Lessons in Innovation from a Pet Rock
No effort. No allergies. No cleanup. In the early 1970s, Gary Dahl, a freelance advertising copywriter, was having drinks at a bar with friends when the conversation turned to the destructive nature of pets. Dogs and cats chewed and clawed. Gerbils need to live in packs of 2 or more. Pet fish means regular cleaning of the tank. Then there was the fact that pets required constant attention—they must be walked, played with, fed, and cleaned up after. Dahl said he didn’t have to worry about that because he had a “pet rock.”
The joke got a round of laughs, but Dahl suspected he might be on to something. He went home and wrote an owner’s manual for said hypothetical pet rock, including information on care and feeding, training, and lifespan. At the same time, Dahl was struggling to pay his bills and thought that the pet rock could be monetized. He secured a $20K investment—a considerable sum in 1975—and started developing his product. He purchased the Mexican beach stones in bulk for less than a penny and sold the Pet Rock for $3.95. The Pet Rock was an instant hit. Customers loved its silliness, novelty, and uselessness.
But the key to the success of the Pet Rock wasn’t the rock itself. It was the way it was packaged. The Pet Rock came in a cardboard carrier and rested on a soft bed of wood shavings. Dahl also included instructions for care and training: Your Pet Rock will be a devoted friend and companion for many years to come. Rocks enjoy a rather long lifespan, so the two of you will never have to part -- at least not on your Pet Rock’s account. Once you have transcended the awkward training stage, your rock will mature into a faithful, obedient, loving pet with but one purpose in life -- to be at your side when you want it to and to go lie down when you don’t.
Orders poured in from retailers as diverse as Neiman Marcus to K-Mart. Before the fad fizzled, Dahl would sell more than 1.5 million Pet Rocks. This made some folks angry. $4 for a rock in a box? This wasn’t a real product. It had no use, no application, no utility. It was absurd. He was getting rich by doing nothing. As I’ve noted, no one gets rich or famous by doing nothing. They achieve success by doing something that no one thought of previously, which tends to make people jealous. Naysayers insisted it was a dumb idea. A dumb idea that made Dahl an instant millionaire.
What Gary Dahl did was capitalize on the cultural zeitgeist of the time. The Pet Rock provided relief from boredom. It was funny. It was a gag gift that you would get for your brother-in-law’s birthday. The folks who were angered by its success were bothered by the thought that Dahl was making money doing nothing. But the Pet Rock was a work of true innovation. The moral of the story: Don’t be mad because someone else thought of it first. The Pet Rock serves as a reminder that innovation depends on timing and an understanding of market psychology.
Take a lesson from Gary Dahl, who envisioned something that did not previously exist and, capitalized on his product’s uniqueness and turned the Pet Rock into an experience.