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- Spin Maid. Starring: Amy Walker. Pitch: "Clean and polish all floor surfaces with ease." Comments: I like the fresh approach to the creative, and Amy is genuinely likable and funny. (If you've never heard of her, check out her Accents with Amy YouTube channel.) At $50, this is also noteworthy as another experiment in higher price points, which I wrote about recently for ERA (see "Breaking the Price Barrier"). [ss]
- Bag Hero. Marketer: Telebrands. Pitch: "Make your bags stand up and keep chips super fresh." Comments: A 'fast fail.' [ss]
- Fantasy Candles. Pitch: "Inside this unique candle lies a beautiful jewelry treasure." Comments: This falls into the category of 'things you should never buy your woman if you like sleeping next to her.' The previous one was Allstar's Magic Bloom. [ss]
- Kitchen Eyes. Pitch: "Helps you read the fine print wherever you are." Comments: The trouble with this item is it's fixed in one place. The successes in this category were all portable (Page Brite, OWL). [ss]
- Sensei Slicer. Pitch: "Ideal for precision cutting and thin slicing." Comments: It's hard to have a hit with a knife. It's such a commodity category, you need a strong point of difference -- and sharpness and precision cutting aren't going to do it these days. [ss]
- Shoe Slotz. Pitch: "Shoe-stacking organizers that double any size storage space instantly." Comments: Shoe storage is one of the few organizational categories that has yielded hits (see Shoes Under, Shoes Away). That said, I've witnessed a lot of failed attempts. [ss]
- Skoother. Marketer: Harvest. Pitch: "The best skin smoother you'll ever use, guaranteed." Comments: Bad timing. [ss]
- Tag Free. Marketer: Lenfest. Producer: Concepts. Pitch: "Remove unsightly skin tags in as little as 48 hours." Comments: Getting past the gross factor, which can sometimes be a benefit, this looks painful and has a fear factor to it that may inhibit sales. Something about cutting off blood flow, even to a thing you want to get rid of, is frightening. Tag Away was gentle and easy. I also tend to think it was an outlier. [ss]
- Teazie. Starring: Campbell McAuley. Pitch: "Big, bold, beautiful volume in just one pass." Comments: Hair is a 1 in 50 category (for most marketers) and teasing combs are common, so this one is banking on its celebrity stylist. [ss]
