Without fail, as the end-of-year holidays approach, it is nothing new that in addition to the way-too-early holiday-related merchandise for sale in the stores and the all-too-early dedication to a holiday-music-only playlist some radio stations, along with that comes the latest list of hot new toys for the end-of-year.
Those holiday fad toys are the ones that quickly become even more popular for leading some parents on a treasure hunt of their lifetimes, year after year. These are the not-even-inexpensive toys for which demand will far exceed supply, sometimes intentionally, sometimes not. These are those holiday blockbuster gifts that will become both the dream and nightmare of so-affected retailers and manufacturers. “Oh, the joys of the holiday festivities!” For some, the holiday season would never be the same without them.
Since any seemingly great idea will eventually run its course, the serial inventor instinctively knows that having one good idea is never enough. Manufacturers, too, need a pipeline of new ideas to continue to get potential customers to focus their fleeting attention and their respective wallets on them and their wares. In some ways, with one new idea always needed to replace the last, this is not too dis-similar from employers or politicians always needing someone next in line, too. But, I don’t want to digress any further on that now.
Back to shopping: As one QVC hit rises and falls, – and the Snuggie is now dead, you know – room at the top is then made for a new ‘new idea’ or fad to take its place. It seems to be a linear zero-sum game, only room at the top for a few at a time.
In the case of the Snuggie, fad or not, that product (and all its variations) had quite a good run, starting in 2009 until it finally saturated the market this year in 2012, with who-knows-how-many millions of units sold.
Whether the Snuggie was a fad of not, variations on the idea are still trying to make their marks. As featured on Shark Tank, we have seen the wearable blanket known as “The Swilt“ (not a hit with the Sharks) and the wearable towel known as the “Show No” (strangely a potential hit with the Sharks).
Clever and temporarily unique is one type of idea. But, then there is the another type of idea. Not necessarily the disruptive-technology type, but instead the kind of idea that can grow off of a slow and steady build, built with dependability and scalability. That is what Seth Godin talks about in two brief posts: one from this week: “Wasted Kindling”; and one from three years ago (which he references within that post): “First, Ten”, which (fascinating to me) interestingly references a time three years from then (which turns out to be now-ish). Make sense?
How great would it be to come up with an idea that is not only scalable, but gets cheaper and easier to promote as it grows in popularity. I wish this wasn’t so much easier said than done. But then again, I guess if it was, then everyone would be doing it. So strange though that his prediction from three years ago, that his advice in that post would become “so common as to be boring” did not come true. I guess it all depends on what kind of ideas we are trying to come up with and for what reason. Making big money alone certainly can’t be the driver of dependable and sustainable ideas.
I’m now left to wonder what existing ideas fall into the dependable and sustainable bucket. Hmmm. Something to ponder. What would you put on a list of current examples of dependable and sustainable ideas?
——–
Photo Credit: title=”Parker in a “Snuggie(tm) for Dogs” by Fuzzy Gerdes, on Flickr
