Since 2011, Dog Park Publishing has donated over $180,000.00 to rescues and shelters. Its founders are also pit bull advocates. Cofounder Jonathan Korzen is here today to answer a few questions about his business.
Q. Please tell us about yourself and your associates. What types of backgrounds did you come from? How did the idea for your company come to pass?
A. My wife, Alisa Weberman, a business partner, Alfred Martino, and I founded Dog Park Publishing in mid-2011 after Alisa and I adopted a pit bull/boxer mix (Farfel) from our local shelter Jersey City, NJ. We decided to publish a calendar for 2012 celebrating pit bulls as loving, safe pets who are misunderstood and routinely abused. Alisa and Alfred also run an audiobook publishing house (Listen and Live Audio) so we were able to publish our "For the Love of Pit Bulls" 2012 calendar rather easily.
The calendar received good publicity, and Alisa began to grow our social media network, now more than one million "Pit Bull positive" people, as well as add unique, hand-made gifts and dog accessories from other small business owners.
A. We receive most of our hand-made products from boutique manufacturers as well as craftspeople found at Etsy.com and we sell in our retail storefront in Tivoli, NY as well as online. Our calendars are sold by rescues and shelters around the country as a way they can raise money - we offer them calendars for $8.00 each and they sell them for $18.95 each.
A. Right now it's me, Alisa and one part-time employee. We will add another part-time employee to help with our holiday rush.
Q. What are some of the ways you market your company?
A. Though Facebook, Google ads, word of mouth, shelters and rescues.
A. In 2014 we created the "Kissed By A Pit" cause marketing campaign (riding the coattails of the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge) which created an enormous amount of positive pit bull awareness. We asked people to post a photo or video of themselves being licked by a pittie, to pledge to donate at least $50.00 to a local shelter, and to challenge someone to do the same. Kevin Bacon and a few other celebrities participated! We plan to bring back "Kissed By A Pit" in 2017.
We will also grow our product line to offer more iced dog treats (very popular), more jewelry for dog lovers across forty breeds, more knitted items such as dog hats, snoods, cowls. We recently launched a line of tutus and snoods in sports-team colors.
A. We support rescues and shelters with our calendars (as mentioned above), as well as nail art, and we have an affiliate program that we invite any shelter or rescue to join. Here are the details:
http://www.dogparkpublishing.com/pages.php/fundraising-programs-pg-2
So there you have it. Check out Dog Park Publishing for your last-minute holiday gifts for everyone on your list and for great gifts any time of the year.
Thank you Jonathan for all your company does to support animal rescue and for taking time out of your schedule to speak with us.
Happy shopping evertyone!