Consumer >> CEO Interviews >> August 11, 2003
ROBERT (BOB) G. SOLOMON is Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of
Applause, LLC. He has been a leading executive in the fields of
licensing, manufacturing, entertainment and merchandising for more than
25 years. In that time, he has fostered his vision, experience and
creativity to help forward-looking companies create new and innovative
products, marketing tactics and distribution concepts. Mr. Solomon began
his career in the industry in 1975 as a New York sales person for the
Wallace Berrie Company. Through consistent hard work and success, Mr.
Solomon played an active role in the growth of the company, eventually
becoming a Partner and Executive Vice President. In 1983, Wallace Berrie
purchased a then-struggling Applause, Inc.'a gift company based in
Woodland Hills, California. Mr. Solomon's talents were recognized, and
he was named President and Chief Operating Officer of the new company '
responsible for turning the faltering operation around. In 1987, Wallace
Berrie officially changed its company name to Applause, Inc. In 1988 Mr.
Solomon led a leveraged buyout and sold the Applause Company to an
investor group. Mr. Solomon stayed on as CEO for three years while he
became renowned for his ability to read the tastes and interests of the
consumer, while also diversifying the company's product line. Mr.
Solomon left the company in 1991 at the end of his employment agreement
and, a year later, bought Dakin, Inc.'another leading plush gift company
facing slumping sales after the initial consumer frenzy and subsequent
retail cool-down of Garfield the Cat. In 1995, Mr. Solomon engineered a
merger for Dakin and Applause Inc., thus turning the latter into a
powerhouse in the plush gift, toy and collectible industry. At that
point, he entered into a non-compete agreement and left the gift and toy
industries for a period of five years and founded a marketing and
licensing company, The Rainmaker Group, where it launched and marketed
properties like Cigar Aficionado. In February 2001, he read about the
impending demise of Applause Inc., at that time on the brink of
bankruptcy. After a series of phone calls to the current CEO and the
bank, Mr. Solomon made news himself by forming Applause, LLC, to
purchase the assets of Applause Inc. as the majority shareholder along
with Prudential Life Insurance, the company's only minority shareholder.
In the process, he saved the company from foreclosure and protected
hundreds of jobs. The new Applause, LLC, prides itself on the ability to
manufacture and market proprietary designs and specialty licensed
products, as well as some of the most popular classic and current
entertainment character licenses in the marketplace. Profile
Applause?
Mr. Solomon: Applause is a company that for 22 years has been making
products that have been bought and sold primarily
