The Fingerling Thing
It’s priced exactly right for most parents. It’s full of surprises for kids. Fingerlings could be considered the Cabbage Patch Doll or the Tickle Me Elmo, of 2017. The must-have Christmas toy drove parents insane trying to find it. It has been reported to have been gobbled up by entrepreneurs, trying to make a quick buck by hiking the price up two, three or four times the original price.
The story of the development, the marketing and the success of this wundertoy is a fun one, and one that restores faith in the notion that a family run business really can find the American Dream and become a success in today’s world. That’s without even noting the robotics part of this finger-sized puppet.
The lady above is Sydney Wiseman, the 28-year-old brand manager at WowWee, a family run business founded by her uncles. She is always on the look out for new ideas to bring to life.
About 18 months ago, Wiseman came across such a thing—a photo of a tiny, furry monkey hanging onto someone’s finger, which was circulating on Facebook.
It set her imagination to work. She began to think, “What would that mean if we turned it into something for a child?”
She turned to her co-workers and asked, “Look at this! Is this a toy?
It was a toy and an adorable one at that. After about a year of R&D it was ready for unveiling. Fingerlings have a microphone to sense sound, paired with software that filters out background noise, so they know to react to signals like clapping or the blowing of a kiss. They have one motion sensor that knows when you’re rocking or shaking the Fingerling, and another can tell the Fingerling’s orientation to put it to sleep. Still different mechanics make the eyes move.
Some major players from Silicon Valley, like Amazon and Google, are already on board. Even Walmart has its own special Fingerling sloth with slower mechanics to resemble a lazy sloth.
To get more on this adorable success story check out the link below.
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