A Tennis Ball For Dogs
Not all product innovations are brand new things. When PetSport came out with TuffBalls, they did nothing more than take a couple of tennis balls, repackage them in a new way, and put them in a pet store to sell them to pet owners for way more than you could buy tennis balls in athletic shops. You could hardly call that a "hard" innovation, but it worked. People bought the tennis balls.
Is that just stupid? Are they ripping people off and tricking them into buying something for more than it's being sold elsewhere? Of course not. People could plainly see they were just tennis balls in a different package.
Recently, I think I saw a commercial for some "luxury" cat food, and the slogan was "Because your cat's worth it." (I Googled it, couldn't find any evidence that I ever saw that commercial. Was it just a nightmare?) In another example, think of the Friskies commercials where the food is served to some pampered, pretentious-looking Himalayan in a crystal dish. Does the cat care what kind of cat food it's eating, what's on the box/can, or how much it costs?
Nope. Nor do dogs care where the tennis ball they're playing with came from. The package is for the people, and re-packaging the tennis ball was just what was needed to get people to pay more for it. You could criticize the merits of this, and claim that it's taking advantage of a weakness, but I don't see it that way. People are self-actualizing themselves vicariously through their pets by buying luxury brands. When you think about it, is there really any harm in building self-esteem that way? (Personally, I think it's a little odd, but I've never had a dog, and it's their money and their decision to make.)
My point is not about pet owners, but instead: what other products do you see around you that just need a little repackaging? Can you find a different use for an existing product that people might want? Opportunities don't knock; they sit idly by, in silence, while you pass them each day. The better they are, the harder they are to spot.
Is that just stupid? Are they ripping people off and tricking them into buying something for more than it's being sold elsewhere? Of course not. People could plainly see they were just tennis balls in a different package.
Recently, I think I saw a commercial for some "luxury" cat food, and the slogan was "Because your cat's worth it." (I Googled it, couldn't find any evidence that I ever saw that commercial. Was it just a nightmare?) In another example, think of the Friskies commercials where the food is served to some pampered, pretentious-looking Himalayan in a crystal dish. Does the cat care what kind of cat food it's eating, what's on the box/can, or how much it costs?
Nope. Nor do dogs care where the tennis ball they're playing with came from. The package is for the people, and re-packaging the tennis ball was just what was needed to get people to pay more for it. You could criticize the merits of this, and claim that it's taking advantage of a weakness, but I don't see it that way. People are self-actualizing themselves vicariously through their pets by buying luxury brands. When you think about it, is there really any harm in building self-esteem that way? (Personally, I think it's a little odd, but I've never had a dog, and it's their money and their decision to make.)
My point is not about pet owners, but instead: what other products do you see around you that just need a little repackaging? Can you find a different use for an existing product that people might want? Opportunities don't knock; they sit idly by, in silence, while you pass them each day. The better they are, the harder they are to spot.