An interview with Tim Parr, Founder of Caddislife.com.
1) Caddis is what we at ROAR call a next gen company with regards to having an authentic approach to the 50 plus consumer. How did you come up with the idea for the company?
I love being a next gen company… The idea to come up with a better eyewear solution was easy, because everything on the market sucked, and I needed glasses. But the idea to change the way people view “Age” in our culture came out of nowhere. It happened at a meeting before we launched and a VC saw our packaging that had “pro-age” copy written on it, and they said “You can’t do that.” That’s all I needed.
2) Tell us about the “Co-Conspirators in Creativity” initiative, as well as “Architects and Custodians”
I guess you could call this our “ambassador” program, but it’s really a way for us to showcase friends and present examples of creative humans at our age inspiring and energizing others. It makes what we’re doing fun.
3) What are some of the unique ways that you market to your target customer? What effort surprised you the most?
The unique ways that we market are pretty simple. We use lifestyle marketing to engage with people like most brands, but this time we’re doing it with a product that has been dusted over and forgotten for some reason…the only reason I can think of it being ignored is that you can’t talk about reading glasses without talking about age…and we’ll talk about age all day long.
Our most surprising effort has been word of mouth. Without a doubt that has been the strongest tool in our toolbox.
4) Give the ROAR readers one piece of advice about eyewear? What is one thing they should know?
It’s on your face which should make it a highly considered purchase. I’m sure there’s a lot of other pieces of advice…but this one feels like it sums it up.
5) What’s next for Caddis? Where do you go from here?
We tend to listen to the tribe, and they tell us where to go next. We’re now selling RX lenses with our frames, and sunglasses are coming out soon. After that we have our eye on broader missions to further the conversation and community that has gathered. Fun times ahead!
