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Binkyball
cont.
Says Mark Huettner, “We thought it would be a HUGE seller being
that people ‘baby’ their pets.”
The product did do well at first, due to a great pitch to retailers
and the sales history of the TennisBone. But Happy Dog saw BinkyBall’s
sales fall off dramatically, and conceded that the idea had been
ill conceived and poorly executed.
BinkyBall
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Not
interactive enough. “(We) didn't really spend much time thinking
about whether it was something anyone would want,”
according to Florance. Novelty products that look interesting can
do well as impulse items, but that’s not what Happy Dog Toys is
about.
The Death of the Squeaky Steak?
Every good company has an Edsel, or “New Coke”, and the best
ones learn from it. By adhering to their mantra of “Quality, Innovation,
Fun”, Happy Dog has created over 100 companion products to the TennisBone,
many tested with their “independent Lab”. And by lab, they literally
mean a Lab…John Florance’s Labrador Daisy.
An amicable purchase by horse products giant Farnam, last year,
added security and comfort-zone capital; Happy Dog Toys thinks brightly
about the future. With about 2,500 dealers already, they hope their
creative persistence and new lines like the SpongeBob aquarium will
endear them to broader markets. (sidebar)
 Founders
Huettner and Florance are co-presidents, and still “pretty much
operate autonomously” of the parent company. A professional staff
of 12 works in what’s described as an “informal, casual” environment,
adjacent to the Happy Dog warehouse in Phoenix, Arizona. (In an
office abounding with dogs? No, apparently the accountant is allergic.)
“(Farnam) can see the energy that we have and wants it to grow,”
says Huettner. Best leave well enough alone, perhaps, as long as
an inspired approach to the huge pets market keeps rolling off the
conveyer belt.
And what of the ill-fated BinkyBall? Well, sometimes products, like
cats, have multiple lives. Just when it looked like they had some
10,000 units of a high-quality clunker on their hands, Old Navy
called and bought the lot.
You can’t beat that with a stick…not even a stick with two tennis
balls on the ends.
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