Phil Donahue passed away today, August 19, 2024. Rest in peace.
I’m reposting a blog I wrote about the time my wife and I were guests on his show with the founders of Häagen-Dazs, November 19, 1986.
And yes, I realize how young we look.
In the mid 1980’s, an author, Sharon Nelton, had written a book called In Love and In Business about couples who ran companies together. Phil Donahue invited my wife and I and other couples in business to be guests on the show.
Rose and Reuben Mattus were on stage with us, the founders of Häagen Dazs, the extraordinary premium ice cream brand started in the Bronx by Jewish Polish immigrants. Reuben’s mother founded the ice cream company in the 1920s, but Reuben invented the Häagen Dazs brand in the 1960s. The Matteus had sold their company to Pillsbury in 1983.
Sharon Nelton, the author, was also on stage, as was June Collier, president and CEO of National Industries, a large industrial electrical supply company for the car industry. Although she and her husband were divorced, she was a feisty CEO who added flavor to the conversation.
Down Memory Lane
This all came back to me as I went downstairs to turn off a light that Fanny had left on while packing up some of her stuff for her move to Wilmington. A light came on in my head as I stumbled upon the framed photograph in my basement from that day when we had another moment in the spotlight. Seeing these photographs made me want to find the videotape from the show that was buried with a shelf full of other Rachel’s Brownies-related publicity.
Watching the tape and my 34-year-old self made me reflect on how fortunate I have been to have a partner in marriage and, at the time, in business who complimented my strengths and skills. We looked so young in the 24-year-old video.
Ra El got to talk about the brownies and how she would write each label by hand with a perfectionist eye for detail. I used my accelerator and brake metaphor during the show (I was the accelerator, and she was the brake), so our business zoomed along but at a controlled growth rate.
We discussed how our family came first (Sarah was five, and Fanny was 1), and we learned to balance work and home. I mentioned that we had a little horizontal hand gesture that we would use when one of us was tired of talking business and when we needed a break. What a stirring up of memories.
Watching and listening to Rose and Reuben was a sweet treat for me, too, since they were of my grandparent’s generation and represented so many traits of immigrants whose work ethic and creativity enriched our American culture. Reuben was a marketing genius without any formal or traditional business education.
One thing that came through on the show was Reuben’s frustration that Pillsbury wasn’t taking advantage of his creativity. He was fearful of becoming like Colonel Sanders from Kentucky Fried Chicken. He followed his instincts and taste buds and out-marketed all the big companies trying to force him out of distribution. At the time of this broadcast in 1986, a pint of their ice cream sold for around $2.00. Today it costs $5.00
Listening to the show, I heard Reuben provide sage advice about marketing and differentiation.
This man invented an entirely new category of ice cream called super premium. His work preceded Jerry’s for over a decade, and his philosophy was so counterintuitive that it was beautiful.
His recipe for success was to make a better product with better ingredients than anyone else and charge more. Whether it is dry cleaning, lollipops, or ice cream, find a way to be different from everyone else.
And Rose Mattus was the financial genius behind the business. I once heard a mutual acquaintance tell me they loved working with Reuben but feared negotiating with Rose. She was one tough cookie.
What’s in a made up name?
The name Häagen Dazs is a made-up marketing word to sound Scandinavian or Danish since Reuben knew that the Danes made great dairy products. Ironically, none of the sounds of that name are remotely Scandinavian but just exotic. There is nothing foreign about his wisdom and sound advice on how to succeed.
My favorite part of the show is when Phil turns to the show’s producers and says, “The audience wants to see these fabulous brownies, and does anyone have one?”
Of course, I had several in my pocket to make sure I could get some great PR out of the moment, and I reached into my pocket and handed fill one of our brownies. It was one of those moments that truly is a moment since it represented an opportunity I was prepared for and a playful way of having fun under the TV lights. When I took the brownie out of my pocket, Phil said,
“You know who the real marketer in the family is.”
I know this is a moment of vanity for me, but it gave me great pleasure to see Phil Donahue calling me the real marketer in the family. I sat on stage next to the founder of Häagen Dazs. Although she won’t admit it, my wife’s dedication to perfection and the highest standard drove our business’s marketing force.
Reliving this again made me smile, and I am so thankful for this strange opportunity. It makes me want to scream…for ice cream.
Rachel’s Brownies and Häagen Dazs were together on the set of Phil Donahue in 1986. By the magic of videotape and photography, I got to watch my beautiful wife talk about our business again and hear Reuben Mattus share his marketing wisdom. Talk about a frozen memory.
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