Question

Topic: Strategy

Why Did The Pet Rock Do So Well?

Posted by Blaine Wilkerson on 2/9/2004 at 5:27 PM ET 125 Points
Why did the "Pet Rock" do so well?

Is it possible for something like that to happen again?

Please elaborate!



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RESPONSES

  • Posted by Chris Blackman on 2/9/2004 at 5:49 PM Member
    These "hypotheticals" are very thought provoking, keep it up, Jett, AndrewS, and everyone.

    You know, the sad part to me is that I find Starbucks Coffee is bland and boring compared with the real Italian version. Yet it attracts a massive price premium - around 70 - 90% above the superior tasting, un-franchised product in my home town of Melbourne, Australia. It's all in the positioning and packaging.

    I can remember when McDonalds first launched in London, England. It was a phenomenon and people queued to taste it. It wasn't cheap, and look how bland it has become.

    Is the pet rock repeatable? What about the Cell Phone – isn’t that a modern equivalent? Thing is, we can live without a pet rock, but how many of us would have withdrawal symptoms if we had no cell phone...

  • Posted by Chris Blackman on 2/9/2004 at 6:55 PM Member
    Sometime people need to have to care for something. When the Tamagotchi was ats zenith, people were having to see grief counsellors when the Tamagotchi "died".

    That's a prime example of fulfilling something that marketers would not classify, normally, as a need.

    One person's need is another person's product benefit, perhaps?

    At least a pet rock never died...
  • Posted by tjh on 2/10/2004 at 1:26 AM Accepted
    The genus of ideas is sometimes trite:)

    "Gary Dahl, as California advertising man, was having drinks with his buddies one night in April 1975 when the conversation turned to pets. As a lark, Mr. Dahl informed his friends that he considered dogs, cats, birds, and fish all a pain in the neck. They made a mess; they misbehaved; they cost too much money. He, on the other hand, had a pet rock, and it was an ideal pet - easy and cheap, and it had a great personality. His buddies started to riff with the off-the-wall idea nd pretty soon they were al tossing around the notion of a pet rock and all the things it was good for.

    Dahl spent the next two weeks writing the Pet Rock Training Manual - a step-by-step guide to having a happy relationship with your geological pet, ..."

    from:
    https://www.virtualpet.com/vp/farm/petrock/petrock.htm

    The context the Pet Rock was born is elaborated here:
    [inactive link removed]

    '75 was quite an eventful year, and ad man with a few drinks in his belly, a press release or two, and...

    Maybe the Pet Rock was an antidote to the seriousness of the news and public environment. Maybe there's a lesson there in making something like that happen again.

    [Moderator: Inactive link removed from post. 2/17/2011]
  • Posted by ReadCopy on 2/10/2004 at 10:42 AM Member
    A walkman ... OK maybe not modern version of it, but another version of this concept of providing something no-one needed, until it hit the market.

    i would love to know the psycological issues behind such products. Although the success of the walkman is said to be down to the Japanese manufacturers giving their distributers all the product information and getting shipments figures back to Sony quickly.
  • Posted by Markitek on 2/10/2004 at 11:29 AM Member
    The pet rock worked because it was a damn stupid idea that people cottoned to for just that reason. It cannot be replicated. It cannot be proceduralized. It cannot be ascribed to anything but the category of "who the hell knows why people go for things like that?"

    It would be nice if it were different. If it could be proceduralized and replicated like a soft drink forumula. Then we'd all be rich as could be inventing totally inane products.

    But it isn't.

    Yea it will happen again. Somewhere. Sometime. Someplace. Like Tamagotchis.

    Sometimes people just get lucky. You don't plan on it. You don't prepare for it. And you, unfortunately, learn very little from it about marketing.
  • Posted by Chris Blackman on 2/11/2004 at 7:20 AM Accepted
    What about dancing sunflowers? I mean, those things were totally useless... But funny.

    Talking/Singing Bass - another case in point.

    Dancing soda cans... same thing.

    Man, we're surrounded by successors to the damn Pet Rock and we hardly even notice them!

    Not only did the Pet Rock not die on you, it didn't need batteries, either!
  • Posted by tjh on 2/16/2004 at 5:27 PM Member
    For an unrelated reason, these two web sites passed through my reading material in the last couple of days.

    Made me think of this discussion. Thought I'd pass them on.

    I enjoyed them, but the first was my favorite.

    https://www.crazyfads.com
    https://www.badfads.com
  • Posted by Blaine Wilkerson on 2/16/2004 at 5:53 PM Author
    Cool! Thanks tjh!
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