odd guy’s index

As our one year anniversary approaches, let’s take a look at what we’ve accomplished, shall we?
 • Hours spent defining and researching our target audience: 84
• Number of logo fonts considered before deciding on “Hasty Pudding:” 23
• Number of hours logged on Skype: 328
• Miles from Lake Michigan our OGA studio is located: .2
• Hours spent hand-drawing much of website: 42

• T-shirt designs created: 16
• Miles walked/ran for mobile business meetings: 124
• Ranking of “raspberry” among best-selling OGA cap colors: 1
• Hours spent ironing tote bags: 35
• Number of T-shirt-shaped OGA brochure designs created: 2
• OGA YouTube videos launched: 6
• Number of foreign cameo appearances in videos: 1
• Number of cameo appearances by Walmart employees: 1
• Number of small fires accidentally set during filming: 2
• Penalty points assigned for finger quotes during filming: 10
• Hours spent editing footage: 853
• Size of OGA festival canopy: 10′ X 10′
• Ratio of Diet Cokes consumed to ounces of water: 245 to 1
• Miles biked round-trip to printer, per trip: 26
• Ranking of EnMart among most-active OGA Facebook friends: 1
• Number of celebrities named Yoko Ono who follow OGA on Twitter: 1
• Number of national magazines that featured OGA on the cover: 3
• Number of stores in which OGA shirts are currently sold: 3

Thank you for joining us in this, our first year of business. If you have any questions, or if we can help you in any way, just let us know!

Marie and Graham

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middle-age moments

We’re six months into existence and it only now occurred to us to showcase our products on the “odd guy art” Facebook page. D-uh.

What other blatantly obvious opportunities might we have forgotten? Which glaring epiphanies will strike next? We shudder to think…

• Review “supply and demand” model, consider implementing
• Check on that guy who took some of our shirts into the dressing room to try on last week
• Pay government its share of sales tax (minus our share for not utilizing curbside garbage pick-up)
• Replenish XXXL merchandise prior to Mississippi trade show
• Promote holiday sales before the holiday
• Sell merchandise

Who knows what else will occur to us in the coming days? (“Practice fire escape route plan?” “Unplug the iron?” “Back up computer?” [D-oh!]).

As our brains continue to calcify, we look forward to serving you.

Marie

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odd guy art: sexiest man alive

Break out the cheap champagne; odd guy art was just named PEEPLE magazine’s 2010 “Sexiest Man Alive.”

Art, though not technically a “man” (though a sexy abstract representation of one), joined Hollywood’s elite club of irresistible iconoclasts, beating out former winners George Clooney and Hugh Jackman, and trouncing newbie runner-up Justin Bieber.

The following interview appears in the October issue of PEEPLE magazine, available on newsstands now.

Peeple: Typically, you are shown only from the neck up. Why?
Art: For the same reason that Elvis Presley was filmed only from the waist up. Most people cannot survive that level of sexiness. They implode.
Peeple: Has a corporate logo ever reached this echelon of honor?
Art: The Lucky Charms® leprechaun was nominated back in ’87, but was quarantined with a suspicious case of marshmallow rash. Harry Hamlin won that year.
Peeple: The company you represent, “odd guy art:” Do you deem it worthy to use your image?
Art: Absolutely. “Odd guy art” is one of the funkiest and artiest new businesses on the planet. It offers quirky T-shirts, bags, caps, and cards – all featuring the designs of two artists trained in the realm of wit. And the best part? My mug appears on everything (*grin*).
Peeple: Are the endorsement offers pouring in?
Art: I am nothing if not loyal to “odd guy art.” Even though the two-figure annual salary is meager and the “gourmet” meals are pathetically pedestrian (if not inedible), it’s hard to resist being a part of something so cutting edge. So, no, I’ve had no offers.
Peeple: I’m sure the women out there are wondering: Boxers or briefs?
Art: I find that question sexist and demeaning (*wink*).
Peeple: What’s next for the Sexiest Man Alive?
Art: I’d like to advocate for other computer-generated 2-dimensional images. Even though I’m a jaundice-skinned, flounder-eyed cephalic icon stuck on a virtual canvas, I’m as much a man as a Pitt or a Depp. Right, ladies?

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Bike Me at Earthfest

At this very moment, our two newest T-shirt designs are being printed at our excellent screen printer, Mountain Promotions of Oostburg, WI. We are very excited about these shirts, which we’ll introduce at Earthfest in Sheboygan this weekend. We’ll feature the shirts on our web site at the new low price of $24.95.

Earthfest is a huge 2-day local event that celebrates our planet by encouraging responsible living and environmental awareness. How better to promote earth-friendly activities than to offer new designs featuring… bicycles! So along with our other earth-friendly merchandise, we’ll have these new designs for sale.
Bike me!

