<$BlogRSDUrl$> Marcus P. Zillman, M.S., A.M.H.A. Author/Speaker/Consultant
Marcus P. Zillman, M.S., A.M.H.A. Author/Speaker/Consultant
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Friday, May 21, 2004  

Companies Browse the Past to Plan Their Future
http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20040509/BUSINESS06/405090320

As managing director of consumer products consulting firm NewProductWorks -- and custodian of "the collection" -- Marilyn Raymond is the keeper of the keys to a vast trove of consumer marketing knowledge that inspires pilgrimages by consumer products manufacturers eager to plumb the past for tomorrow's next great idea. The private collection is an extraordinary assortment of every new consumer food or health and beauty aid product introduced in North America since the early 1970s. With its 80,000 items housed in a former Ferrari dealership in Ann Arbor, Mich., the collection is a 30-year history of American business marketing ingenuity, providing evidence of both brilliant marketing ideas and spectacular flops. Remember Downeyflake's Toaster Eggs, or Gerber baby food for adults? Giants like Procter & Gamble and tiny mom-and-pop inventors all journey to Ann Arbor to view the collection, pick through it for ideas, investigate possible patent infringement, and aid their product research and development. Although the consulting firm can't predict whether a new product will work, it can provide examples of similar past products and explain why they succeeded or failed. "Ninety percent of it is timing," Raymond says. Plus, companies have to understand the American consumer psyche, she adds. For example, one failed product, Fish Nuggets, was marketed in round ice cream-type cartons. Consumers just couldn't stomach the fish and ice cream connection.

posted by Marcus Zillman | 4:10 AM
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