Resurrecting a company from extinction!

Read how Rebecca Jay has turned around the fortune of The Dodo Pad and has made it into a 'can't live without' tool for modern Mums...

Name - Rebecca Jay

Location - Having left London almost four years ago, I now live in Cornwall, a short walk from the beach on the north coast near St. Agnes - with a three minute commute along the lanes to work each day!

Family - Husband Trevor - currently a mature student and James our son who is 10. Also Polly, the pussycat (9, sedate and slightly resentful of...) Wizz, the Vizsla puppy (4 months and playful!)

What is your background?

I've always worked in a creative or marketing environment - firstly doing a Fine Art degree about a hundred years ago in Leeds, followed by many years in advertising and design agencies in London climbing the career ladder. My last 'corporate' job was as CEO of Saatchi & Saatchi advertising based in Prague in the Czech Republic zipping around Europe on planes at least twice a week most weeks - fun but very hard work! James was a very unexpected but amazing arrival when I was 40, after I'd been told I couldn't have a baby!

The Dodo Pad has a long history...please tell us a bit about it....

The first edition of the Dodo Pad diary was in 1966! So we've just sold our 40th anniversary edition - quite an accolade for a paper based diary in this world of electronic timekeepers/organisers etc. It just goes to show that for families and many other people, writing it down is a more practical way of keeping information to hand.

It was originally dreamt up by writer and painter Sir John Verney, as a bit of fun. He wanted to create a family desk diary where everyone had their own space to record comings and goings, so that you could see at a glance everyone's movements. With plenty of space to doodle, embellish drawings, write down telephone numbers etc., this idea was above all to provide a bit of light relief while organizing the minutiae of everyday life. Encouraged by his old friend and war-time companion, the publisher William Collins, he produced the Dodo Pad commercially for the first time in 1966.

By 1978, sales of this one item had reached more than 24,000: it had become quite a cult and a much loved and permanent part in many people's lives. More than 40 years later, a frequently repeated maxim is "I can't live without my Dodo Pad!".

Published by HarperCollins, Sir John continued to produce the Dodo Pad until 1992. Only in 1972 was the Dodo Pad not published. There was such an outcry and deluge of letters to HarperCollins from distraught users that it reappeared in 1973 and has been going ever since.

Following Sir John's death in 1993 (after which one of his daughters produced it for a short while) the Dodo Pad was passed to Barbara Peak, a family friend who had originally trained at the Central School of Art & Design. She had known the Dodo Pad for many years and couldn't bear to think of it passing away. She shared John's dotty and eccentric humour and her drawing style suited the Dodo Pad.

In 1995 she produced her first Dodo Pad (the 1996 30th Anniversary Edition) for HarperCollins. Despite her efforts to persuade it to create some publicity for this special edition, they suggested that there was really no longer a market for it - ex factory sales had sunk to little more than 4000.

In November 1995 HarperCollins sold its entire diary and stationery interests to Debden. The Dodo Pad was not even included in the disposal audit trail and was 'axed' because Debden did not undertake print runs of less than 15,000. The Dodo Pad was doomed to go the way of its extinct namesake.

How did you get involved with The Dodo Pad?

In early 1996, unable to find another publisher who could make the profit margins work at that level of sales, I was introduced to Barbara by a mutual friend whilst I was taking time out looking after James - who was just six-weeks old! As if I had nothing else to do, I offered to 'help out' in-between nappy changing and breast-feeding while Barbara compiled and drew the 1997 Dodo Pad. We raised money from our own savings and printed 5,000 copies of this edition. Starting from scratch to build a retail customer base, by October we had more than 70 outlets including Fortnum & Mason, the John Lewis Partnership and Selfridges.

What do you do for the business on a day to day basis?

What don't I do? is probably more the question I should answer!

