Cassette Concepts, Inc. (CCI) was founded by Bryan Thomlison in 1980 for the purpose of marketing audio productions to an emerging non-music audio tape market.  Within three years from inception, CCI became Canada's largest manufacturer and marketer of audio cassette specialties.  By 1985, CCI had been acquired by the Canadian associate of the world's largest publisher at that time, Harper & Rowe; CCI became one of the first "electronic publishing" divisions of a major publisher in North America.  By 1990, the non-music audio tape market had become a billion dollar industry in North America.

   CCI was one of the pioneering companies that helped to create segments of the non-music market that we now take for granted: books-on-tape, children's stories & activity packs (tape & book combinations), business tapes, motivational tapes, old-time radio shows, instructional tapes, and promotional  packs.

   This was Bryan's first "social-venture" partnership. CCI partnered with Goodwill Industries in downtown Toronto, Canada. CCI owned the packaging equipment and product components (tapes, cassette boxes, labels, headers, blister packs). Goodwill provided the packaging labor (employing "people in transition"), warehousing, and shipping. This partnership enabled CCI's staff to focus their tight resources on Marketing & Sales.

   By outsourcing the packaging and logistics functions to Goodwill Industries, CCI was able to avoid the cost, time lag, and hassle of setting up and staffing its own plant. Direct manufacturing costs including variable labor and manufacturing overhead were a fraction of what CCI would have incurred had it not partnered with Goodwill. By keeping expenses variable with sales, CCI was able to focus its precious capital on new product development, marketing and sales.

The Cassette Concepts, Inc. Product Line