How an Oak Brook business hit jackpot with Urlacher campaign
When former Chicago Bear linebacker and famous chrome dome Brian Urlacher revealed a full head of hair in January, the images went viral.
Urlacher dominated the Twittersphere like a Packers game at Soldier Field. He held the No. 1 spot for at least a half-day on Twitter while social media fans eked out surprise that this alpha male was now donning new hair growth and loving it.
At the heart of those 140-character tweets was Oak Brook-based Restore by Katona, where the phones exploded. Consultations ramped up. And procedures that once booked up in weeks, now stretched out to a year.
"This has really changed the face of Restore and hair restoration," said Jordan Sadoff, 38, co-owner of Restore. "It's really helped us to build the brand. And the phones have not stopped ringing."
This is exactly the type of advertising campaign that business executives dream about. The well-respected and likable celebrity in a campaign is direct, offers a surprise, and then goes viral with major news organizations making it into a story. It all helps the company to build brand, experts said.
"This is what can transform a business," said Tim Calkins, clinical professor of marketing at Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University in Evanston. "There's no question this can help the business for many years to come."
The advertising campaign also is the most effective when social media fans go out of their way to contact the company, as they did with Restore. Going viral doesn't always translate into revenue, as it appears to be doing at Restore.
"This type of response is unprecedented, especially when it is converted into sales," said D. Joel Whalen, an associate professor of marketing at DePaul University in Chicago. "It takes a lot for someone to follow up on a tweet and make contact with a company. They clearly are tapping into what appears to be a latent demand for hair restoration for men. Here you have this uber masculine guy who is embracing this procedure and it all becomes tremendously exciting."
For about 15 years, Arthur Katona had been performing the surgical hair restoration procedure and never saw such a response to his advertising campaigns before, even with other famous clients like former Chicago Blackhawks player and NBC commentator Eddie Olczyk, current Blackhawks left wing Bryan Bickell and national anthem singer Jim Cornelison.
But this time, Katona had partners - twins, actually - in Jake and Jordan Sadoff. While they both were clients of Katona, they became investors in 2013. Jordan Sadoff, especially, knew how to swing celebrities into marketing gold. Jordan had partnered with actor Robin Leach when they co-founded GoldMax LLC during the recession in 2008 and peaked at $300 million in revenue.
But Restore success's is also in part to the hair restoration industry, which has seen significant growth over the past few years.
The worldwide market for hair restoration surgery is about $2.5 billion in 2014, up from $1.9 billion in 2012, or a 28 percent increase, according to the International Society of Hair Restoration Surgery based in Geneva.
Even the number of surgical hair restoration procedures have increased - 112,409 in the United States in 2014, up 27 percent, compared to 88,304 in 2012. Compare that to a total of 397,048 surgical hair restoration procedures performed worldwide in 2014, up 28 percent, from 310,624 in 2012, the society data said.
At Restore, procedures could cost about $10,000, depending on how much is done, the company said.
That price range doesn't appear to be deterring potential clients. Since the Urlacher campaign started in January, consultations for both men and woman have skyrocketed and procedures are being booked nearly a year in advance, said Jordan Sadoff.
In addition, the company has six locations and is now scouting for more, possibly in New York, Atlanta and South Florida. If new offices are opened, that means the company would need to increase its workforce, Sadoff said.
The plan to have Urlacher do the promotion started when he liked how his friend's hair turned out from the procedure. That's when the retired football star decided to have the procedure done in November 2014. He even continued to wear a cap for about a year as new hair grew, just to keep it a secret until the campaign was unveiled, along with his hair, in January.
Just like other customers, Urlacher had the procedure done where patches were taken from around the neck and head and repositioned on top to encourage the growth of his own natural hair. It takes several months to a year to grow.
Sadoff felt Urlacher was the perfect, natural pitchman, and all he had to do was pose in his No. 54 jersey and stretch out his arms for a billboard to catch attention. When he took off his hat and revealed hair, every major news outlet clamored to take a look.
"There's something about Brian. He's very magnetic," said Sadoff.
Restore by Katona
Headquarters: Oak Brook
Locations: Oak Brook, Naperville, Schaumburg, Vernon Hills, Deerfield, Orland Park and 2 in Chicago.
Business: hair restoration for men and women
Founded: 2013
Founder: Dr. Arthur Katona
Leadership: CEO and co-owner Jordan Sadoff, co-owners Jake Sadoff and Dr. Arthur Katona
Employees: about 30
Web site: