E. Dean Butler got into “brand management” in his early career at Proctor and Gamble.  While there, he helped a coworker’s in-laws optical business in Louisiana, particularly around branding.  Out of that work, he founded Lenscrafters, and in his career has contributed to starting 4,500 optical stores in 45 countries.  Given his brand work on “real people testimonial” advertising, he increased the throughput of the optical business, because he believed in increasing the value of products that don’t have any inherent interest.  He ultimately coined the phrase “glasses in about an hour,” which he used as he grew Lenscrafters.

The Stories within the Story:

0:53 The Living in England Story

2:55 The Early Years Story

5:22 The Early Career Story

9:10 The Getting into Optical Story

15:35 The Marketing Eyeglasses Story

22:26 The Creation of Lenscrafters Story

25:09 The Starting Vision Express Story

29:16 The Russian Optical Story

36:22 The Russian Wife Story

40:55 The Delivering Service Story

45:26 The Future of Eyecare Story

56:49 The Lofty Goals Story

1:01:11 The Dynamics of Buying Eyeglasses Story

1:05:15 The Optical “Secrets” Story

1:07:50 The Message of Encouragement Story

Runtime:  1 hr 14 min