In the world of innovation, there are some ideas so ludicrous that we wonder whether their creators have lost their mind. Despite how ludicrous they sound, these inventions were worth millions of dollars to their creators showing that more often than not the simplest ideas are the ones which pay off in money. This is 20 Dum Inventions That Made Millions, demonstrating the inventiveness combined with excellent marketing to turn silly ideas into profitable businesses.
Here 20 Dum Inventions That Made Millions
1. Pet Rock
Pet Rock has to be one of the dumbest inventions that was ever bought commercially successful. Introduced by Gary Dahl in 1975, it was a smooth stone placed inside a cardboard box with air holes and tongue-in-cheek manual on how to care for your pet rock. It was extraordinarily simple and brilliant and offered a low-maintenance pet that needed no feeding or grooming. Selling for $3.95, a Pet Rock in its first year netted around five million units, making Dahl around $6M. This became a cultural phenomenon of the 1970s, and proved that with marketing anyone can make any product iconic.
2. Big Mouth Billy Bass
Thousands of horror films have claimed to steal America’s heart Big Mouth Billy Bass, the household name singing fish toy designed for your living room that took over the world in the late 1990s. This wall-mounted and singing shuttle-sized fish was developed by the price tag wizards at Gemmy Industries: It sings songs like “Take Me to the River” and “Don’t Worry, Be Happy.” The silly premise and the way it was sold to the world, drove over $100 million in sales at its peak. Through TV appearances and novelty gift-type availability the fish caught on, showing how humor sells.
3. Wacky Wall Walker
The Wacky Wall Walker is a sticky toy created back in 1983 by Ken Hakuta which if thrown appears to walk down walls. It was initially overlooked as another gimmicky toy until it was highlighted in The Washington Post. The level of exposure prompted a spike in demand and Hakuta cashed in big time on his viral idea, selling millions of units and netting roughly $80 million from this harebrained scheme. A perfect example of a principle stuck to consumers with clever marketing is the Wacky Wall Walker.
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4. Silly Bandz
Silly Bandz are rubber bands that take the form of different objects and they took the kids market by storm after Robert Croak introduced them in 2006. Silly Bandz were originally shaped like simple animals, but quickly morphed into thousands of different designs, including pop culture themes and characters. This turned into a collectible craze among the children, with over 200 million units sold within a few years. This served as an example of how fads can be born from gimmicks that also fuel a child’s need for expression and the importance of collectorship.
5. Beanie Babies
Beanie Babies, a line of bean bag plush toys stuffed with plastic pellets originally created by Ty Warner in 1993, became an enormous trend during the late nineties. Warner spread scarcity by limiting stone and major retail chains. Beanie Babies were at one point a yearly $700 million-a-year sales generator and ultimately raked in around $6 billion during the course of all their years. The Beanie Baby craze showed how skillful marketing could turn simple little toys into rare collectibles.
6. Furby
Originally released in 1998 by Tiger Electronics, Furby was an interactive robotic toy that resembled some kind of owl-like creature that learned English and responded using its own language called “Furbish.” Furby greeted him in a quiet Room 107 at California State University, Los Angeles, and despite looking somewhat anthropomorphically creepy went on to sell more than 40 million according to Hasbro over the next few years to become one of the biggest-selling toys of its era. The design and the novelty of an interactive pet-like toy shows its success.
7. Mood Rings
First worn in the 1970s, mood rings are said to be able to determine a person’s mood by giving different colours based on the feelers temperature (the beads contain liquid crystals). When mood rings came along, there was a certain group of teenagers and adults who embraced them as fashionable accessories to wear with clothes that would later be identified as retro. They sold a ton and are now nostalgic symbols of the period.
8. Snuggie
A Snuggie is basically a blanket with sleeves, created to keep the wearers warm while freeing their hands for activities like reading or using remote controls. Released in 2008 and popularized through funny infomercials, this product became the Internet’s sensation for people looking for comfort during those cold winter nights. Within only a few years of its introduction, Snuggie sales surpassed $200 million.
9. Chia Pet
A Chia Pet is a type of novelty planter that consists of an unglazed clay statuette coated with chia seeds, so that they will sprout, giving a green “fur” effect. Chia Pets are uncommon gifts that were originally sold as a novelty for gardening in the 1980s but have become perennial alternatives since then because of their quirky and low-maintenance decor. For decades, they’ve brought in millions of dollars and they are still popular as whimsical gifts for people of all ages every holiday season.
