by: Geoff Ficke

In 1927 the Austrian inventor Eduard Haas introduced PEZ as an aid to curb smokers urges to engage in the unhealthy habit of smoking. Haas was an early anti-smoking crusader. Even in the early 20th century it was widely understood that smoking was a vile practice with potentially dire health consequences for users who engaged in the habit on a regular basis. Governments too, understood that smoking had dangerous long term effects on smokers health, and accordingly began to assess stiff excise taxes on sales of cigarettes.

PEZ were originally peppermint flavored. The word PEZ comes from the German word for peppermint. Mr. Haas believed that peppermint would energize the sense of taste and mute the smokers desire for smoking cigarettes as the flavor of burning tobacco smoke was believed to be unpleasant with peppermint in the body. For 25 years PEZ were sold in pharmacies in Europe and by today’s standards would be considered a modest commercial success.

The evolution of PEZ from an over the counter health aid to a candy took place before and during the World War II years. As much of Germany and the European continent lay in ruins Mr. Haas recognized that smoking was becoming more popular among many people. Smoking was one of the few relaxants readily available on the severely diminished retail marketplace of the time. Though an ardent evangelist opposed to smoking, Haas understood that his business would collapse unless he reinvented PEZ. The peppermint flavor of PEZ made the product an ideal candidate to be remarketed as a candy product.

In 1952 Eduard Haas began to export PEZ candy into the United States. Sales were initially very sluggish. American consumers did not respond to the strong, almost overwhelming peppermint flavor of PEZ candies. At this point Eduard Haas made a decision which provides an excellent teaching moment for entrepreneurs seeking to reposition their product.

Haas withdrew PEZ candy from the market, but he did not do so to close the brand down. He repackaged the candies, using new colors and fruit flavors that children especially enjoyed. The overpowering German peppermint was toned down significantly. Most importantly, the packaging of PEZ candies was reworked to possess the features of a child’s toy with cute animal heads that acted as a spring load delivery system to engage, and almost magically produce each piece of the candy. Children loved the interactivity of the packaging and the fruity treats that they delivered.

As a result of Eduard Haas reinvention of PEZ he created an iconic candy brand. The sales success and popularity of PEZ have continued unabated to this day. Very few consumers, even if they do not eat PEZ, fail to recognize PEZ when they see the cute little colored, animal inspired packages of the sweet.

Many inventors, entrepreneurs or small businesses hang their hats on a signature, “alpha” product. When or if sales lag they are flummoxed. What can be done to resurrect the brand? A new marketing strategy? New Branding? Redesigned packaging graphics? New distribution channels? These and other options must be considered. However, the Eduard Haas option, to reinvent the “alpha” product as a completely new item with fresh features and benefits is rarely considered. It should be.

by: Geoff Ficke

My marketing consulting firm, Duquesa Marketing, reviews hundreds of new product ideas each year. We specialize in the consumer product space and consider submissions for product specific categories such as beauty products, foodstuffs, pet care items, sporting goods and gift items among many others. If the item can sit on a store shelf, or can be sold through electronic retailing, we are keen to review and critique the opportunity.

It is rare that we are introduced to a new idea that the creator does not position as unique, fresh, novel, and/or different from competitive products or services. Every inventor or entrepreneur is seeking to create or fill a niche, called a Unique Selling Proposition (USP) by those in the marketing/branding trade. Occasionally they score a bulls-eye at the initial presentation. Most often, however, the product cannot differentiate itself and create significant separation from existing goods. Sometimes this is a prescription for failure. Other times we can massage an item until fresh features and benefits are added that justify a USP.

I often wonder why our contemporary times, news, personal and professional environments and the life’s journey we all are undertaking is not more useful in identifying commercially viable business concepts with strong USP’s. Today, there is a land rush occurring to find answers to environmental, wellness, medical, obesity and energy issues and problems. Successfully addressing these societal concerns would be of immense import for the inventor and consumer of problem solving new commercial services and products.

In the United States we are consumed with a heated debate about reinventing healthcare. One of the opportunities that should be readily apparent to all entrepreneurs immersed in the details of this issue is that medical doctors are concerned about their future income. Modern medical practices are housed in expensive medical complexes, contain the latest and most costly technology, employee nurses and technicians that are highly trained and compensated and doctors face shrinking remuneration from insurance companies and government programs.

A store within an office, or a clinic within a clinic, offering a tangential service or products would be of interest to many medical practitioners, IF, the opportunity could be presented as a logical extension of the services they offer and profit generation can be easily demonstrated. A proprietary Body Mass Index Test clinic, and a range of supplements for sale, computer generated dietary directives and training could be of interest in a country with the obesity problem we have.

