Sector: Home Furnishings & Lifestyle Retail

Challenge: Conceive, build, and execute a branded music franchise from the ground up.

Solution: Rock River founder Billy Straus conceived the idea of Pottery Barn branded music in 1995, building an enormously profitable franchise for the home furnishing retailer by targeting consumers underserved by conventional music retail.

Execution: With the smashing success in 1995 of the seminal holiday release "A Cool Christmas," Pottery Barn and Rock River set the standard by which all other branded music collections are compared.

Results: More than 70 Rock River compilations and millions of retail units down the road, Pottery Barn and Rock River have created the ultimate branded music franchise. For 10 years, CDs have been a Pottery Barn fixture and one of the top grossing product categories in the store.