
Animal Road Sign Alphabet
https://i.imgur.com/ROWScwG.jpg
Submitted July 03, 2018 at 12:09AM by retrologist
via reddit https://www.reddit.com/r/geek/comments/8vpvuk/animal_road_sign_alphabet/?utm_source=ifttt
This very well could just be me, but I've been noticing what feels like a decline (or maybe a shift?) in geek culture since about 2016. I've been seeing less fanart, less interest, and generally less passion from groups who were once so exited about their interests. Most of this is from outside this subreddit, in other online communities and real life ones. Have things just moved somewhere I'm not looking? What happened?
LEXINGTON — Collin Gray picks up a small amber-colored bottle and attaches a label showing a bearded man in gray overalls holding an iron hammer. Slanted letters underneath the illustration introduce him as "the Engineer."
"The Engineer is the most popular with the ladies," Gray said as he screwed a rubber top on a bottle of beard oil. "But the Archer is the most popular seller."
The Engineer and the Archer are one of four scents in the beard product line that Gray developed from the second-floor office of his Lexington home. He launched Fable Beard Co. some three months ago and has since sold dozens of homemade beard oils and balms at prices ranging from $18 to $22 each.
Each scent has an associated character — the Engineer, the Barkeep, the Archer and Captain Red — whose story is updated monthly on the company's website to attract Gray's target audience: video gamers.
"If we were going to come out with a company, I wanted it to be different," Gray said. "I wanted to create a sense of community. That was really important for me."
The characters are modeled after role-playing games like World of Warcraft and Diablo. Customers are encouraged to return to the website every month to catch up on Gray's brief updates on each character. And at the same time, they can purchase all-natural oils and balms made of argan, castor, coconut and jojoba oils.
Gray said he grew up playing video games and was always drawn to those with a story line. He decided to bring that idea into his business model, so he named the company Fable and created the tagline, "Every beard has a story."
The company's social media pages encourage customers to tell the stories of their own beards — growing them, the reactions from friends and family and the struggles they have taming or shaping them.
When Gray decided to focus on video gamers, he made sure to model his characters after those from medieval and fantasy video games.
"The people who play these games and know the lore. They have beards," Gray said.
Aligning the company with the gamer community has brought a lot of early success to Fable Beard Co.
For months before the company's launch, Gray worked to network with gamers on Reddit pages, Facebook groups and a game-streaming service called Twitch. He announced the launch of his company, built energy around the idea and workshopped the characters, products and branding with people in the community.
So on the company's first day, Gray made 25 online sales and currently averages about five to 10 per week. He's completed about 70 sales since first opening.
With his company, Gray is joining hundreds of brands selling beard oils, balms, combs and other men's grooming products. For the past few years, the number of beard-focused companies has exploded across the country as trends tilt toward men sporting fashionable, well-kept beards. Beard products are reaching the shelves of big-box stores like Target and Walmart and are bringing in millions of dollars in sales.
"There's been a stigma for the last 20 years that having a beard is a dirty thing or not a business-friendly thing," Gray said. "And the products weren't there before, so growing a beard was harder. What did you do when you woke up and were having a bad beard day? Nothing."
Gray said he has also seen men grow more comfortable owning and using grooming products. His wife, Megan, said she sees it as an old societal standard. Products geared toward men didn't exist in the past, but that's starting to change.
"There's really nothing more masculine than having a beard," she said. "So to have one and be able to take care of it and nurture it and make it look good, it's one of the most manly things you can do."
But Collin Gray wanted to make sure his brand was different from every other beard company on the market. Creating characters and developing stories to go alongside each product was something he thought could set the company apart.
Some people have told him the stories and characters seem kitschy, but for the gamers who know the lore and sentiment, it's easy to relate to and fun to interact with the brand.
Gray communicates with every customer in character, addressing them as lords, lieges or maidens. Handwritten thank-you letters are closed with a red wax seal and the products are shipped in packaging made to look like an old world parcel.
"It makes them feel part of something," Gray said. "So far, people have really gotten into it."
Right now the Grays are focusing on building a loyal base around the brand by updating the characters' stories online, promoting their company through social media and finding gamers with large followings to promote their products online.
"I have a lot of hope for the future," Collin Gray said. "People think it's corny, but in this community, it's not. People really respond to it. And I really didn't want to be afraid to dive into this completely."