Jack Huang and his wife, Flora, had just purchased a new car and were trying to sell their old car. “Using plastic ‘For Sale’ signs didn’t interest me because they blocked my view while driving, and they were simply unattractive.” So Jack designed a flier to post on bulletin boards and put up on telephone poles.
Flora, a real estate agent, had several of those bulky acrylic Take One literature holders around the house. “I think somewhere between seeing those holders at home and having just shopped for a car and noticed the metal window key boxes auto dealers use, the idea for a Take It Pocket entered my head.”
Jack cut up some clear vinyl folders into a bunch of vinyl sheets. He then taped the vinyl sheets together and made four prototypes, mostly to try different materials. Jack’s Take It Pocket is a clear plastic sleeve that attaches to a car window. It has two pockets, one that can hold a message and, if you lift the message panel, a second that can hold 81⁄2-by-11 fliers.
Since the car sold right about the same time Jack made the prototypes, he didn’t get to use his product. “The idea went into my drawer of ideas. And for the next three years I didn’t do much with it.”
In late 2005, after leaving his job at Microsoft to start a new venture, Jack was digging through the drawer and found his old Take It Pocket. “I started gathering data about the number of registered cars and the various ways people use fliers, and came to the conclusion that this could become a new way to communicate. Just as Post-it Notes changed the way we communicate, so could my Take It Pockets.”
Jack says he saw his product as more than a silly way to help sell used cars. People could use their parked cars to sell a point of view. For example, his Take It Pocket could be used to elect candidates, raise money for charities, or make people aware of issues.
People he showed his invention to would say, “Are you sure this doesn’t already exist?” But Jack checked—and it didn’t. So he filed for a provisional patent.
Jack then started to look for local plastic manufacturing companies that could produce his Take It Pocket. Next, he tested many different car sleeve plastics on his back deck to see which ones could tolerate sun, wind, and rain.
Now, Jack has already manufactured about 5,000 Take It Pockets and is about to launch this product. Instead of pursuing the used car sales route, he’s teaming with KnowCancer.org to use his Take It Pockets to raise cancer awareness. “Used car sales is the obvious use for Take It Pocket, but activism is not as obvious. That’s why I’m doing it.”
Jack regards cancer awareness as a good fit for two reasons: there’s breast cancer in his family and, as it happens, Lance Armstrong’s LiveStrong cancer awareness wristbands are yellow. Jack’s last name Huang means yellow. For Jack, that’s a sign.
“It’s a new way to talk about issues. I love the idea of making a difference … to leave something behind that means something is powerful for me.”
If you don’t think a few sheets of clear plastic can change the world, Jack Huang isn’t worried. He has confidence in his Take It Pocket. If you don’t agree, it’s an opinion that you can Take It or Leave It.
Drink Deputy™/Travel Mate™/Drink Mate™
“Look, Mom, No Hands”
Denny Kays heard the concerns of a grandma who watched her grandson repeatedly throw his “sippy cup” while her daughter was driving—and then watched with dismay as her daughter repeatedly turned around to pick it up! A crash just waiting to happen … but not with our hero Denny around.
He thought about the problem and came up with Drink Deputy, a harness to hold a bottle or sippy cup. If baby tossed the bottle, it would stay tethered to the car seat, stroller, high chair, grocery cart, or whatever. The bottle wouldn’t hit the floor and wouldn’t get lost.
This 59-year-old had worked in sales all his life, first selling doors and more recently baby photographs. It might have been that baby connection, but whatever it was, he took the idea and ran with it.
It took at least fifty prototypes to find the right design and the right elastic that would fit most bottles and sippy cups. The memory elastic he found has a ten-year guarantee and won’t let even the largest sippy cup slip out. That’s a good memory.
After having Drink Deputy evaluated by the Juvenile Products Manufacturers Association (JPMA) and Consumer Product Safety Commission, Denny was ready to put this Deputy on duty.
He initially showed it at a baby fair in Chicago. JPMA and ABC Kids Expo and other baby-kid shows are how he got his business rolling. Buyers liked it, and sales started to crawl in. Today, an exclusive distributor sells it in twenty-six states and Canada. Specifically, it’s sold in baby boutiques, gift stores, hospital gift shops, by Web businesses, and in mom-and-pop stores.
While the Drink Deputy has benefited from free publicity in newspapers, ads in magazines, and TV time, sales have been just so-so. “I would love to say we’re kicking butt, but we’re not. We need to have a much bigger advertising budget than we have. That’s the struggle. The second is the difficulty of getting it into regional stores—so many stores don’t want to deal with a one-item vendor.”
The idea of developing a Drink Deputy for adults hit him after giving samples of the Drink Deputy away at a trade show. Later, at the airport, Denny saw at least fifteen people from the trade show with a water bottle attached to their suitcase—using his Drink Deputy!
As soon as Denny got home, he redesigned his Drink Deputy so that it would attach to a belt, suitcase, or purse. The adult Drink Deputy would handle the popular 20-ounce water bottles and accommodate other sizes, too, with a top that fit over the cap, keeping the bottle upright. Denny decided to call this Drink Deputy for adults Travel Mate.
The idea to put various company names and logos on these drink holders came from a cheerleading coach chaperoning girls at a competition. Seeing his Travel Mate, she decided that every girl on the team had to have one “because the publicity would be great for school spirit and it would be a good fundraiser.”
Denny began selling the Travel Mate for major fundraisers. He uses a pink ribbon design for breast cancer walks and runs (his wife Penny is a ten-year breast cancer survivor). Because people carry a water bottle more than they wear a certain T-shirt, the cause’s name and logo get more publicity than standard giveaways provide.
Denny’s Travel Mate now has the U.S. government’s attention. The Department of Agriculture Forest Service is interested in it for firefighters—it’s hard to keep them hydrated. VA Health Care sees how great it could be for people in wheelchairs. And the Army and Marine Corps recruiters think Travel Mates would be a better giveaway than their traditional coffee mug and T-shirt.
Denny sent a sample of Travel Mate to 300 random readers of North American Fisherman magazine and received an 81 percent approval rating from fishermen. So Denny responded by designing Drink Mate with the outdoorsman in mind. It securely attaches to a chair, tree stand, belt, or backpack. No outdoorsman should ever go thirsty again.
Denny knows the secret to his success is more publicity and he wishes he had the money to buy more ad time. He wanted to go on QVC television, but was told they don’t sell baby products.
Denny is still working it and, if he has his way, the Drink Deputy and Travel Mate will find their way into every American home.
Drink Deputy, we copy that, 10-4.