Seriously though, we have just moved the office to Cornwall from London so I am quite busy training new staff in all aspects, as well as trying to make sales, write copy, develop articles for the press as well as answer numerous emails! We are bringing our mail order customer sales and service in-house after having outsourced it for the past seven years so that is taking up a lot of my time although we've hired a brilliant person to eventually run it. Basically I'm in charge of all the marketing ideas and I oversee their development if not do it myself. I work closely with our designers on new product development (which I love!) and ensure our print arrives on time, negotiate the best prices etc. etc - as in all small businesses I have to get involved with everything.

How does working fit round your family?

I do work very hard, but I am very strict about switching off from tea time to after James is in bed. It is only recently that I've gone to an office to work as when James was younger the office was always at home. We've got a bit bigger though and I needed to create a line between work and home. I have to admit to occasionally creeping back to the study late at night to finish something off if it is needed the next day but the real bonus for me is that I do not have to keep to normal office hours and if James has a rugby or cricket match I just jump in the car and go and cheer from the side of the pitch!

What was your first piece of marketing activity for The Dodo Pad?

Despite coming from a classic advertising background and having spent years espousing the virtues of advertising I felt from the start that PR was the best way forward - trying the Dodo Pad out is absolutely the best way to find out how invaluable it is!

In early December 1996 with more than 4500 copies already sold, that first edition we produced went out of stock in two days, due to an intriguing and euphoric article about the Dodo Pad in the Sunday Times Style magazine (which you can read for yourself on the 'Hot Gossip' page on our website www.dodopad.com). We managed to do a reprint of the diary within ten days - just before Christmas, resulting in the sale of a further 2,300 Dodo Pads. Sales increased by 82% on HarperCollins' previous year's achievement. So much for the Dodo Pad not being relevant any more...!!

What has been the biggest hurdle to you've had to overcome in terms of business success?

Recognising that we could not do it all ourselves in a cost and time efficient manner. In the early days we did everything - from making the sales (both retail and mail order) to packing the envelopes and cartons. The problem we had was that we were spending too much time on the logistics and not enough time on marketing and the development of new products. I am a bit of a perfectionist and so finding a company to handle our mail order (and then a year later another company to do the pick, pack and dispatch of our retail orders) was a tall order.

We now have the situation where, from this year, we have a single company doing all the packing and despatching and we do all the sales and customer service - I think that will be the ideal balance - anyway I hope so!

What has been the biggest benefit of you being self-employed to your family?

Taking James to school and getting into 'work' when it suits my life and routine. Not having to count how many days holiday I've got left each year! If the business can manage without me (and I make sure it can from time to time) we go off for long weekends/have a good summer holiday and I always take James skiing at the end of the spring term. He is now at better at it than me - and he's learned to skateboard this year - something I will not be taking up!

It also means that I can take Wizz, our new pup, to work where she has her own spot to relax when she is not dashing up and down our long thin office using it as a race track! I also avoid the dreadful office politics which I learned to despise from my many years in advertising

What is the best bit of business advice you've been given?

To outsource - that and being persuaded by my journalist brother to send a second copy of our precious few sample Dodo Pads in 1996 to the editor of the Sunday Times Style magazine - which resulted in that amazing article that got us off the ground.

Any other comments/advice you think would be useful to Mums thinking of starting in business?

Research your idea carefully - and take on board comments and help from anyone successful who is kind enough to offer their time. Believe in yourself and be absolutely and unreservedly passionate about your idea or products.

Get a strong identity (image/brand logo). You don't have to spend a fortune on it but it will pay you back with dividends. Make sure everything you do plugs into that - then your customers will be able to identify with a single-minded idea and remember your company for what you do.

Last, but by no means least, have the belief and support of your partner or a close relative - my husband has been brilliant when work has forced me to spend time away at trade shows. Childcare is a constant juggling act and the balls change colour, size and weight as the family grows up - you'll often need someone there to catch them!

»Visit The Dodo Pad online

If you would like a FREE Dodo Pad diary, please send a strong, large SAE with £1.39 in stamps to:

Lord Dodo's diary offer

Dodo Pad Ltd.

PO Box 33

St. Agnes

Cornwall TR5 0WU