells them over the internet as jewellery.
Each tube makes 30 wristbands, each wristband is sold for the same price as the whole tube cost him to acquire. Cost of production: almost zero; cost of distribution: not much; profit: huge.
Petrol heads snap them as the result of a clever marketing wheeze.
Patrick has contacts in Formula One motor racing and he has persuaded several top drivers to be photographed wearing his carbon fibre wristbands. The photos are prominently displayed on his website making his products into objects of desire.
It shows what you can do with a clever idea and the reach of the web."
