Cardinal Laboratories - An interview with CraZy Dog

An interview with CraZy Dog (C.D. to his friends)

The Truth About Cats & Dogs...
And CraZy Pets!

Most dogs leave their mark by lifting their leg to a fire hydrant, or sinking their teeth into a new leather couch, but CraZy Dog ("CD" to his friends) took a different approach. Although he possessed little in the way of a formal education, this obedience school dropout had a fierce drive to succeed in the dog-eat-dog world of business. In 1996, CD started his own pet supply company. Instead of burying bones, he buried the competition. Soon other precocious pets joined him in his booming business.

Sure they sometimes fight like dogs and cats, but CD and his CraZy Pet cast of characters, know how to sniff out new business opportunities. That's why they began to license their colorful cartoon images to companies that make a wide variety of products like clothing, beach accessories, and even cameras. In fact, if CD and his pals have their way, we'll soon be seeing them EVERYWHERE. Hey, maybe that's not a bad idea! The world can always use a little more color -- and what's more colorful than a lipstick wearing cat or a polka dotted pup with sunglasses? We'll let CD explain.

This is crazy - pets really can't run their own business and license out their images to other companies. Can they?

Sure it's CraZy, but it's also a lot of fun. From a business standpoint, CraZy Pets makes a lot of sense for our licensing partners and the stores who carry our products. Dogs and cats bring a new, more down to earth perspective to the world of business, after all we're much closer to the ground than people are. Plus, we pets are a lot more resourceful than people are. We know how to find the value in things that humans overlook. For example, people will throw away an empty milk cartoon or an old shoe, but a dog or cat can spend hours playing with these things and chewing on them. See what I mean?

You have a point. But what about in the area of market research? Can cats and dogs get to know their customers as well as human business owners can?

Better. Go outside and take a look at how dogs sniff other dogs and people. Human market researchers never get as personal as this. Nobody gets to know you as well as a pet. In fact, our market research is a big reason why CraZy Pets has been so successful. Since we started CraZy Pets in 1996, none of our products have been "dogs." Some of our executives are dogs, but our products never are, because we make sure to know our customers and what they want."

What do your customers want?

EVERYTHING! That's why we got into licensing. We want to hook up with companies everywhere, so we can put images of good-looking pets like me and the other CraZy Pet characters on all sorts of cool things from clothes and beach blankets to coffee mugs and hair dryers. You name it; we want CraZy Pets to be on it. Our name says "pets," but we aren't just for pets. Who knows, one day we might come out with a CraZy Pets line of automobiles that will give Ford and Honda a run for their money. We can have a luxury car named after me, a sports car named after CraZy Cat and a compact with the name of my son Baby Dog. We might even come up with our own line of PCs. Of course, we'll have to be careful, I don't know if we can trust CraZy Cat and the other felines on our staff around all those computer mice.

What kind of response are you getting from potential licensing partners?

They have been beating a path to the door of my doghouse. Check out the news and licensing sections of this site, and you'll see how great it's been going. These licensing people aren't dumb. They know a good thing when they see one.

Why is the CraZy Pet concept so popular?

Aside from my own tremendous charisma as a leader and entrepreneur, it all comes down to the idea that CraZy Pets is just plain fun. There are too many things in life that are serious, aggravating and boring. Sometimes everyone wants to get away from it all, but we can't always fly off to a tropical paradise. So, we look for little things that make us laugh and forget our cares for a minute or two. That's what CraZy Pet does. You can't look at our characters on a product without breaking out into a smile. We help you get away from it all - and we're a lot cheaper than a ticket to Tahiti. I know how this process works from my own experience. When my son Baby Dog and his friends trash his doghouse, I want to take a good bite out of him. But instead, I put on a CraZy Pet baseball cap, and go for a walk to the doggie park. I get so many compliments on the cap that before I know it, I feel great. Like we say at our company, "Life is CraZy, have fun."

So you're saying that CraZy Pets gives everyone a better outlook on life?

Yes. It doesn't matter whether you get around on four legs or two; CraZy Pet will make you feel much better about all of the little things in life. Let's face, a lot of what all of us do in our everyday lives can get pretty boring. We wash our hair, brush our teeth, go to the store to pick up something we forgot to buy yesterday-boring, boring, boring! But CraZy Pet puts a little pizzazz into these things to brighten our lives.. For example, when we started, people thought it was boring to give their dogs a bath. Then we introduced pet shampoos in zany and wonderful flavors like Wild Cherry and Baby Powder. All of a sudden bath-time became fun for dogs and their owners. Smart move, right? So, we did the same thing when it came to getting children to wash their hands and faces. Most little people hate to wash up, so we created CraZy Pet Soap for Kids. This is clear soap with a toy inside. When you use up all the soap, you get a nice toy, so washing becomes fun. If lugging books to school or carrying a loaf of bread home from the store is boring, try using a CraZy Pet bag. All of a sudden your load will seem lighter. I can go on, but you get the idea - CraZy Pet turns the boring into the fun.

Judging from what we've been reading and seeing on TV, the media has also been enthusiastic about CraZy Pet.

OK, I admit it, I am a publicity hound. But hey, getting our name around is what we're all about. It makes us proud, and it helps our licensees sell more products. I've been on page one of The Wall Street Journal five times since I started the company, and I've been featured on network TV as well as in the Los Angeles Times, Parade Magazine, McCalls, you name it. I even won a big award from Inc. Magazine. My Mom always said that I'd be famous - and I'm happy to prove her right.

Baby Dog The only pet shampoo the world has ever really needed