So, you’ve got the next gizmo that will knock the Beanie Baby on its bean, that will tickle Elmo pink, that will drop-kick Tamagotchi back to its home planet?
Your work now is to convince the rest of the world of that.
The fad is a strange and mysterious phenomenon. What makes a product take off, generating millions in sales while a similar item languishes on the shelves? For one thing, it should have intrinsic appeal. One of the reasons the Beanie Baby is so popular because it is such a simple, cuddly creature. There’s no assembly required, it appeals to both boys and girls (and men and women, for that matter) and its play possibilities are limited only by the child’s imagination.
Beanie Babies also employ a clever marketing tactic -- uniqueness. Though these are mass produced toys, the buyers feel they are getting something special, because each Beanie Baby has its own name and birth date printed on its tag. And the fact that each creature is taken out of circulation after a period creates demand. Buyers want these before they’re sold out.
Look at your product to see whether there is a way to “customize” it without spending a fortune, similar to what Beanie Babies and for that matter, Mattel did years earlier with the Cabbage Patch doll (remember, each one came with “adoption papers”).
Another tactic that increases a product’s appeal is its name. You have about 20 seconds to get your message across to the consumer, so make your name descriptive. Think of the product name as its advertising as well. The American public is pressed for time. If you make them stand around, trying to figure out what your product is, you’re going to lose them to the next item on the shelf. Think of the most popular novelty items and toys: “The Pet Rock,” “Tickle Me Elmo,” “Silly Putty,” their names don’t leave much to the imagination and each made millions in sales.
One way to create exposure for your product is to license it to a larger company to offer as a premium. McDonald’s Teenie Beanie Baby promotion certainly helped sales for Ty, which manufactures the toys.
When you introduce your product to the world, start small by getting it into gift shops, small stores, and catalogs. The larger retailers will follow. Also, donate it to charities and schools for fund-raisers, and don’t be afraid to give it away at festivals and fairs. The makers of BreathAsure breath freshener introduced their product with free samples at a well-attended garlic festival in San Francisco. A talk show host covering the event was so impressed by the product that he had its makers, Anthony and Lauren Raissen, on his show the next day.
Publicity is the key to creating the next craze. Once someone writes about your product or features it on television, other media outlets will pick up on the story and sales will follow. To encourage this, send the product or press releases about it to major and smaller media outlets. Appeal to your local newspaper or news station as a “hometown” success story. Coverage there may very well lead to wider publicity in national publications and news shows.
One of the reasons Tickle Me Elmo took off is because the manufacturer gave a doll to every member of Rosie O’Donnell’s studio audience. When the cameras scanned the crowd, laughing and giggling along with the Muppet, viewers all over the country wanted to do the same.
So, if you’ve got the next sensation to hit the retailers’ shelves, don’t be shy about letting the world know about it. You are your own best publicity agent and the American public loves a fad.
