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StumbleuponObama is Greenville company's $6M man
Tigereye Design has contract for campaign buttons, shirts and posters
> Big business to small town
> Photos of Tigerseye Design work
> Indiana company bills itself as official supplier for McCain campaign
Sunday, August 10, 2008
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Philip Brewer, who works in production at Tigereye Design in Greenville, cuts a sheet of posters from a printer Aug. 1. The company is a manufacturer and supplier of political buttons, shirts, stickers and other items for the Barack Obama presidential campaign. 
A embroidery machine sews 'Obama For President' onto a shirt at Tigereye Design in Greenville. GREENVILLE — The company Monica and Tony Baltes founded has come quite a long way since she had to call in sick to her day job so they could produce a batch of promotional buttons for their first big customer: Pabst Blue Ribbon beer.
That 1,500-button job got things moving and the couple was forced to move business operations off the enclosed porch and into the bedroom of their Toledo home. Which meant they had to sleep on the porch, Monica Baltes said.
Today the company, now called Tigereye Designs LLC and located in Greenville, is the primary supplier of political buttons, shirts and posters to Sen. Barack Obama's presidential campaign. That contract has brought in close to $6 million in revenue and attracted other Democratic candidates' business as well, said Justin Hemminger, Tigereye's political program director.
The company's revenues in 2006 revenues were a little over $2 million, said Hemminger, adding: "We did that alone in June."
"We're building our business and at the same time trying to keep up with it," he said.
Bare wood walls dominate the Greenville Industrial Park building Tigereye moved into last year from its long-time home in Versailles. There's been no time to put up drywall or to paint. Tigereye had 30 employees when it began the Obama contract in February 2007; now it has 175 workers and Hemminger expects to add 30 more.
"We're expecting a big spike before, during and after the Democratic Convention and a very busy and steady runup to Election Day," Hemminger said.
Soon Obama will name a running mate, which will trigger a new set of orders for buttons, posters and shirts to fill the bulging-at-the-seams warehouse space.
"We know it's not even busy yet," said Monica Baltes. "The tsunami is coming."
Contact this reporter at (937) 225-7455 or lhulsey@DaytonDailyNews.com.
