The main offering of Cincinnati-based Kutol Products, which the McVickers founded in 1912, was a soft, malleable product for removing soot from wallpaper.
By the turn of the twentieth century, Kutol Products had grown into the world’s leading producer of wallpaper cleaning. However, things started to change in the 1950s. Sooty accumulation on wallpaper became a thing of the past as many houses made the switch from cleaner fuels like oil, gas, and electricity to cleaner ones, replacing dirtier coal.
In 1954, everything flipped.
The brothers McVicker were attempting to save the floundering business. Kay Zufall, a cousin of the McVicker brothers, ran a creche just across from the Kutol plant. After reading about the use of non-toxic wallpaper cleaner as a budget-friendly option for making Christmas decorations, she hurried to a shop to get a couple of cans.
Kutol worked well for the art project, and the children had a blast using it. Kay joyfully made contact with Joe McVicker. “The wallpaper cleaner could be a plaything if you wanted to!”
Joe paid attention, which is a plus. After removing the detergent from the dough, Kutol infused it with a subtle almond aroma and applied food colouring.
Joe had proposed the moniker “Kutol’s Rainbow Modelling Compound” for the new toy, but Kay talked him out of it. “Play-Doh” was her suggestion.
So it changed its focus from cleaning wallpaper to becoming a toy.
It was now up to Joe to ensure that children were playing with Play-Doh. Due to the company’s financial troubles, they were unable to afford advertising. Consequently, Joe managed to convince Captain Kangaroo, Bob Keeshan, to meet with him. In return for a 2% royalty, Keeshan consented to use the product with Captain Kangaroo weekly.
It was a successful advertising campaign. To this day, Play-Doh is just as popular as it was when it first came out. Play-Doh has sold over three billion cans!
In 1956, Play-Doh was only available in white. However, the company quickly branched out to offer other basic hues, including red, blue, and yellow. Rose Red, Purple Paradise, Garden Green, and Blue Lagoon are among the many colours available currently. Metallic and glittering hues are available in the Putty collection. Over time, the formula has undergone several little adjustments. So that the product wouldn’t dry up as fast, the salt content was lowered. Still, the proportions of the ingredients have mostly not changed.
Certainly, the Play-Doh modelling compound has become a modern-day phenomenon in the realm of play. The now-owned Hasbro brand is based on an unintentional idea that has become a global phenomenon, providing children all over the globe with a chance to express their imagination while also having a good time.
As the market shifts, repositioning is inevitable.
Focus your brand on the right people
Look at novel ways to market the product
Inspire your prospective customers
Fortune reports that since its introduction as a toy for children in 1956, Play-Doh has sold over 3 billion cans, far surpassing its prior use as a wallpaper cleaner. That is above 700 million pounds. If all the Play-Doh compounds made since 1956 were fed into the Play-Doh Fun Factory playset, according to urban legend, “you could make a snake that would wrap around the world 300 times,” claims Hasbro on the Play-Doh website.
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/accidental-invention-play-doh-180973527/
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