Outside the Box

Outside the Box

By Sean Roth

Real Estate Editor

Brothers Daniel and Benjamin have one of those catchy last names that surely provoked a few raised brows over the years. It's unusual, funny sounding and easy fodder for jokes. It's also memorable, and in the world of marketing, there's nothing more important.

The Milks brothers have many reasons to thank their parents for not giving them the last name of Smith.

In late 2003, Benjamin and Daniel Milks, along with Amiee and Ken Corigliano, started an insurance/financial services firm, called Milks & Milks Inc., in the Corigliano's home. Today, the firm has an office in the historic Old Central Hotel building at 902 Manatee Ave. E., its first full-time employee and a profitable bottom line.

Besides a focus on equity-indexed annuities, which are popular given the instability of the stock market, the firm has fueled most of its growth through a marketing campaign that focuses on milk. What else?

The firm's standard giveaway piece is an eight-inch tall paper milk carton. Instead of standard sized business cards, the company uses postcard-sized graphics and color-heavy cards.

An even more dramatic wave of milk-related marketing is planned. The firm plans to acquire an old ambulance to paint with the same milk related and retro images.

"The tag line would probably be something like 'Milks & Milks to the rescue; reviving your portfolio,' " Amiee Corigliano says. The company also plans to acquire an old milk truck to decorate for trade shows. "How many trade shows have you been to where everybody just has ordinary tables?" she says. "This would make us stick out."

For a startup, the marketing campaign as a business proposal is fairly ingenious. Each milk carton is printed on heavy stock paper in the firm's office and folded into shape by an office worker. The cost to produce a single piece, including printer wear and tear, employee time, paper and printer costs, probably is 20 cents or less.

The firm circulates the materials as widely as possible. In December, Amiee Corigliano, the firm's senior marketing director, hand delivered 400 milk-carton Christmas cards to clients and prospective clients.

Is the milk-carton marketing noticeable? Quite, says Gary Houseworth, branch manager at Orion Bank's University Parkway location. Houseworth, who does referral business with Milks & Milks, says he had to put the milk carton piece in his desk in order to focus on Orion Bank business.

"I had it up on my credenza and kept getting comments from both clients and the staff," Houseworth says. "They thought it was a pretty clever piece of marketing and kept asking me questions about it."

Benjamin Milks says the firm's emphasis on marketing is intentional.

"Marketing is our second highest priority," says Benjamin Milks, company president. "Our highest priority is service, but as a startup you have to make sure you promote yourself as much as you can."

The brothers credit Amiee Corigliano with resurrecting the idea, but the milk connection really got started in 2002.

Benjamin Milks, who worked as a firefighter and fire commissioner, used large three-sided milk-carton signs with the tag line of "Got Milks" in his run for state representative. Milks was unsuccessful in his run so he took a job as an insurance agent for an insurance firm. Then in 2003, he decided to partner with his brother Daniel, who was working in guest services at the Ritz-Carlton, Sarasota, to form the new insurance/financial services company.

"People love it," Amiee Corigliano says. "It lets people know the name and it gives them the idea that what we do is a little bit different. We aren't afraid to have a little fun. We're not afraid to think outside the box."