I’m not sure whether to say that the business world–not to mention kids everywhere–lost a giant of an inventor or a giant of a marketer last week, when the man responsible in part for the Frisbee, Silly String, and Hula Hoop died at the age of 82.
Richard Knerr, the cofounder of toy company Wham-O, died on Monday, at his home in California, of complications from a stroke.
The real genius of Knerr and his partner Arthur Melin seems to have been their ability to recognize a good idea when they saw one. But, at the same time, they knew how to market.
Along the way, Wham-O developed toys that defined the era. And in doing so, Wham-O toys were among the best to expose the chasm between kids and adults of the 1970s.
Check out the whole post here:
The Frisbee, Hula Hoop, and Superball: Thanks Richard Knerr, and RIP
I thought it was interesting in the HuffPo post you mentioned how they marketed their products in the spring in summer, which makes sense because most of their toys were meant for the outdoors.
Then of course video games came along and kids everywhere forgot what the outdoors were
I was pretty good at the hula hoop when I was a kid and had stamina. It’s interesting how simple things were so popular then. No microchips, no memories, no electricity.
Ann, did you know that the frisbee is 50 years old this year? I would never have known this bit of trivia but my hubby just gave out frisbees to the participants at our AMA chapter meeting this afternoon. His company is the promo sponsor. Both our AMA chapter and the frisbee are celebrating a 50th anniversary.
Elaine — Thanks for that. I didn’t. Will tell my teen for sure — he plays Ultimate Frisbee on his high school team.
Wham-O was indeed all about Toys 1.0!