Ben's Idea...
Newcastle-based, Martial Arts Instructor Ben Creighton, 31, was made redundant from his sales job last year. While training, he was reminded of Rocky Balboa’s hard times, pummelling sides of beef in the abattoir to make ends meet. This sparked a brainwave: to develop a contemporary boxing brand featuring unique, stylish and distinctive punch bags and gloves which would be sourced via Alibaba.com.
Ben has set to work designing the ‘Queensberry 12’ range which divides into three collections: ‘Martial Artworks’, ‘Exercise Your Demons’ and the exclusive ‘Butcher’s Bag’ which is a carcass-shaped punch bag, the original inspiration of Ben’s daydreams of Rocky!
‘Martial Artworks’ is designed to reflect the bold canvas artwork popular in contemporary homes. Printed on each bag will be a dramatic digital panoramic photograph, such as a New York skyline, bamboo forest or graffiti wall. Meanwhile, the ‘Exercise Your Demons’ range will provide motivation to exercise by ‘beating’ fears, phobias and cravings, with each bag featuring recurring pop-art images of cupcakes, spiders or sinister attackers.
Each unique range has been designed entirely by Ben and is unlike anything currently on the market.
Ben's business plan
With his £1,000 Alibaba.com investment, Ben will source partners across the platform to manufacture and ship the ‘Martial Artworks’ and ‘Butcher’s Bag’ products. He will sell them to 18-40 year old males. The ‘Exercise Your Demons’ range will be aimed predominately at women. His distribution strategy will be through gyms, wholesalers, retailers (shops and online) and direct to consumers via his new website www.queensberry12.com.
Ben is also planning a social media campaign encompassing social networking and the release of additional YouTube sketches to ensure significant brand awareness amongst his key target audience.
What Ben Says...
It’s been exactly a year since I was made redundant and, ironically enough, I now feel that it’s the best thing that ever happened to me. Once you’re inside the ‘career’ hamster wheel it seems that there’s no escape, but here I am a year down the line competing in a national competition to run my own business.
Whatever happens over this four month journey, I know I’m going to have given it my best jab/cross/hook and hope to prove to others that even in these tough times, with a great idea you really can change the direction of your life for the better.
Ben’s stage of the challenge
