Paul Britten had a banner year in 1984. His hometown team, the Detroit Tigers, defeated the San Diego Padres to win the World Series. And shortly after, Britten scored his big break.
Britten's story begins at the University of Detroit School of Architecture. A broke undergrad in need of some extra cash, Britten hand painted banners for fraternities and sororities. He put his design skills to the test after learning about a local radio station's "best banner" competition. Britten took first place and was rewarded with box seats to the 1984 World Series.
Several days later, Britten secured a meeting with former General Motors (GM) Chairman Roger Smith that would ultimately kick-start his career. To commemorate the city's newly crowned baseball champions, Britten proposed creating a Tigers banner for GM's Detroit headquarters building. Smith took a chance on Britten and it paid off.
"[Smith] agreed to a $5,000 price for a 10-story-high, hand-painted paper banner," Britten recalled. "It was a huge PR success and within a year of working as an architect, I quit and started Britten Banners."
Britten Banners currently employs 250 people and ships more than 5,000 custom banner projects every month from its creative studios in Traverse City, Mich. Read on as Britten talks business and opens up about himself.
Print+Promo (P+P): How do you set goals for yourself? For your business?
Paul Britten (PB): My mother was a Catholic-school teacher all her life and I try to keep my faith and my family priorities far above my business. In the early days as an entrepreneur, I worked incessantly with the simple goal of feeding my family. Over the years, as the company has grown and matured, I strive to employ caring people and build a team and share my success with them. The culture and strategy and brand and people are all intertwined here at Britten—we all care a lot and we all enjoy being here. At least that's my goal.
P+P: How does the economy continue to affect the industry?
PB: The 2008 downturn definitely knocked the wind out of our core banner printing volume, but we are fortunate that other diversification and innovation carried us through the past few years and we actually grew steadily and acquired a few small companies and strengthened our balance sheet. I am inspired by Steve Jobs' book and his penchant for "'A' Players" and constant innovation. The recent economy was brutal on this industry, but I believe that continuous R+D and new innovation will always beat slow economic growth.
P+P: What do you expect to be some of the biggest changes/challenges the industry will face?
PB: Like all forms of printing, the Internet has changed the game and new digital printing technologies continue to cannibalize traditional forms of production. I expect the speeds and productivity of new printing technologies to continue rise, so discovering new markets and new product offerings is the only way. In our world of "Banner Manufacturing," this translates into state-of-the-art digital Latex printing, laser cutting, and sewing automation technologies.
P+P: What keeps you up at night?
PB: We see a continued increase of very large print brokers and buyers that seem less interested in the total value equation than just price. We believe a 360-degree value proposition is critical, and I don't like being "a vendor." We care too much about our customers for that.
P+P: What do you think is the most exciting, cutting-edge thing your company is doing right now? Why?
PB: We have recently hired a whole batch of super-talented people to lead our new Britten Studio creative and R+D Team. With clients like NASCAR, F1, Disney, Madison Square Garden, The Plaza Hotel, Corvette, Chrysler, Time Warner Studios, etc., great people will create great innovative projects for years to come. The people of Britten Banners are the reason for our success and are the most exciting, cutting-edge thing by far.
P+P: What would people be surprised to learn about you—hobbies, special interests, etc.?
PB: I am writing this from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, where we are establishing relationships with other printers and banner companies and event planners in anticipation of the World Cup and 2016 Olympics. Go USA!
- People:
- Paul Britten
- Roger Smith
- Places:
- Traverse City