The Ledger, every show
Every statement that passed quotation and attribution checks, across all 44 shows. Pick shows below, then mix any filter with any other.
shows 
every show 44 of 44
Blakely Paid Friends to Fake Retail Momentum at Neiman Marcus
“First of all, I paid people basically friends to go buy the product and create a buzz about it because I was like, you know, I gotta have these things move off the shelf or the buyer's not gonna give me any more chance.”
Blakely Secretly Put Target Envelope Stands at Neiman Marcus Registers
“Well, I went to Target, and I bought stands, you know, for envelopes. And I ran around the store and put them at every cash register, and everybody thought somebody else approved it, so they kept them there for a while.”
Blakely: Paid friends to buy Spanx at Neiman Marcus to create buzz
“I paid people, basically friends, to go buy the product and create a buzz about it because I was like, you know, I gotta have these things move off the shelf or the buyer's not gonna give me any more chance.”
Blakely: Placed Spanx displays at Neiman Marcus registers without authorization
“Well, I went to Target, and I bought stands, you know, for envelopes, and I ran around the store and put them at every cash register, and everybody thought somebody else approved it, so they kept them there for a while.”
Blakely: Spanx ran zero paid advertising for its first 16 years
“You know, Spanx has never advertised until this year, and we're 16 years old, so this has been a word of mouth brand.”
Blakely paid her friends to buy early Spanx in retail stores
“I was buying my own product. So I was sending checks to all of my friends around the country to go buy Spanx.”
Blakely: No female patent attorneys existed in Georgia when Spanx launched
“I couldn't find a single female patent attorney in the state of Georgia, and I even called the Georgia Chamber of Commerce, and they said there isn't one.”
Blakely: Spanx patent was self-written using a textbook and mother's sketch
“I went to Barnes and Noble on Peachtree in Atlanta and bought a book called Patents and Trademarks, and I wrote the patent, and then my mom's an artist, and so I asked her if she would sketch me in the prototype for the patent, and that is the picture in the U…”
Blakely: Spanx ran no formal advertising campaigns in its first 15 years
“Spanx is 15 years old, and we've never done any formal ad campaign or anything, and so it's a very word of mouth brand.”
Blakely: Sold 8,000 pairs of Spanx during first five minutes on QVC
“And they gave me five minutes of air time, And I sold 8000 pair of Spanx in five minutes.”
Blakely: The Spanx founder wrote her own patent using library research
“I immediately went and researched patents at the Georgia Tech Library, and I Wrote my own patent. I got a book on patents and trademarks at Barnes & Noble on Peachtree.”
Oprah named Spanx a favorite product weeks after Blakely quit her job
“I quit my job on October 16th, and Oprah called me in the beginning of November. And chose Spanx as her favorite product of the year.”
The first Spanx homepage was a scanned color copy for 18 months
“I actually took a color copy of the packaging I'd created on my friend's computer and scanned it, and that was the home page of my website for a year and a half.”
Blakely Started Spanx With $5,000 Saved From Selling Fax Machines
“I had set aside 5000 dollars in savings from selling fax machines door to door, and that's what I started Spanx with.”
Blakely's Mother Sketched the Official Prototype Drawing for Spanx's Patent
“And so I asked her if she would sketch me in the prototype for the patent, and that is the picture in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.”
Blakely: Spanx Ran Zero Formal Ad Campaigns in First 15 Years
“I mean, I've never advertised. Spanx is 15 years old, and we've never done any formal ad campaign or anything, and so it's a very word of mouth brand.”
Blakely Sold 8,000 Pairs of Spanx in Five Minutes on QVC
“And I sold 8000 pair of Spanx in five minutes.”
Blakely: The hosiery industry was declining year after year when Spanx launched
“I was basically coming in and disrupting an entire industry who'd been looking at something in one way, and they were on a decline year after year.”
Blakely: A patent lawyer wrote Spanx patent claims for $750
“Yes, for 750 dollars, I'll do it over a weekend, and I'll write the claims portion of your patent.”
Blakely: Neiman Marcus launched Spanx in seven stores as its first order
“And she said, I'm going to place an order, and I'm going to put it in seven stores and see how it goes.”
Sara Blakely: Spanx Addressed a Massive Gap in Existing Undergarment Options
“I went to Neiman's and Saks and asked, you know, what do women wear under these white pants? And the sales ladies would always say, well, we don't really know, or they'd point me in the direction of the shapewear that did exist, and it was really thick and dre…”