Post 4

As Mr. Feuer was explaining to me the importance of unique designs to attract customers, he expanded on his story about the origin of his best selling toy Marlee. After the success of the Rasta Banana, Mr. Feuer wanted to expand the Rasta concept to other animals or characters. He was a little worried along with his business partner because there is an obvious drug reference with anything “Rasta” due to Rastafarians habit of smoking marijuana. Since they had considered this issue originally with the Banana, which had been successful and had not drew complaints from customers, they decided to continue with the concept. While the Rasta Banana conjured up images of  Jamaica and the tropics,  Mr. Feuer wanted to stretch the bounds of creativity. He was trying to think of something that was the polar (pardon the pun!) opposite of bananas and the tropics. He thought of a Polar Bear and a penguin. When he presented this idea to his partner, they discussed and decided that a Polar Bear would be too aggressive of an animal for the playful nature of this toy. Thus, they decided on a penguin, since penguins are cute and gentle. They named him Marlee, in honor of Bob Marley, the famous reggae musician and Rastafarian. The rest is  history. By far, Marlee has been Classic Toy’s best selling item for the past two years. It has been sold everywhere from Cedar Point to California and Canada. This story helped remind me of the importance of creativity in business; sometimes the craziest ideas can become profitable.