Town Doctor: Big-Time Marketing Strategy Planning Comes to Tofino, B.C.

FEATURE PRESENTATION

Town Doctor: Big-Time Marketing Strategy Planning Comes to Tofino, B.C.

Since founding Richard Saunders International in 1986, Doug Hall’s client list has read like the Fortune 500. Companies that have paid $150,000 and more for three-day sessions at the Eureka! Ranch headquarters of Richard Saunders International include Coca-Cola, Procter & Gamble, Frito-Lay, PepsiCo, Compaq Computer, Nike, Ford, Chrysler, Johnson & Johnson, American Express, and NASCAR.

After graduating with a degree in chemical engineering, Doug Hall spent 10 years in marketing at Procter & Gamble. There, even among the vast marketing talent at this giant company, Doug stood out. In one year, Doug helped bring nine new products to market. With this valuable experience behind him, he decided to strike out on his own. Richard Saunders International was formed in Doug’s basement in 1986 (Richard Saunders was the pen name used by Benjamin Franklin).

Richard Saunders International was to include both a new product idea division and a market research division. Doug, however, was more interested in new product work and soon sold the market research business. After considerable early success, Richard Saunders International moved from Doug’s basement to an estate he named the Eureka Mansion. In 1997, Doug built a much larger complex alongside the Eureka Mansion and gave it the name Eureka! Ranch. The seminars and training programs conducted by Doug’s company are held at the Eureka! Ranch; Doug and his family now live in the Eureka Mansion.

Doug’s company, which is divided into three strategic business units (SBUs), undertakes a full range of marketing planning and marketing strategy activities for its clients. Sessions at Eureka! Ranch take place in large “play” rooms filled with video games, jukeboxes, and toys. It is not unusual for a Eureka! Ranch session to begin with a Nerf gunfight. Doug feels that fun leads to more creative output.

Eureka! Invention...