PRESS ROOMWelcome to the Ditch Witch Press Room. You will find press releases about and photos of all current
Ditch Witch products, beginning with the most recently introduced product. To schedule an interview for more product information, please contact Jeri Lamerton at jeri.lamerton@ditchwitch.com or 800-654-6481 x3392.  Ditch Witch—The Brand
10/28/2009
The story of the Ditch Witch brand begins with the product itself, a mechanical tool developed by Ed Malzahn in Perry, Oklahoma, to solve an age-old problem: the tedious, time-consuming effort of digging residential utility trenches with a pick and shovel. Ed didn't have a name for his product when he began towing and showing it to customers. So he turned to Lewis Brandenburg, a oneman ad agency who worked out of his basement in Tulsa, Oklahoma. (Lewis had helped market Ed's first innovation, the Geronimo, a device that transported oil rig workers to safety in the event of a fire or other danger.) Lewis and Ed spent an afternoon kicking around names, many of which had to do with gophers, moles, and other subterranean creatures. Before they went their separate ways to have dinner and sleep on it, Ed told Lewis the name should have the name "ditcher" or "trencher" in it. The next morning, "Ditch Witch" emerged as the top candidate. Lewis created a logo with a witch riding a shovel past the moon, and the brand was born. Ed admits that many of the developments in the creation of the Ditch Witch brand were happy accidents. The color, for instance: Ed originally painted the Geronimo red, a color traditionally associated with safety equipment, like fire extinguishers. But red fades on black iron (especially when you forget to prime it first!), so Ed went back to the lumberyard owner who had sold him the red paint. The lumberyard happened to have a lot of orange paint in stock, so Ed took it and that became the color of the Geronimo. When it came time to show his new compact trencher, he needed to paint it. Yellow was the traditional color of construction equipment, but orange was still in the paint gun from painting the Geronimo. Time was an issue, so Ed just painted his trencher orange. Over time, the distinctive name, color and unique capability of Ed's trencher combined to brand the Ditch Witch name in customers' minds. Ed never dreamed his creation would become the name people ask for when they want a compact trencher. He admits he never thought that far ahead. "Ditch Witch" was just something to call his invention. As the logo suggests, the story of Ditch Witch, the brand, is a magical journey. 
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