Okay, during the Christmas break we headed to the mountains for some skiing. While we were there we ended up following a road in a direction I had never traveled before even though I had been to the area many times. We stumbled upon a little shop that had a TON of REALLY cool stuff! Normally my wife is a “shopper” whereas being a guy, I’m typically a “buyer”, i.e. I usually know EXACTLY what store I’m going to and EXACTLY what I’m going to buy. I’m not really into shopping for the sake of shopping but I could have spent ALL DAY in this place! Anyway, one of the items I purchased was a sock monkey. I’m sure everyone knows what they look like because they’re hardly new, they’ve been around forever. You can see him in my album. I posed him to look like he was waving. He so cute he may have to become my new avatar. (A little digression here: There was a commercial for some type of car [Kia?] that featured several kids’ toys sitting on the seat. The joke was that once the car was safely parked in its garage for the night, the toys suddenly came to life and took it out for a night on the town. One of the toys was a sock monkey and there was a seen where they’re all whopping it up in some honky tonk bar and the sock monkey – now life sized – was riding a mechanical bull! I got SUCH a kick out of that image!) Anyway, this was no ordinary sock monkey. As you can see from the image of the label which is also posted in my album, this sock monkey is hiding rubber bands in his arms and his hands have little pockets for your fingers. You put to fingers into those pockets, pull back on his tail and you can sling him across the room. But wait, there’s more! He also contains a motion sensing micro chip that causes him to emit a classic Tarzan call as he flies through the air!

I think this little critter provides and EXCELLENT example of a classic old plush toy that’s been around forever that’s been updated with a whole new spin. I could see something like this catching on like wildfire with college kids. I mean who ever thought a ball that has absolutely no bounce (hacky sack) would ever catch on? I think it’s a great example of how a little innovative, outside-the-box thinking can breathe new life into a very old idea! ;)

I also try to imagine how one might pitch this new product. For instance, if you simply went to a major toy company like Hasbro or Mattel stood in front of their buyers and said “I created a sock monkey with a micro chip in it!” you’d probably get a lot of blank stares while a lone cricket chirps in the background. On the other hand if you took it out and showed it to them and then demonstrated how his arms contain elastics that allow him to take flight, they’d probably start paying a bit more attention. Then when you actually shoot him across the room and he lets out his Tarzan yell you’d probably have someone saying “Let me try that!” Then hopefully that would be followed by someone saying something like “We’ll take ten thousand. Can you have them ready by Christmas? My simple point here is that creating a cool new toy from an old one is only half the battle. If you don’t give the right pitch, well, he’s just another sock monkey! ;)