The creation of a product that would enable parents of new, inexperienced teen-age drivers to chart their cars operating systems while driving alone would be of immense value. A device which monitors engine rpm, speed, use of signals, braking velocity, radio volume, blocking cell phone signals while car is in motion and distance travelled would serve to put a damper on reckless behavior. Insurance companies would be thrilled to provide discounts for drivers operating cars equipped with such a device. What concerned parent would not want the comfort of having such a product in their child’s car with a monitor they could follow at home?

The market is flooded with cosmetic options to fight anti-aging and wrinkles. Creams, implements, Botox, cosmetic surgery and supplements are everywhere. And yet, while much is addressed to treating the eye, face, lips and throat, there is virtually nothing that effectively targets hands, wrists and the body. A woman with a face lift, or a Botox injection, is completely given away by the lines and wrinkles on the wrist and back of hands.

Energy saving devices, wellness products, entertainment systems, product portability, packaging innovations, recycling concepts, weight control, pet and child safety and anti-aging regimens are only a few areas ripe for fresh USP’s. Successfully penetrating these niches will reward innovators with fame, riches and immense personal satisfaction. Even small niche advances can be exceedingly rewarding.

by: Geoff Ficke

The following are 10 of the most important Commandments the entrepreneur or inventor can follow when seeking to define a fresh niche to be attached with new products, services or business concepts.

1. Speed
People, especially in the industrialized developed world hate to wait for services, delivery or fulfillment. Figure a way to deliver your product faster that competitors and you will enjoy a huge competitive advantage.

2. Addition
What can your product add to an already existing product that creates an obvious advance, improvement or new usage feature or benefit for the consumer.

3. Customization
In a world of mass marketed, high volume production goods the opportunity to customize a product or service is often a sure fire way to break through market clutter.

4. Portability
The ability to use a product in as many places, as many ways and at any time creates huge opportunities to expand a category with a portability feature that is highly prized in a mobile modern society.

5. Safety
Can your product innovation improve the personal safety of users? Mitigation of risk is always a winning feature in new products.

6. Entertainment
People love to be entertained. This can be achieved by incorporating humor, novelty, history, pro-activity or clever branding in your new item.

7. Adaptation
If there are already successful products in your space, look to adapt and improve those products by adding convergent features and benefits to differentiate your offering.

8. Reversal
Identify a service or product feature that competitors are highlighting and reverse engineer the offering to highlight a performance difference.

9. Elimination
Life is hectic, cluttered. People will pay more for a product or service that provides a service that eliminates or lessens wait, pain, risk, inconvenience, etc.

10. Easier
People crave products and services that make life easier. Just look at the modern kitchen, laundry room or tool shed in any modern home.

Consider each of these 10 Commandments when evaluating your new product or business idea. If you can shape the idea to include one or more of these keys you will have an exponentially greater chance to successfully sell into the contemporary marketplace.

by: Geoff Ficke

The economy is in the dumps. We all know it. Now let’s put that reality behind us and prepare for the coming inevitable boom that will follow once we digest all of the abuses that the government has dumped on business.

I lecture quite often at colleges and universities. My subject always involves the dynamism of the marketplace and the need for entrepreneurs to continually boost the economy with exciting new products, ideas, services and new, divergent business concepts. This growth is the real generator of wealth, new companies, jobs, tax revenues, and consumer benefits that have made capitalism the greatest source of improved living conditions in history.

I am always excited after meeting a new group of students. They are full of possibility, energy and creative enthusiasm. They are incredibly entrepreneurial. In their drive to gain relevant business experience they are also an amazingly available and inexpensive resource for small businesses, start-up businesses and entrepreneurs to utilize in their enterprises.

I attended college in the 1960’s. In those ancient days we worked mundane part time jobs of all sorts in order to earn money for books, tuition and general living needs. My friends and I never heard the term “Internship”. We were just trying to make it through this semester, the future would have to take care of itself in due time.

Today, the student universe is different. Many colleges, such as the University of Cincinnati, offer a formalized study/work co-op/internship program. Other universities have placement offices that help students gain important work experience, and often course credits, by working in companies that parallel the students major. The serious student today almost always graduates with one or more professional internships for inclusion on their resume. This makes them much more interesting to prospective employers.

Entrepreneurs and small businesses often do not have monies to hire the full contingent of staff that they need. These cash strapped entities cannot afford the competitive salaries, benefits, taxes and work rule compliance that full-time employment requires, and yet they have real needs for tasks to be performed.

An excellent win-win for entrepreneurs and students is an internship relationship. In the current economic malaise paid internships have been drastically curtailed. The need, however, for students to gain resume enhancing experience has never been greater. They will work for little, and in some cases for close to nothing, in terms of compensation in order to gain real business experience.

