By the 1950s, Kutol Products faced a disappearing market. Its pliable wallpaper cleaner removed coal soot, but cleaner heating systems were eliminating the problem it solved.
The compound still worked. Fewer people needed it.
Then nursery school teacher Kay Zufall tried the material with children, who loved molding it into shapes. That discovery gave an aging cleaning product a new purpose.
The result was Play-Doh, with more than 3 billion cans sold worldwide since its launch.
The pivot changed three things: the users, from homeowners to children; the benefit, from removing soot to making shapes; and the presentation, with a new name and, later, colors.
For marketers and entrepreneurs, the question is: what else can your existing product help someone do?
Before scrapping an underperforming asset, examine it through three lenses:
Unexpected uses: Are customers using your product for something you never intended? Look for workarounds in reviews, support requests, and customer conversations.
Different audiences: Who else needs its core function? A shrinking market may tell you more about your current buyers’ circumstances than your product’s remaining usefulness.
Underlying value: Strip away the name and original purpose. What does the product let people make, change, or accomplish? Who would value that result?
A failed use case can conceal a viable product. Your next opportunity may begin with noticing what customers already do with something you sell.
Before inventing something new, investigate whether what you have deserves a different customer.
RW
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