The Wagner Companies of Milwaukee, Wisconsin has announced that 2006 sales of their unique holiday product – Festivus Poles – have increased daily approaching the December 23rd celebration. Hits on the Wagner web sites have increased to over 13,000 per day.
Media attention including web features on www.journaltimes.com and www.myfoxmilwaukee.com, and a variety of print articles including Marquette University’s Marquette Tribune and Milwaukee’s M Magazine have boosted sales across the country. Tony Leto, Vice President of Sales and Marketing, reports, “Sales have been strong and significantly ahead of where we were last year at this time. Since October 1st we have sold over 300 Festivus Poles and are now averaging about 20 per day with the peak yet to come.” Contacts and sales from related web links including www.festivuswine.com have added to the fun during Wagner’s typically slower sales season.
The Festivus Pole is the centerpiece of the Festivus celebration made famous in a December 1997 episode of the television program “Seinfeld” titled “The Strike”. In that episode, the fictional Frank Costanza, played by Jerry Stiller, tells of how he invented the holiday when his children were young and he found himself in a department store tug-of-war with another Christmas shopper for a doll. “I realized there had to be a better way,” Frank recounts.
According to Mr. Costanza, the Festivus tradition begins with a bare aluminum pole, which Frank praises for its "very high strength-to-weight ratio." The unadorned aluminum pole is displayed in opposition to the commercialization of highly decorated Christmas trees, and because the holiday's creator, Frank Costanza, "find[s] tinsel distracting."
Tony Leto, executive vice president of The Wagner Companies, explains how he came upon the idea for manufacturing Festivus Poles in Milwaukee. “Having grown up in New York and gone to college with Jerry Seinfeld, I was always a big fan of the show. In December, 2004, I read an article in the “New York Times” by Allen Salkin that touched on how the fictional Festivus was starting to take hold in various parts of the country. The specifications noted for Festivus Poles
were certainly something we could meet so I registered the domain name ‘festivuspoles.com’ for possible use later. This past October I happened across a copy of Allen’s newly published “Festivus, A Holiday for the Rest of Us”. The timing seemed right and we went into production. Milwaukee seemed like the perfect manufacturing location for Festivus Poles since it is a city that shares the Festivus Pole’s ‘very high strength-to-weight ratio’. It has also been a fun project for us since it is a step away from the architectural and industrial metal products we would typically produce.”
In addition to The Festivus Pole, the celebration includes two more components: “The Airing of Grievances” and “The Feats of Strength.”
“The Airing of Grievances” takes place at the Festivus dinner. Each participant tells friends and family all of the instances where they disappointed him or her that year.
During “The Feats of Strength” the head of the family tests his or her strength against one participant of the head's choosing. Festivus is not considered over until the head of the family has been pinned to the ground. A participant is allowed to decline to attempt to pin the head of the family only if they have something better to do instead.
More information on Festivus can be obtained from Allen Salkin’s website at www.festivusbook.com. Orders for Festivus Poles may be placed online at www.festivuspoles.com.
The Wagner Companies has been in the metal business since 1850 as a manufacturer of handrail fittings and metal products for architectural and industrial applications. The Wagner Companies is made up of R & B Wagner, Inc. and The J. G. Braun Company. The main product lines include: Architectural Catalog, Architectural Custom and Industrial Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) products. Wagner offers bending, waterjet cutting, stamping and finishing capabilities, and CAD design service. Wagner has a large inventory of raw materials and over 11,000 stock items in steel, brass, bronze, aluminum, and stainless steel. For further information on The Wagner Companies, go to www.wagnercompanies.com or contact The Wagner Companies at 888-243-6914 or info@mailwagner.com.
December 14, 2006
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