BOSTON – Bert and John Jacobs have those dream jobs that the rest of us, well, dream about.
They wear shorts, sandals and T-shirts to work and take midday breaks to play ultimate frisbee. They brainstorm over beer and sandwiches, and their idea of marketing is throwing an outdoor festival that exposes people to their brand. Oh, and they make millions.
So it’s no wonder that their business, Life is Good, carries the trademark slogan “Do what you like, like what you do” and its logo is a happy-go-lucky stick figure with a big smile.
“We just wanted to have a good time, make some money and, it sounds corny, but spread good vibes,” says Bert. “It’s pretty cool that so far it’s worked out.”
So far, one could say, life’s been very good for these brothers from the Boston suburb of Needham who started out selling T-shirts from the back of a van and now run a multimillion dollar outdoor clothing company.
“It’s pretty crazy,” says John. “We’re delighted at the success, but honestly not surprised at Jake’s popularity. He makes you feel good.”
Jake is the company’s free-thinking, active, outdoorsy mascot who is featured on brightly colored T-shirts, hats and other apparel doing everything from hiking and playing tennis to eating watermelon and lounging in an Adirondack chair with a cold one at his side.
He was born 11 years ago and takes his name from the nickname that both Bert, 40, and John, 37, had in high school – a play on their surname. The brothers, the youngest of six kids, credit him with their success.
“Jake is our leader!” wails Bert during a recent interview at the company’s new creative headquarters on tony Newbury Street in Boston.
Before Jake, the brothers spent five years hawking T-shirts on college campuses. They would go out for about six weeks at a time, getting by on peanut butter and jelly sandwiches stolen from college cafeterias and sleeping on T-shirts stacked in the back on their Plymouth Voyager.
They supplemented their incomes with substitute teaching, delivering pizza and ski instructing.
“It was fun, but not terribly sustainable,” said Bert, who majored in communications at Villanova University.
In between road trips, the pair would return to the Boston-area, throw a keg party for their friends and brainstorm about the next idea. They’d draw figures and write catchy phrases on a white board and have their friends judge them. They were looking for a way to commercialize their passions – from art and skiing to listening to music.
“We had nothing but $78 in the bank after five years of road trips,” said Bert. “We either figured this out or had to get real jobs.”
The brothers set out to create a symbol and brand that would survive trends and resonate with consumers. They looked to businesses like Nike, with its swoosh, and Ralph Lauren, with its polo player, as models of clothing companies selling a lifestyle, not just a product.
“We’re glass half-full types,” John said. “We wanted whatever we did to reflect that.”
John, who graduated from the University of Massachusetts with degrees in art and English, came up with Jake and designed him as a symbol of an outdoorsy culture that clearly enjoys the simple life.
He wears a beret to show his artsy side and sports sunglasses because “they make him look cool,” said Bert. He also carries a big grin.
“He could be any demographic, that’s the beauty of him,” Bert says. “He’s just a free-thinking guy who doesn’t take things too seriously.”
When Jake, with the saying “Life is good” underneath his image, was put onto T-shirts for a test run at a street fair in the fall of 1994, the shirts were gone within hours.
“We knew we had stumbled onto something,” said Bert. “We’d then take them to Cape Cod and people would ask, Does Jake eat ice cream? Does he rollerblade?’ We were getting so much feedback. It was awesome.”
Consumers identify with brands that make them feel good, said Greg Kahn, marketing research director for Ashton Brand Group in Charlotte, N.C.
“Depression doesn’t sell unless you’re Pfizer,” Kahn said. “Everybody wants to feel better and they’ll buy things that they think will make them feel better.”
Other companies that have capitalized on the good life, Kahn said, include Coca-Cola and McDonald’s. He said it’s not as common with a clothing company, but clearly the brothers have tapped into a market.
“With all the bad that everyone sees in the news and everywhere else, we wanted to spread good vibes,” said Bert.
Steve and Shona Rhodes, of Oxford, England, liked the message and design so much that they bought five Life Is Good shirts and a pair of shorts while vacationing on Martha’s Vineyard.
“As soon as I saw Jake, I thought he was really cute,” said Steve, 39, in Boston, as he pointed to his bright red shirt, on which Jake is featured offroading in a Jeep. “And the message is good. It’s nice to share some hope and optimism, especially when things go bad.”
Since Life Is Good started in 1994, the company catalogue has gone from one page to more than 70, sales have risen from $80,000 a year to a projected $55 million this year, and the number of employees has gone up from three to 170.
Items are sold at retailers nationwide – including a Life is Good store in the Old Port section of Portland, Maine – and last year the company created an international division and sells clothes in 10 countries, including Greece, Japan, Mexico and Germany.
Jake also has expanded his activities and gotten a dog, Rocket. Jake can now be found meditating in the lotus pose, grooving to music and kicking back in a hammock.
The phrase “Life is good” has been replaced on some merchandise with puns thought up by the brothers, friends and consumers who e-mail with suggestions.
“Board meeting” sits under Jake and Rocket catching a wave. “Rush hour” is the caption to Jake sprinting across the front of a shirt.
The brothers briefly marketed a female version of Jake, named Jackie, but canned the character after deciding that she took away from the Jake-represents-all mentality.
“Sure, Jake’s a guy, but really, he’s a stick figure. He’s supposed to represent a feeling,” Bert said.
T-shirts also have spawned yoga gear, baby rompers, frisbees, stickers, beach towels and coffee mugs. Bert says jewelry, sandals and even furniture are next.
Last month, Life Is Good opened a store on the first floor of two Newbury Street brownstones that the brothers bought two years ago and combined and remodeled for retail, office and design space. While the creative team is based in Boston, the manufacturing headquarters is in Derry, N.H.
As they grow, the brothers will continue to forgo advertising – which they’ve never done – and instead rely on word-of-mouth and the several charity festivals they host in New England each year to spread the word of their products.
They also vow not to go the way of another New England duo that was all about spreading good cheer: Ben and Jerry. The ice cream makers sold their Vermont company to Unilever.
“We won’t lose our focus,” Bert said. “Jake will never be found sitting on a couch with a remote control.”
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On the Net:
http://www.lifeisgood.com
AP-ES-07-09-05 1316EDT
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