Member Article

Dogs sniff out fragrant business deal

Bedlington Terrier Bramble and Alsatian cross Izzie have sniffed out a fragrant business deal for their owners.

The dogs’ determination to check out each other’s scent meant David Virgo and Steve Pringle met in a field overlooking the Derwent Valley.

The result was a campaign by David’s design and marketing consultancy, Virgo, which generated almost £40,000 worth of business and opened up further new markets for Oxford Chemicals Ltd (OCL) where Steve is Sales & Marketing Manager.

Teesside based OCL manufactures chemicals used in the production of flavours and fragrances.

With creative input from David’s team, OCL produced an invitation to dinner, comprising a menu and a box containing chemicals in nine vials which smelled just like the courses described, including smoked bacon risotto and passion fruit cheesecake.

The invitations were dispatched around the world, and Oxford Chemicals were asked to provide further information and samples to potential customers from the Far East to the Mid West of America.

Steve Pringle said: “It was a totally novel approach and had a major impact, generating a huge amount of interest. Almost every one of the 22 Korean companies we contacted got in touch and we’ve also made excellent new contacts in Japan, Germany and the USA - all markets which had proved difficult to penetrate.

“With limited resources we needed a cost effective way of reaching a global audience and this proved to be perfect.”

Said David, who runs his business from the Derwentside Business Centre in North West Durham: “I’d seen Steve out walking with Izzie and we’d acknowledged each other on many occasions but it was not until the dogs brought us together that we discovered we might be able to develop a business relationship. I’m delighted the campaign has been so successful for OCL. It just shows what an effective ingredient creativity can be.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .