Craig Wolfe was never an office type of guy who would want to spend their whole life working in that kind of environment. He was working as a retail credit card collection clerk for a bank and hated it. “I also was the kind of person who loved whimsical things so I knew in life if I was to be successful, I had to create both a business and a business model that fit who I was”. In other words, just getting a paycheck was never enough. It was all about doing what he loved and being inspired every day with the creative process. Craig needed to go in a new direction.
With his love of animation, Craig became the largest publisher in the country of artwork from television commercials. He created the first ever animation art lines for Coca-Cola, Anheuser-Busch, M&M/Mars, Pillsbury, etc. He ran the whole business from home but he wanted to keep pushing the creativity boundary so he sold it all off to create CelebriDucks. With this new company Craig created a whole unique art form of celebrity rubber ducks of the greatest icons of film, music history, and athletics. CelebriDucks was voted one of the top 100 gifts by Entertainment Weekly while being featured on hundreds of TV shows, magazines, and newspapers including The Tonight Show. “We’ve sold over a million of them and I eventually became the top custom duck manufacturer in the world. And I
still run it all from home! Film crews, reporters, etc…they just come to the corporate headquarters, my home, to film and do interviews!”
Reinventing the Duck
Craig took the standard bathtub accessory and turned it on it’s beak. “I guess it was just so out there and different and our execution was done really well as we provided a whole new niche in the rubber duck category”. Craig is now introducing themed celebrity ducks, licensed ducks, and ducks in gift boxes. He has created a whole collectible niche that wasn’t there before. “Everyone else was doing cheap ducks. I went upscale and became the most intricately painted and sculpted ducks on the market….and the best”. Craig also became a master of outsourcing such that he could run the whole business from home and oversee a workforce across the country and around the world all from a home office. He had the work environment he wanted…and he had the kind of fun creative business he also always wanted.
Because Craig had such a cost effective low overhead business model, it also allowed him to do something very radical. He is actively trying to bring jobs and industries back to America. “The rubber duck was invented in America. Now all are made overseas. I brought the whole industry back to the USA and am the only one making them in America once again! It was the most stressful project I ever took on. If I didn’t own the whole company I would have been fired! And yet, now it is not only successful,
but they are some of our top selling ducks and press is amazing for what we did. Big risk = big reward. I’m doing them from everyone from Harley-Davidson to The Future Farmers of America!”
Craig continues to follow his inspiration and is now going in a different direction. His newest venture is a chocolate company!!! CocoaCanard.com
Once again, totally different from what’s on the market. It’s the only hot chocolate on the market that mixes in just water and tastes like it’s in milk. “We call it Spooning Chocolate, the Espresso of Hot Chocolate and it’s actually dairy and gluten free”. Always innovating!
I can only imagine what direction Craig may go in the future. Check out his current projects here.
