Is the world ready for this? At long last, "it" will be unveiled tomorrow...

I have had the fortunate experience to be involved in the "inventing game" some yrs ago in Chicago when Ron Popeil (I also got to know Marvin Glass who invented "Robbie The Robot")

Popeil had created his first product AND...he may "say" he is NOT a "marketer" but I will guarantee you...he is EQUALLY as savvy a marketing master as an inventor.

One of the brilliant "marketing" things he did was to create a 30 or 60 sec commercial showing HIS product in action and near the end the voice over would say, "And you can get the pocket-fisherman at these Walgreen Drug Stores!"

And a list of addresses would appear.

This was in a "Preview" Video he was showing to the Walgreen ad agency. He told whichever chain store operation he was showing the Preview commercial to...that THERE Store would be on the "Tag" of each commercial.

He told them he had created the commercial (they were looking at it) and he had BOUGHT THE TIME...it was now only a matter of WHO would be on the Tag.

He would then ask, "How many cases would you like?"

Popeil was a master marketer. Still is.

I got the rights to a product that was a kids paddle (a bar with a paddle at both ends with a rubber band in the middle of the bar with a ball at the end) The idea was to get the ball swinging so it would be hit back and forth between the paddles.

It was called the "Teeny-Bopper".

I happened to be in a "plastics" plant talking to the owner about a mold for another product when he asks me to follow him to his warehouse.

He takes me to the back of this huge warehouse...points to hundreds of cardboard boxes stacked against the back wall.

He tells me there were 250,000 "Teeny-Boppers" which were ordered by a company in the UK...BUT, even though they paid to have them made...they told the plastics guy not to ship them, he could do whatever he wanted to with them because they found that the words "Teeny-Bopper" was verboten in the UK. It meant something like "gang-rowdy" or something.

So...here was this guy with all these plastic paddles.

So...I tell him I think I have an idea on how to move them out IF he would give me 25cents of each one sold AND if HE would pay for producing a TV commercial.

He agreed and I made a TV commercial with a kid we had (the plastics guy's grandson) who was really good operating it.

I took the commercial to the Walgreen and other big dept stores...showed them the commercial...showed them that we had already purchased x minutes on the local WGN station and if they bought X amount their stores would be put on the Tag.

Well...I didn't sell all 250,000 BUT...I did move a little over 100,000...so, for the time spent, it was a win-win all around.

And I got the idea for the "Preview-Tag" commercial from Mr Popeil.

Popeil also had a magnificent mountain mansion on the slopes of Aspen mountain. I was at a few parties there when I lived in the area.

It had a huge indoor waterfall.

He lost this place when he went thru financial problems. BUT...I learned something long ago;
If someone once makes a few million and loses it all...in a short time that person will have it all back PLUS.

Andrew Carnegie (the Steel Magnate) said;
"Take away everything from me...my money...my plants...everything...BUT...give me 10 handpicked men and I'll have it all back with 5 years!"

Don Alm

Don Alm

> In that article about Ron it mentions he did
> not read from a script during a promotion of
> a particular product. A local radio station
> here in AZ did an interview with him about a
> year ago and he said that he never reads
> from a script. He went on to say that if you
> feel good enough about your product,
> providing you are comfortable with public
> speaking, you should not have to read from a
> script.

> You are right Dien, very interesting indeed.

> Dennis




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