Brother In The 50sTENACIOUS TREND SPOTTER OUR FIRST NATIONAL ACCOUNT RUTH EHRLICH A Great Woman MANAGING EXECUTIVE– AND THE ULTIMATE SALESMANWith thousands of stores, Western Auto was the Who Stood Beside retailing giant of the era. Despite the name, this chain a Great Mancarried everything from shirts to sewing machines. At a time when few women Because of their strategy of opening up near, or Max Hugelwere in the workplace, in, small towns, many retail analysts consider it the and almost none were Max Hugel personifed the classic sales executive. inspiration for Wal-Mart.in executive positions, His Brooklyn-bred tenacity was the reason he never In 1957, Brother launched a sewing machine program Max Hugel’s “right hand settled for anything less than success. The same was in conjunction with Western Auto. This program was man” was a woman true of the company he founded.essentially an original equipment manufacturers (OEM) named Ruth Ehrlich. Ruth From the moment he sold those frst 1,000 sewing deal where Brother made 60,000 “private label” was Brother’s frst female Executive Vice President.machines, he positioned Brother as an aggressive, straight stitch machines for Western Auto. Thanks to a quality product, competitive pricing and in-store demos Ruth was also one of the frst female members of the creative marketer that would do anything for the New York Executive Club and participated in a Trade customer. He was also an expert in spotting product (a revolutionary concept for the category), the machines known as “Wizards” were a major success – so much Commission established to facilitate trade between trends – and acting on them. In what proved to be a the US and Japan. A true company person, she never key moment in the company’s history, Brother moved so that Western Auto’s CEO decided to expand to missed an opportunity to promote the company and its sewing machines from specialized dealers to general other products and categories that would appeal to products. Once, at a luncheon, she presented Grace merchandisers like Western Auto, under the Wizard the chain’s predominantly small town base.Kelly, then pregnant with Princess Caroline, with a brand. The company gained new customers (and The product it decided on was the typewriter – a green baby sweater and cap created on a Brother a new retail channel) and was able to sell sewing product that until then, was available primarily at knitting machine. Months later, when the young machines for $99 at a time when other similar specialty “business equipment” dealers – a retail Princess was shown on the cover of Woman’s Day machines were selling for $239.niche not often found in small town America.wearing the outft, Ruth used it to promote the abilities Max, who remained with Brother until the mid-As Brother Industries Ltd. needed a year to “gear of Brother’s knitting machines.70s, later became part of the Washington political up” for manufacturing typewriters, it subcontracted a machine, where he was William Casey’s Deputy manufacturer called Hermes to handle the production BERNIE ETZINDirector of the CIA during the Reagan era. Clearly, for them. It also called its typewriter “The Wizard” Roy’s student Max excelled at more than Japanese.The Third Part (Western Auto’s house brand).of the EquationLike sewing machines, the Wizard typewriter was a Bernie was the polar major success for Western Auto and for Brother. Based opposite of Roy. Roy was on its success with Western Auto, Brother (which by THE BROTHER MANAGEMENT TEAM:born in America to Japanese now was manufacturing its own typewriters) began Roy Nakagawa, Max Hugel, parents; Bernie was born in selling to Gambles, a mass retailer which also owned Bernard J. Etzin, Ruth G. Ehrlich, Japan to American parents. a catalog marketer called Aldens. While Gambles was Harold Davis, Ron Fair, Fred Miller, Max was responsible for ready to gamble on typewriters, they apparently weren’t Jerome Rothman, George Sturman, the US, and Bernie handled ready to gamble on brands, because the typewriters that Katsuji Kawashima, Norimichi Tokisales for England and Europe.Max Hugel with then President George W. Bush and First Lady, Barbara BushBrother made for the company were sold under the name “Coronado” – Gambles’ house brand.11 12