Building the Brand

"In addition to going store-to-store, I rented half a table in a 10-by-10 booth at the 1977 Consumer Electronics Show. I drove to Chicago with a load of wires. I made my first packaging by hand, using rub-on letters and photocopied labels for the packaging and signs. But the labels came out too light, so I bought black felt markers and darkened each by hand. Still, people at the show said they liked the packaging, the idea and our name. At this point we were still working out of the garage in my family's house. The first production table was a four-by-eight piece of plywood and two sawhorses. I bought a pneumatic pump to wind up the cable, cut it, terminate it and put it in boxes. And that was the Monster Cable factory."