Big Picture - August 2017 - 2

insight

The Cereal Box

ou may not know this, but print led to the creation of Airbnb, an online hospitality service,

connecting travelers with locals leasing or renting out their extra space - and my favorite
way to crash when traveling.
OK, "print led to the creation of Airbnb" might be a stretch, but print is defi nitely a large
part of the founders' story:
Brian Chesky and Joe Gebbia were beginning to run out of money for their bed-and-breakfast startup,
so they decided to capitalize on the frenzy of the 2008 McCain-Obama election. The duo designed
artwork for political-based cereals - "Obama O's, the Cereal of Change," and "Cap'n McCain's, a
Maverick in Every Box" - printed the flat rectangular boxes, cut and assembled them by hand, stuffed
them with cereal, and sold them for $40 a pop.
Chesky and Gebbia ended up selling $30,000 worth of cereal, pulling themselves out of debt and
keeping their startup dream alive.
So, in the end, digital print (along with some creativity, a highly publicized election, and nutritional
strength) spurred three million-plus hospitality listings around the world, and the most valuable American tech startup after Uber. (Airbnb is worth $31 billion today.)
We hear of these stories in our own industry often.
In 2004, Reed Silberman moved into his van to save money and purchase his first piece of print
equipment for his shop, Ink Monstr. He now owns a 10,000-square-foot facility with 16 employees and
nationwide clients including MTV, Nike, Adidas, Smashburger, and GoPro. (See our coverage of Ink
Monstr's sustainability efforts in our October 2015 issue, page 24.)
And in 1987, 15-year-old Jared Smith - a former Big Picture columnist and current Editorial Advisory
Board member - was working at Domino's Pizza delivering flyers door to door. A year later, he received a
contract to deliver for a few more stores, and in another year he was delivering 250,000 flyers per week with
his own staff of nearly 100. This led to more accounts and more print offerings, like business cards and
letterheads. A few years later, he and some friends founded The Golf Tournament Group, and bought their
first digital printer to make golf event signs, decals, and banners. In 2000, the same group founded bluemedia
to widen their client base. Today, they produce signage for some of the biggest brands and events in the
world and have made the Inc. 5000 Fastest Growing Privately Held Companies list for the ninth time.
What's your "outside the box" story of how you started your print business? Shoot me an email at
adrienne.palmer@stmediagroup.com. Big Picture loves hearing success stories, from our yearly "How I Got
the Job" feature to our upcoming second annual Women in Print Awards (nominations due August 7). After
all, where would this industry be without the print community and the stories that made us who we are?

EDITORIAL
Adrienne Palmer
Editor-in-Chief
adrienne.palmer@stmediagroup.com
Kiersten Wones
Associate Editor
kiersten.wones@stmediagroup.com
Kelsey Johnson
Assistant Editor
kelsey.johnson@stmediagroup.com
Kathleen DeZarn
Art Director
kathy.dezarn@stmediagroup.com
Marty McGhie, Craig Miller,
Beth Osborne, Sino Tour
Columnists
Ryan Clark, Terry Corman,
Scott Crosby, Kirk Green,
Kerry King, Robert Kissel,
Craig Miller, Carmen Rad,
Jared Smith, James Swanson,
Mark Taylor
Editorial Advisory Board
SALES
Murray Kasmenn
Senior VP/Group Publisher
770/578-2577
murray.kasmenn@stmediagroup.com
Lou Arneberg
Senior Market Strategist
East and Midwest US, E Canada
800/654-5169
lou.arneberg@stmediagroup.com
Jim Karwowski
Senior Market Strategist
West and South US, W Canada, Europe, Asia
630/474-4038
jim.karwowski@stmediagroup.com
Karen Jones
Senior Market Strategist
GA, NC, SC, Classiﬁeds
843/697-3802
karen.jones@stmediagroup.com
Linda Volz
Production Supervisor
linda.volz@stmediagroup.com

BY ADRIENNE PALMER

Tedd Swormstedt
President
Steve Duccilli
Senior VP of Content
Christine Baloga
Audience Development Director
Kari Freudenberger
Director, Online Media

Editor-in-Chief

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August 2017
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