When Kurt Walchle told people that he wanted to see the athletes on the U.S. Olympic team wearing his company’s bracelets, a lot of people thought the Jacksonville (Fla.) entrepreneur was crazy.
Walchle is proving skeptics wrong again: Last year he struck a deal with the U.S. Olympic Committee to provide its 800 American athletes with Team USA-emblazoned, red-white-and-blue bracelets and luggage tags.
The marketing oomph of the Olympics isn’t reserved for big companies like Ralph Lauren or Nike, where the iconic interlocking rings and American flags adorn everything from T-shirts and caps to umbrellas, lanyards, pint glasses, and toy gnomes. One nice plus for Walchle: His bracelets are featured on the Team USA shop’s front page. Entrepreneurs at the Olympics
