Don’t be afraid of what you don’t know. Always ask, “What if?”

 In the 1970s, most pet foods were manufactured using “animal-grade” ingredients and could change daily depending on the cost of the ingredients. The manufacturers’ goal was to make the food as cheaply as possible, because after all, dog food was a commodity.

At the time, I thought, what if we manufactured all-natural pet food with human-grade ingredients? This is the story of the beginning of premium pet products and our product in particular, AvoDerm Skin and Coat Pet Foods.

Developing a new product is easy; getting stores to stock it is hard. Distribution is the key to any product’s success. How do you get your product to the retailer and, eventually, the customer?

In the 1970s, there was no internet, no Amazon, and no shortcuts to getting your product to the customer. We had great success selling to our retail and home delivery customers, so the next logical move was to start selling to other pet stores and the new health food stores popping up in the L.A. market. So, I hit the road to visit every pet shop and health food store in southern California.

There is nothing better than talking to customers. I learned a lot, and inevitably, I would hear from stores some version of the phrase, “I would stock your product if people were to ask for it!” But they can’t buy it if you don’t stock it! The famous “chicken-or-egg dilemma.”

What do I do? How do I get people to ask for AvoDerm? How can I advertise a product that no one will stock?

Then I received the letter. Abe Vigoda, acclaimed actor from The Godfather and Barney Miller, sent me a thank-you letter. AvoDerm, he said, had saved his dog’s life and cured his lifelong skin and coat condition. Wow, that’s great, I thought.

Now, most people would stop there and send a thank-you note back—but being young and reckless, I thought, Hell, I’ll call the famous actor at home.

Before email, people talked to each other, so I made the call. I asked Abe if I could use his letter as an endorsement. “Sure,” he replied after considering it for a moment. “Five hundred dollars.”

Five hundred dollars was a lot of money in the 1970s. I asked if he would take less.

“Ha! I’m an out-of-work actor,” he laughed.

What could I say? I laughed back and replied, “Okay.”

We worked on other projects over the years, but more on that later. Looking back, I can’t help but wonder if Abe sat at home when he was not working and sent out product endorsement letters.

The Big Break—No, He’s Not Dead

After acquiring Abe’s endorsement, I wondered what to do next. I had no money and very little distribution, but I had a great product and a letter of endorsement from an almost-famous actor. Ignorance is bliss when it comes to overcoming obstacles.

Knowing nothing about advertising, I used Abe’s letter and placed an ad in the Sunday edition of the Los Angeles Times—one-eighth of a page that shot my entire marketing budget for several months. But once again, fate and ignorance stepped in to save me.

Unbeknownst to me, there was a rumor that Abe Vigoda had died; I guess some people believed he was actually killed in The Godfather—you know, in the rowboat scene on the Tahoe.

First thing Sunday morning, people started to call our helpline to ask about AvoDerm—not to inquire about the product, but rather to complain, “How dare we run an endorsement from a dead actor!” The dead actor?!, I thought. I just talked to him last week!

All hell broke loose, and the Times’ editorial department went after the advertising and news departments that had purportedly missed the obituary. It took several days and many phone calls to resolve the issue, but eventually, the newspaper figured out that Abe was, in fact, alive and kicking.

The paper printed a story about the kerfuffle, and we got a lot of free publicity; it even made national news. Several days later, I received a call from a Today Show producer asking me to come fly out and explain what premium dog food is and why people would pay more for pet food. It seems all crazy things come from L.A.!

I got my break, which opened the door to retailers and other distributors. Newspapers and radio stations started calling, and we were finally on our way!