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For sometime now, we’ve had a special project in the works. We wanted to give our listeners and readers a chance to hear a new Why Didn’t I Think of That?® feature every day, even if they’re away from the radio. And that’s exactly what we’ve done. Today marks the beginning phases of a plan [...]
Nobody thought about putting paint in an aerosol can until Ed Seymour. In 1949, Seymour was looking for a novel way to demonstrate a new aluminum paint. His wife suggested putting it in an aerosol can, like ones recently introduced for insecticides. To his surprise, the sprayer — not the paint — became the star of his demonstration.
While in Hawaii in the 1800′s, James Dole discovered a fruit most people had never seen or heard of before: The pineapple. He began importing the fruit to the mainland and introduced the country to this exotic, sweet treat. The pineapple became a national favorite, and the Dole Food Company became the largest supplier of fruits and vegetables in the world.
He started his first business in college. He sold his second business to Clear Channel. He came within four minutes of winning CBS’s the Amazing Race. He’s led an interesting life, but what Blake Mycoskie is best known for is starting TOMS Shoes, the company that has donated well over a million shoes to needy men, women, and children.
Today it’s as synonymous with sports as cheerleaders or sweatbands. But not too long ago, Gatorade was just a nameless concoction, cooked up to revitalize the University of Florida’s football team: the Gators. The Gators were losing. A lot. One reason for that was the hot Florida weather dehydrating the players. The “Gator-Aid” not only saved the team, but it has been hydrating and refreshing some of the world’s greatest athletes ever since.
Today’s Hall of Fame Spotlight: The Story of Gatorade.
What they do:
Make and market electric razors
Inspiration:
In 1923, when Canadian Colonel Jacob Schick, was serving in Alaska, the mercury dipped to forty degrees below zero. There was no hot water, so every morning he and other soldiers had to lather up and trim their whiskers in frigid water. Schick thought there must be a better way to shave without water.
About the business:
Schick’s first electric razor consisted of a large, hand-held universal motor driving a remote cutting head via a flexible shaft. He patented it, but had to wait nearly a decade for an electric motor small enough to fit inside his hand-held device. In 1931, his first year of sales, Schick sold 3,000 electric razors. Within six years, sales approached 2 million.
Sure, it only takes one company or product to revolutionize an industry, but selling people something they’ve never seen before isn’t easy. The general public tends to shy away from cutting edge technologies and trends, waiting for them to become more commonplace before adapting them. Your job is to change their minds. But how? Luckily, many before us have made bold, world-changing moves that have dramatically shifted the courses of industries, and made the people behind the companies filthy rich. One such example is Apple Computers.
Why would anyone just let people use their product… for free? Well, for Connecticut clockmaker Eli Terry, it was a matter of getting his product into the hands of people who might not have realized they wanted it.
It’s probably the most popular carbonated beverage in the world, but it wasn’t always an easy sell. Enter Asa Griggs Candler, the man who would take Coca-cola from drug-store remedy to a brand recognized around the world.
I was trying to decide which invention to cover in today’s blog post. Honestly, I was blanking.
So I started poking around the Why Didn’t I Think of That? site, and I ended up in the Inspiration Hall of Fame.
