Dr.
Bronner’s
All-One-God-Faith
1997
Creative
Alchemy
and
The
Poetry
Of
Soap-Making
Spring
1997
Dr.
Bronner’s
All-One-God-Faith
A
soap
messenger
success
story
and
‘the
marketing
that
wasn’t.
By
Heather
Jenkins
Editor’s
Note:
The
following
is
the
second
of
two
articles
about
Dr.
Bronner’s
Soap.
The
first
article
appeared
in
our
last
newsletter
and
told
the
amazingly
unique
story
of
how
Dr.
Bronner’s
Soap
came
to
be
–
as
told
by
son
Ralph
Bronner.
In
this
article,
as
promised,
younger
son
and
president
of
the
multimillion
dollar
company
Jim
Bronner,
shares
some
of
his
family’s
business
philosophy
and
insider
tips.
It’s
with
great
sadness
and
regret
that
we
bring
you
the
news
of
Dr.
Bronner’s
passing.
After
years
of
living
with
Parkinson’s
Disease,
on
March
7,
1997,
Dr.
Emmanuel
Bronner
passed
at
the
age
of
89,
out
of
this
world
on
which
he
had
such
great
impact.
After
all,
it
was
only
he
who
was
able
to
sell
his
sop
not
because
it
is
the
finest
quality
pure
castile
soap
made
–
although
it
is
–
and
not
because
he
spent
any
money
advertising
it
–
because
he
didn’t.
This
was
the
man
who
thrashed
against
social
norms,
and
refused
to
listen
to
those
who
though
they
knew
better
that
he
how
to
market
his
soap
–
including
his
sons
Ralph
and
Jim.
He
never
worried
about
offending
anyone
–
for
he
offended
nearly
everyone
at
one
point
or
another.
None
of
this
seemed
important
to
him
because
he
had
a
mission,
and
it
was
printed
on
every
label
of
every
bottle
of
soap
he
ever
sold
–
and
will
remain
so
say
Ralph
and
Jim.
We
are
speaking
of
Dr.
Bronner’s
Full
Truths
and
his
Moral
ABC,
the
ones
he
was
(and
probably
still
is)
totally
convinced
will
save
our
planet
(our
‘Spaceship
Earth’)
if
only
we
will
see
what
he
did:
that
love,
cooperation,
mutual
respect
and
hard
work
are
our
only
hopes
for
survival.
Dr.
Bronner
gave
himself
in
his
entirety
to
‘the
message
on
his
bottle’,
and
his
son
Jim
says,
“There
won’t
be
any
changes
to
the
core
message
of
the
soap
labels
ever,
they
will
be
his
memorial.
It
goes
without
saying
that
not
everyone
who
comes
into
this
world
will
possess
a
passion
for
saving
it
as
Dr.
Bronner
did.
Does
this
mean
then,
that
only
those
born
to
passionately
hold
a
torch
for
a
global
cause
will
become
successful
in
ventures
such
as
business?
Certainly
not.
For
Dr.
Bronner
it
worked,
but
he
was
a
unique
individual
–
as
we
all
are.
What
sons
Ralph
and
Jim
Bronner
feel
is
important
to
lead
a
happy
life
and
a
successful
business
is
integrity.
“I’m
not
my
Dad,”
says
Jim,
“I
obviously
don’t
have
the
mission
he
had,
but
I
do
share
his
integrity,
and
I
intend
to
continue
producing
a
fine
product
and
to
do
good
with
our
earnings.”
After
spending
the
last
30
years
of
his
life
supervising
the
making
of
Dr.
Bronner’s
famous
liquid
soaps,
Jim
has
learned
much
about
running
a
business
successfully
as
well
as
ethically.
Much
of
this
he
says
he
owes
to
his
Dad.
Topping
the
list
is
persistence.
“I
share
Dad’s
belief
that
you
must
keep
at
something
to
succeed,
and
remain
committed
to
an
ideal,”
says
Jim.
