My 4 Biggest Product Fails and What Your Can Learn From Them - and a New Product Journey
For more information on some of the companies and products I discuss on this episode:
Les Deglingos - they’re more cute now and less edgy than they used to be!
Mystery Builders (Global) / Mystery Makers (USA) - and if you want to see the company that called us out for using their name: Mystery Makers (Copenhagen)
Plus-Plus Color Cars - and my friend Vlad’s much cooler product, CandyLab Toys
Swurfer - now owned by Flybar, created by my friend Rob Bertschy. Surf the sky!
BrikBilt - LEGO-compatible buildings, complete with my cringey homemade logo, launched on Kickstarter
Some helpful tools you can use for researching names for your product:
USPTO (United States Patent & Trademark Office) - Basic word mark search
Namech_k - search domain names and social media handles all at once
A quick summary of the lessons from my 4 biggest product fails:
Check your product name. Is it easy to spell and pronounce? Will it it work in the international market, if you want to launch internationally? Can it be confused with any other brand names?
Hire an expert when you need one, and when it really counts! Don't think you can do it all yourself.
Make sure the product packaging tells the story properly, and works in and outside of a multi-unit product display.
Expand your testing network beyond friends & family. Take the time to get broad feedback before you finalize your product.
Help me name my new product line:
Squishleague - every little sports kid wants to be in the “big leagues”.
Cuddlesports - am I the only one who things of ‘Cuttlefish”?
Thofter - this probably doesn’t pass my “easy to spell and pronounce” test, but it sure makes me chuckle.