We have had students approach Duquesa Marketing, our consumer product consulting firm, seeking guidance in obtaining internships. Likewise, we have many under-funded entrepreneurs approach us seeking assistance in uncovering market research, demographic study, sales prospecting, advertising concepts and many other disciplines. This is potentially a wonderful marriage of need meeting opportunity.

Smaller businesses or entrepreneurs should contact the Dean of the appropriate College at a local university. Inform the Dean’s office of their needs, the project that will be assigned the student and conditions of work or employment. The Dean will typically post such opportunities on the College bulletin board. Important! Ask the dean, or a referring Professor, if there is a possibility that the internship could be a source of course credit or grade enhancement for the student. This is an excellent motivator for the students to aggressively pursue the internship opportunity, and then when engaged, to perform their assigned duties in a most exemplary fashion. Remember, the student needs professional experience, and a strong performance reference from the internship.

For students that lack and need internship experience we occasionally suggest offering to work on a “Proof of Life” basis. “Proof of Life” means that the prospective intern offers to work in order to prove their value. Often this strategy is undertaken to gain work experience, resume enhancement, professional references and course/grade credit. Obviously everyone deserves to be paid for their work product. However, these are different times, and the long view may require a bit of personal guerilla marketing strategy.

Local universities are a wonderful resource. They are not utilized as frequently as they should be by small business and entrepreneurs. Take advantage of this amazing asset, after all, your tax dollars heavily subsidize their existence.

by: Geoff Ficke

In 1937, the venerable inventor and scientist Edwin Land, founded the Polaroid Corporation. His business served to introduce the world to the first instant film camera in 1948. For almost four decades the Polaroid Land Camera was ubiquitous at christenings, parties, graduations and weddings as families so loved the speed the system provided to see images almost immediately.

Polaroid grew to be one of the most recognizable products and brands in the world. Mr. Land enjoyed tremendous fame and wealth during his distinguished life and career. He expanded his product offering to include polarized sunglasses and enjoyed significant success in that category.

With the advent of digital photography in the 1980’s Polaroid was presented with a most vexing problem. The success the Company had enjoyed in instant photography was obviously conflicted by the improved image quality of digitally produced photographs. Polaroid did make a fleeting effort to pioneer a digital product when it introduced the PDC 2000 in 1996. However, Kodak and other German and Japanese manufacturers, who had never been players in instant photography, were aggressively promoting digital photo quality and the low cost of reproducing prints, thus seizing the lead in the space. Polaroid never recovered.

Since the beginning of the 21st century the fate of Polaroid has been a sad tale of court fights, asset squabbles and bankruptcy filings. The famous Polaroid Camera has suffered the indignity of seeing production halted completely.

This is a case study in a corporation that lost its way. Milking the instant photography segment for many years was not at all wrong, however, the old adage that “you are never the greatest, only the latest” was never more applicable. Market leaders, those that stay market leaders at least, are always seeking to expand their range, offer product improvements or leap to new markets with existing products.

For years a hobby/craft use for the Polaroid Land Camera and instant film was a real option that the firm’s management reviewed but dismissed. The Monet Miracle is one of the most clever and useful artisan applications for an existing product that has ever been created. The Money Miracle enables the user to manipulate the chemicals inside the envelope of the individual Polaroid instant film photos, while the chemicals are developing the image is distorted to provide an artisan, high quality and hugely satisfying “Monet-like” image. This simple artesian distortion is accomplished by utilizing a stylized implement.

Claude Monet is considered one of the great “impressionist” painters of all time. His romantic, soft, hazy images are hugely valuable to art collectors and patrons to this day and many museums relentlessly seek to acquire Money’s works to enhance their collections. The “Monet Miracle” technique, possible to achieve only when utilizing Polaroid technology, could have been one lifeline for the great old brand.

There was a budding community of devotees to the Monet Miracle style of creating modernist art from contemporary images. The images were highly desirable and provided a unique medium for artists. A number of attempts were made to interest Polaroid management in marketing product specifically to the hobby class. The process was amazingly simple and highly individualized. However, there was almost no interest shown by company officials in pursuing a relationship with Monet Miracle enthusiasts.

Polaroid is virtually gone. Monet Miracle practitioners were forced to scrounge instant film and rare Polaroid cameras. There is actually a boom in prices for Polaroid products and eBay does a brisk business in these items. Many people, when exposed to Monet Miracle art are amazed at the originality, the creativity and the romance of the images that the style creates. The obvious benefits of pursuing a Monet Miracle relationship were clearly missed by Polaroid.

Studebaker, Montgomery Ward, Beeman’s Gum, TWA and Polaroid are just a few examples of great brands and businesses that have gone the way of the dodo bird. Successful businesses, those with long term growth and future upside, constantly strive to reinvent themselves. New products, new channels of distribution, new product applications and novel, fresh features and benefits are essential to avoid slow demise and ultimate extinction.