Though
Dr.
Bronner’s
All-One-God-Faith,
Inc.
is
a
giant
in
comparison
to
most
natural
soap
companies
(they
cook
their
soap
base
in
100,000
pound
kettles),
Jim
is
proud
to
say
that
it
is
probably
not
the
most
technologically
advanced.
“Our
ideal
is
to
stay
efficient
and
small,”
explains
Jim,
who
says
that
both
he
and
his
wife
Trudy
each
work
about
8
to
10
hours
a
day
out
of
their
home
in
Escondido,
California,
where
the
Dr.
Bronner’s
business
office
has
been
based
for
years.
“We
finally
got
a
computer
in
1988,”
says
Jim,
“but
my
Father
just
hated
the
noises
it
made.
If
it
were
printing
while
he
was
within
earshot,
he
would
make
us
shut
it
off…
this
is
the
same
Father
who
used
to
break
a
raw
egg
shell
anal
egg
on
our
breakfast
cereal
when
we
were
kids
and
say
despite
our
disgust,
‘Eat
it!
Calcium!’”
says
Jim
with
loving
remembrance
of
a
father
who
was
anything
but
usual,
and
full
of
conviction.
“We
couldn’t
do
what
we
do
without
our
20
employees,”
says
Jim,
“They
are
all
spectacular.”
Jim
says
he
also
learned
from
his
Father,
that
employees
need
to
be
treated
with
respect
and
valued.
Jim
says
there
are
many
situations
in
which
problems
have
been
avoided
by
simply
allowing
employees
to
take
part
in
troubleshooting.
And
compensation?
Every
employee
of
Dr.
Bronner’s
has
the
full
opportunity
to
take
part
in
a
profit
sharing
plan.
All
get
full
family
health
benefits
and
generous
holiday
bonuses.
Those
who
actually
pack
the
bottles
of
soap
get
paid
by
the
piece,
however
all
others
get
paid
hourly,
and
Jim
says
that
their
lowest
paid
employee
earns
about
$20,000
per
year.
Efficiency
is
high
in
the
plant
along
with
morale.
According
to
Jim,
three
workers
fill
and
label
one-and-a-half
million
bottles
of
soap
each
year.
Jim
says
doing
things
by
hand
is
simply
more
cost
effective.
“This
has
become
a
proven
competitive
advantage,”
says
Jim.
As
the
millions
of
devoted
Dr.
Bronner’s
customers
can
tell
you
some
other
advantages
of
the
liquid
soaps
include:
a
low
price
(helped
by
being
packaged
in
the
cheapest
recycled
bottles
available
with
a
simple
paper
label
and
no
advertising
overhead),
and
the
myriad
of
uses
for
the
soap
(eighteen
of
which
are
documented
on
the
label).
Jim
says
their
soaps
represent
the
sort
of
diversified
products
he
feels
the
world
will
eventually
come
back
to,
“Products
are
just
too
specialized
today,”
he
says.
Surely,
you
are
getting
the
picture
that
Dr.
Bronner
and
his
Magic
Soap
Company
were
and
are
unique
in
many
ways.
According
to
Jim,
some
of
the
company’s
ways
of
doing
business
evolved
out
of
trial
and
error,
some
out
of
his
father’s
stubborn
convictions,
and
some
out
of
pure
necessity.
“Lots
of
Dad’s
policies
were
done
by
the
seat
of
his
pants,
but
they
have
worked,”
says
Jim,
who
says
they
do
not
pay
freight
when
shipping
orders.
Instead,
they
give
their
customers
a
10%
shipping
allowance.
“My
consultant
says
we
are
being
too
generous,
but
it
saves
us
a
lot
of
headaches.
We
have
said
before
that
Dr.
Bronner’s
Soap
has
never
spent
a
dime
on
advertising,
but
relying
on
word
of
mouth.
According
to
Ralph
Bronner,
this
gives
