If you pay attention to the media at all, you’ve probably recently seen a news story or article about fidget spinners. Maybe it was about how they’re the new craze with all the kids these days. Maybe it was something about how their slightly hypnotic nature makes them a great source of stimulation to help some students with specific learning challenges focus more effectively in school.
In my world, they’re nothing but the newest Pog.
Back in the summer of 1993, my first summer vacation as a teacher, I took a trip to Hawaii for about a week and a half to visit an old high school friend of mine who was stationed in the Navy. At some point during that trip, he was telling me about pogs, the collectible toys that had started out as milk carton caps or something like that. There was some game that involved them, and kids all over the Hawaiian islands were playing it and collecting them like crazy. I didn’t get it. They were basically cardboard circles, I’d argue. Why are people spending money on sets of these, and carrying cases for them, and trading them to get ones with special designs?
Just wait, he said. It’s only a matter of time.
He was right. Half an ocean wasn’t enough to keep them from spreading to the mainland, and less than two years later far too many of my third graders counted their Pog collections as not only their most prized possessions, but an indicator of their place in the social order of elementary school.
Ever since the days of Pogs, I’ve seen one trend after another come and go. Some disappear forever, while some just drop off in craze popularity and become a niche interest. Beanie Babies. Gel pens. Goosebumps books. A Rubik’s cube resurgence. Silly Bandz. Kendamas. Pokemon Cards. Each of these things and probably half a dozen others I don't remember has in turn reached a level of popularity that eclipsed every other toy or fad or hobby of its time. They all had their moments of news story or newspaper article focus. Many were hated by teachers, and eventually banned from schools due to their monumental distraction potential.
We’re in 2017 now. Fidget Spinners have taken their place in the overblown collection fad rotation, and have, at least in the case of my school, reached the inevitable point of saturation that leads to a school-wide ban.
So here’s what I’m thinking. If someone was willing to invest a reasonably minimum amount of capital and stick around for the long haul, it really would not be difficult to take advantage of the hive mentality guiding so many kids to their current favorite toys. If you’re up for it, here’s how to make this happen:
*You’d need a storefront somewhere, and probably in a mall space with a lot of traffic. Families wouldn’t travel halfway across the city to buy one very specific toy, but if they were already going to a place with nine other places they’d like to shop? Boom. Then you give the place a catchy title, something like “Childhood Obsessions” but maybe with a connotation a little less dark than that. You could still operate online sales through the store, but a physical space will prove to be vital.
*Stock your store with all the goofy things kids like to collect, even if they’re a few cycles out of style. When the ankle-biters comes into the store to buy the cool new whatever they so desperately want, they’ll drag the parents with them, and you’ll be ready with your display of gel pens or retired Beanie Babies ready to grab Mom and Stepdad by the nostalgia for more sales. Of course the biggest part of your profits will be whatever the cool toy of the day is, but you need to stay in business between cycles, so having that archive stock is just as important.
*Promote your store by word of mouth. Get your name out there on Instagram and Snapchat, because those are the social networks kids care about. Arrange to set up kiosks at their weekend soccer tournaments or dance competitions.
*Most importantly, while you are inserting yourself into the child-populated world, pay attention to what they’re talking about and playing with and posting online. Look for the growing trends. When you see a rising popularity in Glow-In-The-Dark Unicorn Ghost Putty, POUNCE. Buy as much as you can, and fill as many of your store shelves as you’re able. Get the normal kind of Ghost Putty, get the kind with the glitter mixed in, get a few tubs of the kind that changes color the longer kids play with it, get the collector sets that come with three different colors and a named unicorn figurine with a multi-colored mane that matches the colors of Ghost Putty that came in the pack. Cover all your bases so you're prepared to accommodate the needs of the Ghost Putty starter as well as the hardcore collector.
*Ride that trend into the ground. By now your store will be so popular that all of the junior television news reporters who get stuck with producing the inevitable Unicorn Ghost Putty story will see your store show up first in their Google search of local businesses that sell it. This will build the perception that your store is the marquee outlet in the entire metropolitan area for purchasing quality Unicorn Ghost Putty — not that generic crap you always see by the cash registers at gas stations and convenience stores. That news story will draw you more business. All you have to do is keep selling that stuff right up to the week immediately after the wave eventually crashes.
*Count up the cash you collected as a result of the latest craze, then sit back and wait for the next one to spin up.
Nothing to it!
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