Pierce Mattie Public Relations, New York City & Los Angeles, No. 1427
Galaxy Desserts, Richmond, California, No. 2296
College Hunks Hauling Junk, Washington, D.C., No. 156
LightWedge, Newton, Massachusetts, No. 1608
James Ray International, Carlsbad, California, No. 478
Ecobags.com hired a PR agency to get its products on Oprah. Sales tripled after the company’s reusable grocery bags were featured on the show’s Earth Day episode in April 2007.
Pierce Mattie says that every potential client of his PR agency wants to be on Oprah . His company helped to get a line of clothing by Old Navy featured on the show. The week the episode aired, Old Navy sold out of the product line.
Since its croissants were featured in a segment as one of “Oprah’s Favorite Things," Galaxy Desserts sales took off, leading the company to increase its production capacity significantly.
At the behest of Oprah’s producers, College Hunks Hauling Junk dispatched 4 trucks and 10 workers to remove stuff from the home of a compulsive hoarder. The company's web traffic spiked that day, and the segment went smoothly enough that the College Hunks were invited on the show a second time. Now, “when Oprah calls we drop everything,” CEO Nick Friedman says,
Online sales of a book light called the LightWedge rose from about $3,500 a day to more than $94,000 a day, after a sleep doctor talked about the product on Oprah. Retail sales at major book chains also saw a healthy increase.
In 2006, self-help guru James Ray appeared on Oprah in a segment about the movie The Secret, which suggests that people can draw good or bad luck based on the "Laws of Attraction." His company James Ray International promptly took off, posting a jump in revenue of 225 percent. And the growth was sustained: James Ray recorded 77 percent growth the following year.--M. David Hornbuckle