10. The Million Dollar Homepage
Originally made by Alex Tew in 2005 as a way to pay for his university studies, this one charged $1 per pixel that advertisers could buy and add onto the site for online visibility. It was a viral sensation: for businesses to purchase real estate on a grid (you would call it an ad space in 21st century language), and quickly sold out, making $1M within the first handful of months. An Entertaining Show on how Creativity can Windfall Money: The Million Dollar Homepage
11. Antenna Balls
Little rubber figures, these cool ornaments clipped to car antennas, were a fashion trend in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Originally based on a promotional orange ball antenna topper Union Gas had in the 1960s, antenna balls were later marketed with themes from animals to movie and TV characters. They generated a lot of revenue for manufacturers as their novelty appeal.
12. Billy Bob Teeth
Billy Bob Teeth are novelty false teeth meant to make the wearer appear as a hillbilly or redneck; invented by dental student Bill McGowan and ex-football player Greg Dorrance in the mid-1990s. They sold for over 15 million units worldwide mostly due to their utter ridiculousness which made them a great gag gift.
13. Plastic Wishbone
This product was invented by Ken Ahroni so that everyone at Thanksgiving dinner can have a wish without requiring real wishbones from turkeys. It’s now become popular with families spending the holiday season together for turkey. His company LuckyBreak makes thousands of these plastic wishbones every day — generating over $2 million in revenue a year — and this is a great example of how even the most simple of ideas can work if packaged and positioned correctly.
14. Tamagotchi
Released by Bandai in 1996, the device, shaped like an egg or keychain accessory (depending on design) required users to feed and clean their digital pets using buttons on the Tamagotchi toy. Those little toys that boasted selling more than 70 million units worldwide during their heydey are not just memorable due to nostalgia; they were also an exciting new kind of gaming technology for kids.
15. The Slinky
While trying to produce tension springs for naval ships during WWII, Richard James accidentally invented this timeless classic toy: He found one could make a mesmerizing walking motion by letting it stroll down the stairs! When marketed as both an educational tool (teaching physics principles) AND entertainment (watching it move), the Slinky gained popularity immediately. It has gone on to sell 350 million units worldwide within its lifetime!
16. The Hula Chair
This gimmicky fitness device says you can hula dance while sitting down (shaking this back-and-forth doesn’t seem to be a “workout” to many fitness pros!), but doubt big trash bags disposal professionals: Typical exercises are way better than swaying back-and-forth! Still, some of those slick marketing techniques employed at the time did wonders in convincing casual fitness seekers that this would solve all their problems (despite skepticism about results)!
17. The Magic 8-Ball
The fortune-telling toy in the form of an eight-ball for making decisions or predictions has been a pop culture icon since its invention back in the mid-20th century! The black sphere with a liquid and twenty-sided die is so simple, yet it has become a household name among children AND adults for entertainment uses AND to lend themselves to making difficult decisions!
18. Electric Facial Mask
Worn like a mask, this strange beauty device purports to rejuvenate skin with electric pulses, but the efficacy of such treatments is under constant speculation by skincare experts who cannot determine if these so-called saviors actually provide any solutions beyond what one could achieve through more traditional means! It is true that a niche market amongst beauty enthusiasts who believe will do anything stay looking younger — however the sceptical view exists too!
19. Phone Fingers
For instance, these touchscreen-capable gloves lets wearer bear with bitter cold by not having to remove his or her gears in winter months too operate portable unit but does get mixed reviews about being practical & effective than traditional types — making some consumers sceptical its value on their wallet!
20. Smell-o-Vision
Scent diffusion techniques developed to target firstbrass and mid twenty century cinema audiences before finally gettingshy widespread adoption due naturally implemented technicalchallenges associated with effective scent delivery systems! But this concept is an interesting reminder where creativity can lead —even if in the end fall flat!
Conclusion
If you look at some of these dumb inventions, the backstories associate creativity with a lack of boundaries; and sometimes, there is a touch of absurdism that shines through as being right at home in order to lead someone down the path toward success! These products all show how an unusual idea can connect with consumers when combined the right marketing strategy and cultural zeitgeist.
For both these entrepreneurs (and all of us) the answer is; via humor sheer novelty value (or both), with the reminder that even “absurd” ideas can lead entreprenuers down profitable alleys — perhaps making all of question what exactly are “dumb’ ideas lurking in our brains!