“Tf the customer says it’s good, it’s good” What kind of work did you do before you got into marketing? ‘*] came to UBC [from Alberta to take forestry in 1957, and after my third year | got hurt and laid up so I went into radio. 1 started out as a promotions director for CIJOC radio in Lethbridge, and after a year | worked in the newsroom and then as farm direc- tor. 1 also worked for CBC radio for a year in the summer...I grad- uated from UBC in 1966 in for- estry and commerce and went to work with Weldwood in their public relations department.”’ What was your experience work- ing for McDonald’s like? ‘*Prob- ably some of the best experiences in the world. It was probably the best marketing job in the world, because you were allowed to do everything. You were allowed to make mistakes — you were en- couraged to make mistakes. Not the same one twice, mind you, but you were encouraged to try new things.” What is your business philosophy? “If | had one evangelical state- ment it’s [ don’t care what's good advertising, | don’t care what's good marketing — what does the customer say? If the customer says it’s good, then it’s good. If the customer says the quality is superb, then it’s superb. I don’t care if you're a qualified brewmaster making beer — what UP 50% HELP CLEAN US OUT (Regular priced items) BRACELETS ..._DIAMONDS ... NECKLACES »s .GEMSTONES..* PENDANTS...PEARLS,. AN 10K GOLD. |: Watch for our GRAND OPENING SOON! 1414 Lonsdale Avenue, North Vancouver 984-4691 AFFLUENCE & INFLUENCE IN HIS OWN WORDS does the customer say about the beer? That tells me something.”* What do you like best about being a private consultant? ‘‘Finding out what the public says about pro- ducts, because it always changes.”* Have you ever been wrong about what's best for a client? ‘‘I’ve been totally wrong regularly. My boss at McDonald's said to me one day, ‘There’s one thing | like about you. You make mistakes...that means you’re something. Now if you make the same mistake twice, Pll worry about you. And if you make the same mistake three times, then Burger King is going to have a new marketing manager.’*’ ts it hard to convince clients what's best for them? **On occa- TO OFF IN 14K GOLD * LARRY SHERWOOD: not afraid to make mistakes. and My students have been asking me to put together a number of books — explanatory pamphlets — on how to do, for example, a market research program...1 also go fish- ing with my dad in Southern Alberta in the summer times with my boys."’ sion, yes. Generally it’s because they want something fool proof. But we're dealing with people who have their own ideas about what they want.’" What do you do in your spare time? ‘‘i’m working on a book. LIVING ROOM OCCASIONAL PIECES §=6>DINING ROOM BAERYNORE SOFA ‘TRADITION S00SE ENT. CENTRE NATIONAL NT. AEZY 8 PCE. soe - C7 oe ee ae ed 50 Coma Fett Guns Top Tame 4 swe 7 SIERO eT aces envoy SALES29S0 5G ms oeesesn SALE SAE = norenae JASPER CORIO CABINET DOUE $ PCE. CHATEAD LATOR Soe £54 Sew sean GALE SLIST ere nae bre 2a, ote ata, SBE NA ot Tame Eat es SUANTOR OOOPER SOAR LOVESEAT «25 srs cove sons, SALESGS7 Sv 959 sno stars SALE $6,673 HERNAN SQUARE COCKTAM STRATHROY $PCE 15TH CENTURY Sat ue tees saw cao SB San a oft Tae Et ok 22 se see ome GALE $LA96 Ao 8083: Sa 02127 SALE $8,507 (RITE OF ERAE 9 PCE. FRENCH Puce tae cet th te Ber Seu Saw su: SALE $3,763 a Swe Ew GRBARD TEA ZAGOM BS bbe at Oe Mare fee Sevemsersr: SAESIIG SSS Cee SALESLITS S20 ews SALE SIS.199 COOPER BROS. SOFA GMEARD 9 PCE. SOUD HABOGAXY WEIMAN GLASS & BRASS smete _ er Soe ee NE et Tape Eat te 4 oot om mer fect Sets GALE $1,296 a aSe ses: SALE $7,633 wots ry LPT : pligjenthra-Mesign Sedplce Available Sunday, August 12, 1990 - North Shore News - 35 Sherwood makes marketing mark Fram pare 34 with a unique concept for a retail collage brewery: the popular Granville Island Brewery. None of then, plains, running a brewery would entail. what the beer should taste like. how it should be packaged or how much customers would be willing to shell out for it. But $3 million research later, Granville Island Brewery fi- nally opened its doors. ‘preach through lectures and seminars that a great idea is only a great idea if the market thinks it's a great idea,’ says Sherwood, who sold the brewery last year. “A lot of people said it (Granville fsland Brewery) work, public wanted it. They said they wanted a different tasting beer, so we asked them what they wanted it to taste like, what kind of bot ing they wanted...”* Today Sherwood is preaching the same marketing phi- losophy where he had a clue about reams of market would but it did because to students at BEDROOM GRBGARD 5 PCE SOLD MAHOGANY 62 Dresser Crest 2 Ngnts 66 guard Reg $9800 Save $270 ANDREW NALCOLNS od Dresses S$ Or Crest Heatdos's Req $390" Save $347 DIXIE 5 PCE. FRENCH Ge Dresses SOF Crest 2 ghts 60 Meee eo Reg #733 Save siist SALE $4,602 STRATHROY 5 PCE. CHERRY 9 Dresser tung Meror Doo Crest 2 Ae oor See $roor SALE $6,400 GUBBARD 5 PCE. FRENCH "3 Oresse Crest on Coes 2 Night nc eg S335 Ser tous SALE $4,551 Complimentary Design Service Available Sherwood ex- never BCIT, teaches two to three evenings a week. He’s also taking pari in the North Shore Enterprise Development Centre’s mentorship program, in which fledgling en- trepreneurs can learn the tricks of the trade first hand.