Originally Posted by al_packer

The Gooney Bird product line is something that still ticks me off 30+ years later.

Wayne Kellner and Mike Dorffler came up with a series of designs which were caricatures of actual missiles -- the Japanese "Baka" bomb, the V1, etc. The designs were "spot-on", and any halfway knowlegable rocketeer would have appreciated them. You didn't need a focus group, market survey, or the like to know that they would sell well.

However, Damon had foisted upon us a "Marketing Vice President" whose main claim to fame was that he was the sales manager at another company when the collector craze for their products took off. So said individual, who had no concept of what the model rocketeerw who were our market base thought, liked, or did, took the kit prototypes to a graphic artist who had done work for him in the past, but had no knowlege of model rocketry. With those qualifications, he had him create new decors and names for the models.

Sales were 1/10th or less of what the original designs would have posted, and the line was mercifully dropped within a short time.

Moral of the story -- the best designs for any product come from people who are passionate about the product, be it model rockets, cars, boats, bikes or cooking pots. If you don't have a passion for the product, do the world a favor and find something else to work on.

Bill

Originally Posted by al_packer

The Gooney Bird product line is something that still ticks me off 30+ years later.

Wayne Kellner and Mike Dorffler came up with a series of designs which were caricatures of actual missiles -- the Japanese "Baka" bomb, the V1, etc. The designs were "spot-on", and any halfway knowlegable rocketeer would have appreciated them. You didn't need a focus group, market survey, or the like to know that they would sell well.

However, Damon had foisted upon us a "Marketing Vice President" whose main claim to fame was that he was the sales manager at another company when the collector craze for their products took off. So said individual, who had no concept of what the model rocketeerw who were our market base thought, liked, or did, took the kit prototypes to a graphic artist who had done work for him in the past, but had no knowlege of model rocketry. With those qualifications, he had him create new decors and names for the models.

Sales were 1/10th or less of what the original designs would have posted, and the line was mercifully dropped within a short time.

Moral of the story -- the best designs for any product come from people who are passionate about the product, be it model rockets, cars, boats, bikes or cooking pots. If you don't have a passion for the product, do the world a favor and find something else to work on.

Bill

Originally Posted by gpoehlein

If the latter, do you remember what goony came from what original?

Originally Posted by al_packer

1) Bill Eichelberger's Gooneybird models look great--definitely first rate craftsmanship. Seeing them eases the pain. I may skip my meds today.