STEPPING UP SALES
Science Channel’s ‘How It’s Made’ gives a boost to Mohop Shoes
nnie Mohaupt doesn’t need a channel guide to know when the Science Channel’s “How It’s Made” is replaying an episode about her Chicago shoe company. She just checks her Web traffic.
“We sit there at the computer and watch it,” she said. “People start logging on pretty fast, before the show is even over.”
When last we visited Mohop Shoes, which Blue Sky featured in its Chicago Makers series in 2014, Mohaupt said sales of her wood-based sandals with interchangeable ribbons were trending slowly but steadily. And Mohaupt, who started the company after a successful Kickstarter campaign, was looking forward to the airing of the “How It’s Made” episode that had recently been filmed.
The episode first ran Oct. 24 and has run 20 times since then, according to Science Channel spokeswoman Sarah Morgan. Mohaupt said her sales have doubled. “It’s been very good for us,” she said. “How It’s Made” is an unlikely hit, with a no-nonsense, industrial documentary-style approach. An article in the Wall Street Journal last year dubbed it “TV’s quietest hit.”
Each segment features straightforward video of all the processes that go into making one product, with minimal commentary. The show has no host, and the only humans who appear are workers who are part of the process. They’re shown simply doing their jobs.
The show does not even identify the brand name of the products, referring to Mohop’s only as a “convertible sandal.” This presented two challenges.
“We went around and screenprinted ‘Mohop’ on all our desks,” Mohaupt said, adding that workers who appeared in the segment wore aprons with the Mohop name on them.
Then there was the “convertible sandal” thing. Mohaupt said she hadn’t used the term on her website, so she had to get under the digital hood to make sure the site was ready to attract online searches for the term.
“It was kind of interesting, figuring out how to engineer the publicity out of it,” she said.
The payoff wasn’t immediate. She said she received minimal reaction to the original segment.
But “How It’s Made” runs often, sometimes marathonstyle, with episodes running for hours. Mohaupt said an early December broadcast of the show started to drive traffic.
“I think it’s mostly guys who watch that show, and that’s what we saw on our orders,” she said. “All male names.”
Since then, she said, she has seen sales spikes every time the show airs.
Mohaupt said she has worked hard to improve the efficiency of her operation. She wouldn’t reveal specific sales numbers but said she can turn around shoe orders in about a week. Everything is made in her Chicago studio.
She said she has also applied to participate in WiSTEM, a mentorship and business offering at Chicago’s 1871 tech hub aimed at women entrepreneurs who work in science, technology and math-related fields. She’s hoping the program can help her build her digital manufacturing chops as she continues to try to scale the business.