I, for one, think there most certainly is something Radica management can do about the stock price and it doesn't involve market analysts. I suggested this some time ago, and was told it didn't contribute to sales, so no go. Time to rethink?
Like one of today's listeners, I also have a very strong marketing background, and it happens to have been in intangibles. I would go hire a highly creative ad agency for this project, and it wouldn't be one familiar with financial advertising.
The media I'd select would be WSJ and IBD, full pages, featuring the company's products...outline pictures of each, in color, on a white page, with key points about each as captions.
For each, for example, I'd show the introduction date, the unit sales thus far, and what those units represent in dollars, and what the margin to the bottom line is. I'd also mention things like the age group to which it appeals, and the season during which it's sold.
Headline: "RADICA GAMES"
"It's no one-trick pony"
There'd be three units to each insertion, placed on consecutive right-hand pages. The first would show the 1997 line-up, an island half. 1998 would be a full page, and for 1999, a two page spread. Numbers of units and other figures would be current for the year shown. Thus, readers could "track" the sales volumes.
I'd show the major customers, and the sales each represents in a little table, and from page to page readers could easily see the growth in sales by customer.
Finally, "To see the toys, visit our customers toy departments. To buy the stock, contact your broker. To see our impressive financials, see our web page."
This concept, or something akin to it, run in both papers a couple of times between now and December would, I believe, do an end run around the market analysts....it would force retail brokers to make calls to their research departments.
This is not a company that needs hype. It does need to tell it's story. This would be, IMO, an impressive way to accomplish that.
It would involve some cost, but it won't break the bank. If it drives the price up to reasonable PE's, which is all I would ask of it, it would add significantly to market cap.
I think that's as worthy a goal as increasing sales. I think it's time management becomes proactive about this, and this is how I would do it....with a frontal assault on the minds of this investor market.
BTW and OT: Did any of you experience difficulties with your browser today? I had to wait for long minutes for selected pages to load, and it was maddening. SI was particularly slow, at least for me. |
