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More
dog news
It's
dog-eat-dog in the high-tech world, but a Virginia company
is digging up the best and brightest gizmos so consumers
won't have to. At TechnoScout in Colonial Heights, "We
find the latest, greatest, neatest, coolest stuff out
there," says John Fleming, director of media, adding
that many of its products include new technology not
readily available in stores.
Take
one of TechnoScout's recent finds, "Dog Off,"
a lightweight hand-held protection system for walkers
and joggers that sends a high-pitched sound audible
only to dogs, warding off would-be canine predators.
The $29.95 device is typical of the products the company
hawks in print ads, on the Web (www.technoscout.com)
and in its monthly catalogue.
TechnoScout
offers more than 500 gadgets on its Web site, with 20
of its products getting the primo advertising in publications
ranging from Time and Newsweek to Soy Bean Digest and
Fur, Fish & Game.
"We advertise in over 300 publications a month
with a total circulation around 200 million," says
Fleming. TechoScout provides ready-to-go advertisements
that earn the company a discount in purchasing advertising
space and that share a percentage of the profits of
sales with the publisher in exchange for that space.
The
company has also built a customer base through the Internet
as the largest advertiser on Yahoo.com and the New York
Times' Web site, and through its catalogue, mailed to
more than 1 million people a year. Its techniques are
paying off: "Dog Off" has sold more than 4,000
units in 15 months.
-
Mike Ashley
Return
to Virginia Business - May 2002
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