The business of a lifetime originates from the drinking table, hailed by the media as a “marketing genius”
Gary Dahl is called a “marketing genius” because he turned an inanimate stone into an extremely popular product, attracting millions of consumers and making himself a millionaire. After only 6 months of business, this idea brought him 6 million USD.
As the stone can be found anywhere, what makes customers “crazy” for it?
Gary Dahl has skillfully “magicified” to turn inanimate stones into “pets” with the name Pet Rock. Each “pet made of stone” he sells comes with a 32-page care manual. This brand quickly became a hot trend in 1975.
Born from a joke on the drinking table
The story of “Pet Rock” begins at a bar in Los Gatos, Northern California, USA. That was in the summer of 1975, when Gary Dahl was still a poor copywriter. He lives in a run-down apartment, struggles to make ends meet, and occasionally spends time in bars drinking with friends.
During a drinking party, the group was having a lively discussion about the topic of pets. Many people complain that, although pets bring joy, the stages of care, cleaning, feeding… are quite tiring and time consuming.
Hearing that, Gary Dahl immediately joked: “My pet is so perfect, it doesn’t take much care or attention, and it’s not annoying at all.”
While people did not believe, he continued: “Because it is a stone beast!”
The group burst into laughter at the novel idea.
Pet Rock is the kind of pet that the owner never has to feed, wash and clean.
At that time, Gary Dahl was half awake and half drunk, so he didn’t think much of it. But when he got home, he began to recall the idea and felt it was entirely possible.
In order to have money to “start a business”, he had to talk and convince two colleagues to join the money. He promises a very successful future, when millions of people will “go crazy” for this perfect pet. At that time, no one thought that what he said would come true.
Gary Dahl stopped by a building materials store and spent a few pennies buying lots of stones from the beaches of Mexico, with smooth surfaces. On average, it costs him 1 USD for every 100 pills.
Then he created cardboard boxes to match the size of his stones. The shape of the box was also quite similar to the style that pet stores used at the time. Inside the box, he placed a straw and also punched a hole so that the stone could… “breathe”.
Gary Dahl’s ingenuity is the 32-page care manual he created himself. It includes details on how owners can take care of their “pets” and what “tricks” the stone can perform.
Just like that, the stones are ready to hit the market with the name Pet Rock. This also became the brand that created a “forever” fever in 1975.
A guide to caring for a stone.
Unexpected success even without spending money on advertising
Instead of just quietly launching a product at the San Francisco Gift Show, Gary Dahl wisely sent out press releases to a variety of media outlets.
A stone raised as a pet – this strange idea quickly caught everyone’s attention. The media also covered it, making Pet Rock a popular trend. This is a feat much more difficult to achieve than before the advent of social media and the Internet.
After that, Newsweek magazine also introduced this product, helping the echo to spread further and further. When people know and talk about it too much, Gary Dahl was even invited to the Johnny Carson show to talk about his unique “invention”.
When sharing his thoughts on this outstanding success, Gary Dahl said: “People at that time were too tired and bored with the reality around them. Therefore, they only liked adventure in their imagination. We can say that then our sense of humor was higher than now.”
Taking advantage of this mentality of people, Gary Dahl turned “stone pet” into a viral topic. After that, continue to use the power of media as a way of “free PR”, helping Pet Rock become more and more famous. The results received were extremely positive while he did not have to spend too much money on advertising.
As the holiday season approaches, he ramps up the publicity of his products and sells about 10,000 stones a day. In just 6 months, nearly 1.6 million products were sold and he earned about 6 million USD. This was a big number in the 1970s.
Time magazine has even called this phenomenon “1% from product and 99% from marketing genius”. The media has heaped praise on the handbook accompanying Pet Rock, written by Gary himself. They believe that humorous, witty content and good wordplay are the factors that impress customers. When buying this “pet”, everyone has moments of refreshment.
Miracles only last 6 months
Of course, the strange-poison element will gradually lose its power as people get used to it. After 6 months of great success, Pet Rock’s sales began to decline without stopping. Although Gary also tried to capitalize on that success to create spin-off products such as “Pet Rock” t-shirts and shampoo, everything was unsuccessful.
The simplicity of Pet Rock made the brand name, but also became the factor that made it “gone” as quickly as it could not protect its unique position. The simple idea helped Dahl create Pet Rock that could be easily imitated by others, and then created countless other versions to compete.
After that, Gary tried to create some other products, but it didn’t work and ended up going back to advertising. In 2001, he published the book “Advertising for Dummies”.
Gary passed away in 2014 but his work lives on to this day. Rosebud Entertainment purchased the trademark rights to “Pet Rock,” and they can still be purchased for $19.95 on Amazon.
Although the success was short-lived, the money earned from “Pet Rock” helped Gary change his life. He could buy himself a Mercedes and move into a larger property with an outdoor swimming pool.
*According to nytimes, Times, Mentalfloss
at Blogtuan.info – Source: cafebiz.vn – Read the original article here
