LEARNING CURVE: BRAVO! PRODUCTIONS : Setting the Stage : Heavy Research Prepared Pair for Expansion

Two years ago, Gregory Jenkins and Thom Neighbors expanded their 6-year-old company, Bravo! Productions, from a creator of floats for the Tournament of Roses parade into a producer of stage sets, props and special events. A year’s worth of careful research ensured the transition would be a success. Jenkins and Neighbors were interviewed by Karen Kaplan.

We were looking for a change to keep ourselves fresh and to grow professionally. We really put a lot of thought into formulating ideas for a new direction. We made lists of our strengths and weaknesses.

We began to do research into other markets to see which ones were viable and which ones we wanted to pursue. There’s a lot of risk involved, so we try to do as much research as possible.

We studied changes in the economy. We looked for trends to see what people were going to buy in the near future. We looked at the clients we’d had over the years and the changes they were finding themselves involved in.

We went to the library and researched historical trends in certain industries. We went through financial reports of companies in the fields we might go into and looked at their spending patterns. We did informal interviews with companies and nonprofits that might be potential clients. We must have gone through 50 types of businesses and narrowed it down to four.

In addition to keeping up the float business, we decided to expand into special events, stage sets and creating custom props for TV commercials and motion pictures. The concept was to take what you would find on a Rose Parade float and think of ways to apply that to other markets.

We learned to be leaner and more cost-effective, like the rest of the economy. Since we’ve refocused the company, we’ve increased the workload for ourselves and reduced our staff from 12 to four full-time people. Now we are able to tap more free-lancers because the nature of the work is more specialized than just working on floats.

The world doesn’t revolve around Southern California, so we started thinking globally. Now our clients come from all over. We’ve worked on a stage set for an industry awards show in Florida and did custom props for a trade show in North Carolina.

We have been keeping track of the response to do research about how well that advertising is working.

Research is the most important thing. If you don’t know much about a particular business, you should think twice about getting into it. If you decide you want to own a restaurant, the first thing you should do is wash some dishes and learn how to cook.

You have to remain flexible in business. Trends are constantly changing, but we’re trying to stay on top of it as much as possible. We’re trying to adopt approaches that will serve us well in the year 2000. We’re not just looking at 1996; we’re trying to set ourselves up for long-term growth.

On the value of research . . .

“There’s a lot of risk involved, so we try to do as much research as possible. . . . Research is the most important thing.”

On how they researched potential markets . . .

“We went through financial reports of companies in the fields we might go into and looked at their spending patterns. We did informal interviews with companies and nonprofits that might be potential clients.”

On how to promote one’s business . . .

“We looked carefully at various ways to promote our business and settled on direct mail. We also began advertising in trade magazines.”

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AT A GLANCE

Company: Bravo! Productions

Owners: Gregory Jenkins and Thom Neighbors

Nature of business: Producer of parade floats, special events, stage sets and props

Locations: Long Beach and Pasadena]

Size: Four full-time employees, plus free-lancers

Annual sales: $450,000 last year