Most products, however successful, have a life span. Buggy whips, the telegraph and telephone booths, enjoyed long lives but quick deaths when the automobile, the telephone and the mobile phone appeared.
Other products failed in their intended use but are found to meet needs in other areas. Rogaine was original developed to treat ulcers. It failed miserably but was discovered to stimulate hair growth. Viagra was intended to treat cardiovascular problems, but its test subjects found it had other uses as well.
Some products, however, enjoy a long life and then find another even more enduring than their first…and in utterly different markets and for completely different customers. And perhaps with more far-reaching effects on society.
To wit: Play-Doh.
It is the rare American child who did not have an introduction to this wonderful modeling tool in their early school years. But Play-Doh was not created from scratch. It had enjoyed an earlier 40-year incarnation as a complete unrelated produce that quickly became obsolete when home heating switched from oil and coal to much cleaner gas and electricity.
Can you guess Play-Doh’s primary use in its former life? Take a few minutes to read about “The Accidental Invention of Play-Doh.” We can only what wonder what creative uses were unleashed by this product that its inventors could not have imagined…and which may have resulted in many innovations that benefit us all.
Do you have a dying product that might a new life in a new purpose for a new market? Maybe your obsolete product can have another happy ending!
