General news stories and articles from Dure Foods

Happy Accident

Adaptation: The Happy Accident

Science and Serendipity

The strange paradoxes of scientific discovery is that no matter how plodding and careful science is about most developments, some of the most astounding discoveries have occurred purely by accident. The most famous of these was the discovery of penicillin.

This discovery only occurred because biologist Alexander Fleming took a vacation. Returning to find that his staph bacteria petri dishes were contaminated with an invasive fungus, he observed that the fungus had repelled and killed the bacteria. The age of antibiotics was born.

Dozens more examples demonstrate that the happy accident is one of the most valuable resources in human development. One of the earliest known examples occurred when, for better or worse, some Chinese experimenters looking for the elixir of eternal life accidentally discovered gun powder, instead.

In 1938, a du Pont chemist discovered that his experimental gas had escaped its container and that a strange slippery substance was left behind. Teflon was born. Much earlier, an English pharmacist withdrew a stirring rod from his chemicals only to notice a dried clump of hard material stuck to the end of it. In trying to scrape it off, it ignited and burst into flame.

The strikable match was the result. Velcro was invented by a Swiss engineer intrigued by how burrs stuck to his dog’s coat. The implantable heart pacemaker was stumbled upon when an assistant professor accidentally grabbed the wrong size resistor from a box.

These examples are only a few of the many wonderful discoveries that have graced the world by a scientific accident. Their value is immense, and the world has grown richer by their discovery only through the adaptability of those who discovered them. In many cases, something else was the target goal at the time. Their discovery was an unanticipated byproduct born of the flexibility of the discoverer.

From Fluke to Flourish

In business, it pays hefty dividends to be flexible enough to adapt to new developments and to make use of unexpected benefits.

As the maker of a fairly unsuccessful wallpaper cleaner, Kutol Products was near bankruptcy when children began using the product to form Christmas tree ornaments in arts and crafts projects. The entrepreneurs were clever enough to see this unexpected use as a gift, and the company was saved by the new marketing of the modified product as Play-Doh.

Happy Accidents

A similar story is told of the development of another novelty toy, Silly Putty. In 1943, a World War II rubber shortage prompted the government to commission research from General Electric chemists for the creation of an alternative. The resulting elastic compound was ineffective at replacing rubber, but it was intriguing nevertheless.

Samples were circulated, but until an enterprising toy store entrepreneur named Ruth Fallgatter saw the stuff in 1949, no one had any use for it. Fallgatter saw some potential and hired copywriter Peter Hodgson to include the item in her seasonal catalogue. While it outsold everything else in the catalogue, for some reason she lost interest and abandoned the substance.

Hitting the Mark with an Open Mind

Hodgson, however, had a clearer vision of its potential and picked up the entrepreneurial torch, renaming the product Silly Putty. It took some time, but his ability to adapt paid off. A New York Times columnist mentioned it in a very positive light, after which sales topped $750,000 in the next three days.

One Thing Leads to Another…

Speaking of gummy substances, we have alluded to the 29-year-old William Wrigley who decided to offer free baking powder as an incentive to market his scouring soap. The idea was so good that the powder became more popular than the soap. So, he offered free chewing gum to market the powder, and the gum became more popular still. Thus was born the Wrigley chewing gum empire, from humble beginnings in soap and baking powder.

Like William Wrigley, Peter Hodgson, and the brighter minds at Play-Doh’s Kutol Products, always remain alert to the potential for happy accidents and adapting to situations and possibilities. Thinking outside the box of your own business can lure serendipity right to your front door.

lifestyle products

How Lifestyle Products Affect Our Daily Lives

We have a lot going on in our lives – every day, we are bombarded with images, adverts, and information. It is essential to start tuning out some of the noise, and for most consumers, this means tuning out advertising.

It’s official, advertising your product based on just its features is outdated. Consumers don’t really care about your product. They are too wrapped up with their own lives. If you want to market to them effectively, you need to start introducing lifestyle marketing.

What Does Lifestyle Mean?

You know those soft-drink ads that you see all over. The ones where people are enjoying a Coke and having a great time? That is an example of lifestyle products. The message is simple, share a Coke with someone, and you will make friends and have a good time.

Creating a Lifestyle Brand

When creating a lifestyle brand, you go further than just the features of your product. You have to define your target market carefully in terms of their opinions, interests, and ideas. It is about marketing a particular culture, something that your target market wants to achieve.

It’s about connecting your product to the needs of your consumers at a deeper level.

What Are Lifestyle Products?

Lifestyle products are items that have a unique selling proposition that is appealing to your target market. We are already surrounded by them in our day to day lives. We use these products to fit in with a specific culture.

Take a look at marketing that has been really effective for you in the past. What were you buying – the product itself specifically, or the lifestyle behind it? Why do you choose a particular brand of soda?

Take vaping, for example. It is seen as a cooler and safer alternative to smoking. People who buy these products are buying into a lifestyle. If you smoke real cigarettes, you are seen as being inconsiderate and unhealthy.

If you smoke electronic cigarettes, it is more like you are one of the cool kids.

What is key here is that a perception is created. Vaping is more socially acceptable than smoking because it doesn’t produce such a foul smell. However, the liquids vaporized might still contain nicotine and other harmful substances.

You can get just as addicted to vaping as you can to cigarettes.

How Small Companies Can Benefit

Small companies are ideally suited to building a lifestyle brand. Think about the artisan baker, or the organic farmer. Organic food and artisan goods can be sold at a higher price if the business can establish a lifestyle brand.

A good example of how a small company can leverage this is, believe it or not, Starbucks. It’s huge now but, initially, the idea behind it was producing good coffee. Former CEO, Howard Schultz had a vision of the coffee shop becoming a sort of home away from home and being warm and inviting.

Starbucks employees are trained to focus on making the customer experience a great one. They are encouraged to learn client’s names, to be happy and outgoing and to go the extra mile wherever possible.

People go to Starbucks for the coffee certainly, but it’s about more than the coffee for most people. It’s about a warm atmosphere and the vibe. The idea of a fun place that makes it easy for you to relax and enjoy your coffee.

It was a simple concept that proved highly effective, and it is something that every business can apply. Instead of featuring your product, start looking at what lifestyle your product allows your clients to enjoy. Then create a marketing strategy to match – everything from lifestyle websites to a simple flyer.

Find your own “Starbucks” effect and your business will also be able to grow.