According to estimates from Ad Planner by Google, there are approximately 410 million unique visitors to YouTube each month averaging 28 minutes and 20 seconds per visit. Surely we, as a people, are utilizing YouTube for enlightening, educational purposes and not for mere entertainment. What a mind drain that would be for our society! To that end, I launch my newest blog series, “BizTube, All I Needed to Know about Business I Learned from YouTube.”
There is a company in Southern California called Vurtego. Ever heard of them? Yeah, me neither, but that’s because I’m not a part of the extreme pogo culture. Haven’t heard of that either? Ah, that’s the beauty of niche marketing.
Remember the pogo stick of your childhood? It was probably blue with black plastic pedals and black rubber handlebars. It worked alright if you could stay on it. That is, it worked alright until your large older brother wore out the springs or left it outside on a rainy night. Then it was a squeaky limping toy that was donated in short order.
But what if someone saw that squeaky old toy as a market opportunity?
What if they created a pogo stick with extraordinary functionality that appealed to the young, skateboarder-type consumer and was marketed as “not your mama’s pogo stick” (in essence)? Put out a few YouTube videos of what that bad boy can do, let your PR rep get your sticks onto The Today Show, David Letterman, Modern Marvels on the History Channel, etc, sponsor some “pogo riders” at worldwide competitions, (yes, they exist!), and you’ve got yourself a marketing plan.
The V3 pogo stick, size large, will run you $329 new. Surely nobody would pay over $300 for a pogo stick! It’s true, mainstream culture might not pay that for a spring-loaded stick, but there are riders worldwide who fork over that much and more for helmets, pads, the right shoes, and maintenance costs in order to experience the thrill of catching that much air.
If you’d like to see this niche in action and you’re in Costa Mesa, California next week, you can buy a ticket to this year’s Pogopalooza world championship for $13 to $35! And if you’re watching those guys bounce around on well-crafted sticks, and you think, “I just don’t get it,” remember, if there’s a niche, there’s a profit waiting to be made.
