Your Big Idea

Oct. 31, 2007

Traverse City businesswoman Jennifer Borkovich said her parents gave her courage early on to do whatever she wanted to do. They never once suggested that being a woman should slow her down. She worked part-time when her children were younger, but never lost momentum. And now she gives the same unconditional encouragement and “zeal” she knew as a kid to other entrepreneurs.
About 18 months ago, Borkovich, along with Patrick Lott, opened Zeal International, which lends expertise to anyone with a new invention or idea for a product. Zeal helps get the product off the ground and reach its potential in the marketplace.

PLENTY OF EXPERIENCE
Both Borkovich and Lott bring to the company a strong background in distribution, which is often the most difficult challenge with any new product. They formerly worked at Distribution Solutions International, a company that managed a network of transportation vendors that deliver pharmaceutical samples and “separated” airline luggage. DSI was bought out two years ago and renamed Priority Solutions. (The company was just sold again to Thermo Fisher Scientific.) Several months after the new owner took over at DSI, Lott and Borkovich brainstormed the idea for Zeal International.
“We realized that most marketing firms are owned by designers and are more focused on the creative side,” she said. “But we thought there was a need for an agency that goes beyond design and could help with a business plan, distribution, manufacturing, and market research.”

A ZEST FOR IDEAS
The pair works in a spacious office on 16th Street in Traverse City. When we caught up with Borkovich last week, a graphic designer was knocking out ideas with a Kalkaska woman who confessed to having “way too many ideas,” and needed some advice on how to turn one of them into a product she could sell profitably.
Borkovich, 42, wore a conservative dark suit and stood at an attention-getting 5’11”. She has a warm, calm personality, and her office spills over with pictures of her two preteen kids, models of antique cars, and vivid, wall-spanning paintings. She explained that the first challenge for Zeal, which formally opened for business in July of 2006, was to structure and price its services. The first and most basic tier: to charge for specific projects, such as a corporate identity package, marketing materials and advertising. The second tier offers a retainer service for clients with a lot of projects and ongoing marketing needs. The third tier is to provide a comprehensive range of services for a low, upfront fee in exchange for a percentage of revenues at the back-end.
“The last one is a gamble for us, but
we felt if a couple of businesses take off—and we’re talking businesses we really believe in—it would be well worth it,” Borkovich said.
With any of the arrangements, Zeal serves as a partner of sorts in the marketing arena, so that the company can focus on what it knows best—its core business.

ZEAL’S FIRST QUEST
Her major client came with a fascinating story. It begins with Edward “Buster” Jacques who loved golf and played the game nearly every day. He could have been a pro, but clutched in tournaments. When he reached his mid 60s, the game caught up with him. His hands became arthritic and part of his right hand inexplicably froze up when he gripped the club. The pain forced him to give up golf until one day, a light bulb went on. Wouldn’t it make more sense to turn the tapered rubber grip on his club upside down to naturally widen his hand?
He tried it, and not only did the pain go away, he didn’t slice anymore on his shots. He perfected the grip design and patented it as Buster Grips in 1971. Lacking the money and desire to invest in his invention, he sold the patent to his son, Jack, for one dollar. In turn, Jack promised him that the grips would always be manufactured in the United States.
That was 25 years ago, and Buster was able to play many more years of golf before passing on. Since then, Jack, now retired, has wondered if the patent was a curse or a blessing. He invested thousands of dollars into Buster Grips, and was bruised by those hired to “help” him, including a marketing firm that tried to essentially steal his invention. Then another marketer a few years back asked him for 24 grips to present at a national golf merchandising show. The marketer then presented it as his own idea. Without the patent, Jacques said his invention would have been swiped long ago.
Last year, Jacques’ luck turned. Borkovich was watching him on the TV show, Michigan Magazine, and gave him a call.
“It looked like a very unique product that deserved national exposure,” she said. “When we met with him, he was about to sign with an invention company in Pennsylvania, but he preferred to work with someone more local.”
Borkovich believes Buster Grips can make it on a national level. To get there, Zeal re-branded the grips, designed an e-commerce website, launched the production nationally at the PGA Merchandise Show, and succeeded with a P.R. campaign: there were glowing product write-ups in Golf Illustrated and Golf Chicago. Zeal will soon launch an ambitious infomercial campaign. A test market of Buster Grips through the PGA Partners Club gave the product an 80% positive response—“If 80% of people like it, that’s really good,” Borkovich said.
Jacques, who’s now the age his dad was when he first invented it, is hoping Buster Grips will finally take off.

REALITY CHECK
Zeal can give you, at the very minimum, a reality check for your “brilliant idea.” Zeal does turn down some clients if research shows the product already exists in the marketplace, or if the manufacturing costs are so high that the product couldn’t be sold at a retail price the market would bear.
The first meeting is free, and Borkovich has taken on a wide range of inventors, from a local firm, Venture OffRoad, that has created ORV park video guides, to the international company of Dow Corning, which needed branding, packaging and sales materials for skin and hair care products.
It’s important that clients understand
that collaboration is a big part of Zeal’s
philosophy. “Open and honest commun-ication are key,” Borkovich said. “Pat and I both believe that the best results come from a team effort. You need to take advantage of the skills and experience of everyone involved.”