There’s a good chance the pen you used to sign that last document was made by Logomark Inc.
That nice tote your employer handed out during the annual picnic—probably the same guys.
The pack of souvenir golf balls from the Masters in Augusta? Made by Logomark.
Your 30-year work anniversary watch that looks just like the one President Barack Obama is wearing? Definitely Logomark.
The private-label specialist has been operating under the general public’s radar since 1992, supplying promotional products and corporate gifts to a roster of Fortune 500 companies, including Staples Inc., Microsoft Corp. and Apple Inc. It employs about 200 at its headquarters in Tustin and had an estimated $100 million in revenue last year.
Privately held Logomark imports more than 4,000 products—pens, mugs, bags, water bottles, stationery, computer accessories—and personalizes them in-house with embroidery or laser engraving. Custom orders—from 12 to 10,000 pieces—are usually handled by a network of distributors, though some can be filled the same day through the company’s website.
Logomark also runs a private-label watch division, Watch Creations.
And it has been building its own watch brand, Jorg Gray, for the past six years.
“Watches that Lexus and Audi dealers carry, we make those,” said Dani Rothenberg, Jorg Gray’s director of sales and marketing. “We also made the ones for Delta and American Airlines. The U.S. Soccer Federation had their 100-year anniversary last year, and they wanted us to design a USA Soccer watch for the heads of FIFA [Federation Internationale de Football Association] who came to the event. You name a company, and we’ve done something for them.”
Even the U.S. Secret Service, he said.
Secret Service
The federal law enforcement agency contacted Logomark through a distributor to order Jorg Gray watches with black leather straps and white stitching. It also wanted a Secret Service star on the face of the watch, right under the number 12.
The company fulfilled the order and didn’t think much of it until President Obama’s first inauguration day in January 2009.
“His hand is up, it’s on the Bible, he’s talking, and a lot of our customers and friends of (Logomark President Trevor Gnesin) were calling him and emailing him that week and saying, ‘By the way, did you notice the president’s watch? That looks like one of yours?’ ” Rothenberg said. “We called the Secret Service and asked, ‘Is that the watch,’ and they said yes.”
It turns out the watch was a birthday gift from Obama’s Secret Service agents, just like the ones they wear.
“That’s when (Gnesin) saw an opportunity to take Jorg Gray to another level and make it a retail brand,” Rothenberg said.
The watch—the 6500 Series Chronograph—is now sold at 300 dealers in 15 countries. It features Japanese movement and mineral crystals, he said, adding that it’s designed in the U.S. and assembled overseas.
The Jorg Gray brand now has 20 collections, three to eight models in each. About 1,000 to 3,000 pieces are produced for each model. The Presidential collection still dominates the lot, with 10,000 watches sold each year with prices ranging from $395 to $795.
Logomark operates two Jorg Gray stores in Shanghai and is in the process of opening four more in China.
Its retail strategy in the U.S. doesn’t include stand-alone stores or department stores, Rothenberg said, adding, “We protect our
price point.” Instead, it partners with fine
jewelry stores, two in Orange County—
Bareti Watches & Jewelry in Laguna
Beach and Monaco Jewelers in San Juan Capistrano.
Jorg Gray’s brand identity for the first four years was “Obama, Obama, Obama,” Rothenberg said. “People call us the Obama watch, the Obama brand. But you can’t be a one-watch brand. This year at JCK (jewelry trade show) in Las Vegas, no one (was) asking for it.”
Digital Campaign
Jorg Gray launched a digital marketing campaign in September, “What’s Jorg Style?” that’s scheduled to wrap up at the end of the year. Professional athlete Connor De Phillippi, 2013 Porsche Carrera Cup Deutschland Rookie of the Year, replaced Clint Dempsey, a midfielder for the U.S. men’s National Soccer Team, as the spokesperson.
“Our focus is young professionals looking to make their first big purchase on a watch,” Rothenberg said.
The campaign also aims to reach two other consumer groups: the wealthy segment, “where they have their $5,000-$10,000 and $50,000 watch, and they say, ‘Wow, that’s a good-looking watch for 500 bucks,’ so they come and grab one,” Rothenberg said, adding, “there is of course the Obama segment. … We’ve done a good job hitting those three targets.”
Logomark can offer corporate customers a lot more than watches when it comes to gifts for clients or employees—thousands of private-label items can be personalized or crafted to carry a company’s brand. Its product line offers quirkier items, such as a multifunction steel tool—it comes with needle-nose pliers, a wire cutter, a 1.25-inch steel knife, bottle and can openers, two flathead screwdrivers and one Phillips, a double-tooth saw and a file.
And don’t worry about that personal touch—they’ll never know it came from Logomark.
