At the age of 24, Johnny “Cupcakes” Earl is running one of the most unique marketing initiatives that I have ever seen.

He named his company Johnny Cupcakes, has his retail store set up like a bakery, and dresses his staff like they are ready to sell cupcakes to hungry patrons. The only problem is Johnny Cupcakes does not sell cupcakes at all - he sells T-shirts.

Johnny started the company as a joke when his friend gave him the nickname of Johnny “Cupcake”. Johnny made a T-shirt with the name and people started asking where they could find a shirt like his. He began selling them out of his car and then on the Internet. When he toured with his band he gave a few of his shirts to the other bands he played alongside and when one of them showed up on MTV wearing his T-shirt, Johnny Cupcake was officially a sought after brand.

His T-shirts, each of which show a cupcake in a unique position (ex. Statue of Liberty holding a cupcake) are now selling for up to $70 each. When Johnny opened up his Boston retail store there was a lineup of over 500 people waiting to get in on launch day. “It’s just got this really big cult following that keeps growing and growing. They’ll buy one of everything. And every time I’m here, people will ask to get their picture taken with me. They’ll ask for my autograph. It’s just word of mouth. It’s unbelievable.”

In an interview, Johnny gave his keys to success for young entrepreneurs:

• Don’t rush.
• Don’t get bummed out if you go broke.
• Travel, travel, travel.
• Get a catchy domain name.
• Try to limit/not mass produce anything.
• Be prepared to toss out any relationships or hobbies.
• Focus, focus!
• Personalize your online orders.

Visit Johnny’s site at http://www.johnnycupcakes.com/ 

Evan Carmichael

Evan Carmichael
YoungEntrepreneur.com Blog Manager

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