Pete Lost His Job, Borrowed $147, and Then Created Maybe the Coolest Toy Ever

Back in the day, I wrote a book called The Big Idea. It was all about innovative products. This is one of my favorite stories from the book - about a product you undoubtedly loved. And to help, our FREE TOOL tonight is the Press Hook Generator - Get your own free publicity and watch sales sour!

Peter Hodgson was broke.

He had lost his job in the big advertising agency. He was in debt.

It was then that he was invited to a dinner party where something extraordinary happened. He saw this weird, stretchy goo being passed around at the party. It bounced. It stretched. It picked up newspaper ink.

No one knew what it was for.

Backgrounder

During WWII, rubber was in short supply. General Electric had invented the goo during the war, hoping to use it as synthetic rubber. But after years of trying, they gave up. It pulled, stretched, bounced, but it sure wasn’t rubber.

GE then sent it to scientists around the world, hoping someone could come up with a valuable scientific use for the goop.

To no avail.

Party Time, it’s Excellent!

Many years after the war, one of those scientists brought out the goo on a lark, hoping it would spur dinner table conversation.

Everyone liked the stuff, whatever it was. No one had a scientific use in mind however.

But Hodgson was different. He was an ad man. A Don Draper type.

He didn’t see science, he saw adults enthralled, playing with it. He saw dollar signs. He saw what no one else saw, that the stuff would make a great . . .

Toy.

The Risk Taker

Hodgson borrowed $147, bought the rights and a ton of the goo from GE, and renamed it - you know!) - Silly Putty.

He packaged it inside tiny plastic Easter eggs (because that was all he could afford), and then used what he did have — his copywriting background — to pitch it as a novelty toy.

At first, it was a flop. Too new. Too weird. Not self-explanatory.

He Becomes the Talk of the Town

Hodgson used his PR skill to get a clever pitch over to a writer at The New Yorker. No budget. No campaign. Just a good story. The writer mentioned the stuff in The Talk of the Town section the next week.

Three days after the article ran, Hodgson received had 250,000 orders.

That was the bounce that brought down the house.

🛠️ Free Tool of the Week

Press Hook Generator – Generate your own viral sensation with our custom, easy-to-use tool! Download the PDF here!

The Takeaway

You do not necessarily need a big marketing budget to make a big impact. A little smart guerilla marketing sometimes is all you need to get a good product off the ground.

Find your customers on Roku this Black Friday

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Steal This Strategy!

🛠️ Tool – The Press Hook Generator (Our new, free tool!)
Isn’t it time for a little free PR? We think so!

 🎥Video – 1965 Silly Putty commercial
It was fun from the get-go

📖 Book – Free PR by Cameron Herold
How scrappy founders land real media without big agencies.

🌐 Website – Silly Putty’s many incarnations
A free, up-to-date list of real journalists and where to reach them.

About Steve

Steve Strauss is the best-selling author of The Small Business Bible (and 17 other books), Inc.’s small business columnist, a lawyer (non-practicing), and an entrepreneur. He sold his last venture, TheSelfEmployed.com to Mark Cuban & Zen Business. Need a ghostwriter or a newsletter for your business? Contact Steve!