The new designs will also be printed on our recycled canvas tote bags. We print these bags ourselves, so we are able to offer more variation on each design. The tote bags have been selling fast recently and apart from looking good they are both earth-friendly and practical. Keep an eye on the bags page at our web site for these special versions.

Marie and Graham

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All content and images;
Copyright © 2010 by Hetzel and McAllister. All rights reserved.

pimp our canopy

Now that we’ve had a couple of great experiences selling our shirts face-to-face, we are excited about this weekend’s double-header: Our local farmer’s market on Saturday and our downtown art center’s “NOMO Expo” on Sunday (“NOMO” stands for “Non-Motorized,” as in walking and biking promotion). When we get to meet you guys in person, we are satisfied right down to our toes.

So in an attempt to catch your eye, we’re pimping our canopy.

We’ve applied some vinyl lettering to the overhang, spelling out our wares. We thought this might help you recognize us from a distance.

Graham burnishes our vinyl lettering onto our canopy. Will it stay on?

And as I write, Graham is building a frame out of PVC pipe so that I can sew an “odd guy art” banner this evening (featuring our logo) and mount it on the frame. We purchased some yellow canvas yesterday, which I already know takes opaque iron-on transfers very well, so after the sewing part is done, I’ll print out our logo and iron that baby on.

After that, I’ll try to show some restraint and let our products speak for themselves (“Less is more” and all that). We have a hanging rack to display some of our shirts; the rest we lay on tables, folded and packaged. Our bags are hung around the canopy, while caps and cards are displayed on tables.

The only thing left is YOU:). Hope to see you this weekend!

Marie

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Friday night retail therapy

Friday evening was a blast and kicked off a great weekend for “odd guy art.” We expected a quiet night; people wouldn’t expect to find T-shirts for sale at a bicycle-based fun night in a coffee shop. But boy, were we wrong. Our shirts and tote bags attracted a lot of attention and sales were brisk. We also discovered that our target demographic is just about right except that we were also making sales to much younger people, too. This was a very exciting discovery.

On top of that we made some great new connections. We received an invitation to sell at the NOMO Expo at the John Michael Kohler Arts Center in Sheboygan, July 8-11th. NOMO is all about using your bike for transport (Non Motorised transport) and is very close to our hearts. It’s also right in our target audience of artistic, earth-aware, thoughtful people. (Basically us, and the people we love). A great Friday night led to an excellent Saturday through residual sales, website and blog visits, and the general “feel good” factor of a successful night’s work.

On Sunday, I bid a sad farewell to Marie for the week as she heads to DC. After the intensity of a business start-up and the creation of our designs, I feel like I’ve had an arm cut off. So I am holding down the fort (figuritively speaking) and having a bit of a tidy in the studio. Maybe I’ll finally get that water cooler fixed, but I doubt it somehow.

Until next time, have fun, wear T-shirts.
Graham

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our first gig

It’s Thursday and we’re busy preparing for our first local show: a display table at a local coffee shop.

Marie at work. Groovy shirt!

This particular coffee shop is rather cutting-edge for our little town. They hire some great independent musicians as they travel between bigger gigs in Milwaukee and Madison, so we get to hear some wonderful talent without having to travel. (Not that we don’t like to travel. “Road trip” is our middle name).

Anyway, tomorrow this coffee shop is hosting a “Bike-In Movie,” with food, live music, and… “odd guy art!” We’re excited.

Since we’ll be indoors, we won’t need to purchase a canopy, but we did buy a display rack for our T-shirts. We’ve got a nicely-covered table for our cards and a cool stone pedestal for our hats. We’re working on signs today. Since our business focus is “art,” we’ve continued the theme with a price list that reads like an art gallery price sheet. The magic is in the details.

Our goals are these: To make some connections and to sell some merchandise. We’ve only been in business five weeks, but we’re eager to make this happen and frankly it can’t happen soon enough. It’s exciting to finally get out there and introduce the masses to our designs. Fingers crossed.

That’s it for now. Back to the drawing board.

-Marie

let’s do launch

Tonight at 7:10 p.m. Central Time, “odd guy art” will launch its website and open for business. We are nearly delirious with excitement (or at least caffeine), and cannot wait to help you find just the artful T-shirt statement you are looking for. Dress yourself this summer in “odd guy art,” from head to, uh… waist; in caps, bags, and T-shirts. You’re going to look great:).

Once we open, visit our website often. We’ll be creating new designs, adding content to the “What’s New” page, building on our product line, and responding to your needs. Our goal at “odd guy art” is to make you happy.

See you tonight!

Marie