In the late 1960s, Woodstream Corporation, parent company of The Animal Trap Company of America announced that it had built a better mousetrap. With great fanfare, the company launched the new product into the marketplace saying that it was even better than their own classic Victor brand spring based wooden mousetrap. At the time, the Victor model had sold over one billion units in the nearly 80 years since its introduction way back in 1890.
Alas, the world did not beat a path to the company’s door. The new, "better" mousetrap was a flop and the company had to revert back to its "old fashioned" wooden model.
A company spokesperson said: "We should have spent more time researching housewives, and less time researching mice." Today, the product that people want to buy—the Victor mousetrap—is still the most recognized brand name in rodent control.
Executives, product development people, and marketers all want to believe that they've got all the answers. They're like the guys at Woodstream Corporation who thought that they could make a better mousetrap because they're the experts.
The entrepreneur wants to go with her gut. The product manager wants to re-create a past success. The marketer wants to rely on expensive advertising to buy market share, or to gamble on a huge Wall Street Journal, Today Show, or Time Magazine media hit.
But these seat-of-your-pants approaches involve much more risk. Going on intuition, buying your way in with expensive advertising, or begging your way in with the media coverage simply does not work as often or as well as being tuned in.
