The total number of teams now
under license is over 800 and
continues to grow every month.
Worthy Promotional Products
A top sports-licensed personal care products supplier.
Worthy Promotional Products is unlike any other business in Alabama and perhaps the whole nation.
Newly relocated at 1515 Kowaliga Road in Eclectic,
the company has experienced phenomenal growth, and is
fast becoming the top supplier of sports licensed personal
care products to retailers all over the country. In fact the
company’s goal by 2020 is to become the # 1 supplier in
their product category in the entire country.
The success and upward trajectory of WPP since its
inception in 2011 didn’t come without some big lessons
learned in owning other companies over a 20 year period.
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In fact, Bo Worthy, who owns the company along with his
sons Chas and Matt, would tell you that experience, vision,
luck and definitely providence all played roles in the company as it formed and exists today.
While owning a prior company that was struggling to
get traction in the difficult years following the great recession, Bo made a phone call that would change his life and
the life of his family.
As Bo tells it, “We were selling personal care products
under a brand we had created called Bahama Bo’s and we
were just trying to get products such as sunscreen, lip
balm and hand sanitizer placed wherever we could. The
retail market was extremely difficult to break into and we
were trying to get our products to some alternative customers. I reached out to the Auburn stadium director to
see if we could sell our sunscreen at gameday concession
locations. He directed me to the company that handled
that service and I sent a bottle of our Bahama Bo’s brand
to the buyer.
I got a phone call the next day from the buyer and he
said he loved the concept but he would never put a brand
no one had ever heard of into the stadium concession
stands. My heart sank when he first said that, but what
he said next turned out to be the best rejection I ever got.
He asked me if I could print Auburn on the bottle. Being the salesman I’ve always been, I told him of course
we could! He asked me if we were licensed to sell collegiate products and I told him we were not. Then came the
statement every entrepreneur wants to hear.
He said, ’Call me when you get your license and I will
write you an order for 14 stadiums and teams.’
Within seconds, every lightbulb I had in my head went
off with all the possibilities of sports licensed personal
care products.
I told him I would call him back in a couple of hours. I
walked next door to my sons’ offices and told them, “guys,
something really good just happened and we are changing
direction”.
We shut down production of our brand, and within
60 days we had our first collegiate license. I think it was
Iowa. We haven’t looked back since.”
In 6 years, WPP has gone from zero to providing product for 485 colleges and universities. In 2012, Worthy secured multiyear licenses from Major League Baseball and
Minor League Baseball.
2013 saw the addition of the NHL and in 2014, the NFL
and NBA came on board with multiyear licenses.
Worthy added Major League Soccer and NASCAR in
2015 and in 2016 added The Kentucky Derby and Greek
Sororities to their portfolio of licenses.
The total number of teams now under license is over
800 and continues to grow every month.
They have already been approached with several interA LEGACY OF SPIRIT
39
“It’s a real advantage to be able to manufacture products here in Eclectic because
we can get them to market much quicker than imported products.”
national opportunities in soccer and VP of Sales, Matt Worthy says “It’s just a matter of time before we add those and
expand into Europe and South America. I really see those
opportunities as developing over the next couple of years
and those markets love American made products. It’s a
real advantage to be able to manufacture products here in
Eclectic because we can get them to market much quicker
than imported products.”
As a result of the dramatic growth over the first 6 years,
WPP partnered with the Elmore County Economic Development Authority to renovate an existing facility that was
outdated and under used. After 12 months of construction, Worthy moved into the totally refurbished facility in
April of 2015. Production has doubled at the new 20,000
sq ft facility and is expected to double again in 18 months
with the addition of several new pieces of state of the art
digital equipment that have recently been installed. Chas
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ELMORE COUNTY
Worthy, who is the operations manager, recalls the growing pains of the first 5 years before the move. “We were on
top of each other in our building at First Ave. I am amazed
we got as much done out of that facility as we did. It’s fun
for our employees to come to work in a great facility that’s
new and has a really good product flow. We can add on
to the facility as we grow and Elmore County has a strong
employee base to grow with us.”
The product line has increased to almost 50 items and
now includes nail polish, nail files and decals, hairbrushes,
breath mints, face paint, wipes, sanitizer, and multiple lip
care products. The facility is a registered FDA re-labeling
facility and maintains numerous codes of compliance that
are required by the diverse set of licensees. The customer base has grown along with the licensees and product
line as well. WPP now serves multiple retail sales channels including mass, grocery, c-store, gift, stadium venue,
online and fan shops. Customers now exceed over 3000
ranging from the local Hallmark gift store to Bed Bath &
Beyond, Kroger, Dollar General, Barnes and Noble, Fred’s,
Follett, Meijer’s and many others. Online retailers such as
Fanatics, Groupon, Zulily and Amazon have given Worthy
a strong online presence for that shopping demographic
as well.
Bo has always maintained his entrepreneurial management style and every Monday morning at staff meeting allows employees to bring their new ideas and solutions to
the table.
“We will continue to grow and prosper if we stay focused on what we do best and take advantage of a market
that no one else thought was worth developing.”
In his spare time, Bo enjoys traveling to schools and organizations to speak on entrepreneurship and the joys and
difficulties that entails. He wrote an inspirational book
entitled “Johnny’s Lemonade Stand” that is a great read for
anyone considering starting their own business.
As a 53 year old who has put in 24 years behind the
owners desk, Bo put it best when he closed the interview
with this statement:
“You cannot underestimate the value of building strong
relationships in every area of your business. Bankers matter. Employees matter. Investors matter. Vendors matter.
Customers really matter. Family really, really, really matters. And most important, your faith in God had better
matter the most because when everything else fails, you
can depend on that relationship being as solid as a rock”
To contact WPP, please visit their website at , www.
WorthyPromo.com or call during regular business hours
at 334-541-4070.
A LEGACY OF SPIRIT
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