Beanie Babies, created by Ty Warner in 1993, were the plush, bean-filled toy fad of the 90s. Warner's Ty Inc. reportedly made $700 million in one year, selling the Beanies for $5 a piece. By 1999, the company had over $1 billion in sales.
Warner made the decision to not sell the toys at nationwide chains like Toys-R-Us and Walmart, driving up the market at small, independent stores, creating a craze. Some stores even received instructions from Ty Inc. not to sell more than a certain amount to one customer. Beanies began going up on the resale market — many with five-figure asking prices.
Since its creation, it is estimated Beanie Babies were able to bring in nearly $6 billion for Warner.
Today, Warner has a net worth of over $2 billion.
Source: The New York Times, The New York Times, Forbes
Alex Tew had the idea for The Million Dollar Homepage when he was a 21-year-old college kid. He would sell 1 million pixels for $1 a piece in advertising space. The profit? You guessed it.
Million Dollar Homepage "sold out" just 4 months after it went up in 2005. It all came about because Tew was interested in making money while also attending Nottingham University in England. And after the site began to gain media attention and all ad space was bought up, he dropped out and began his career as a serial entrepreneur.
He has since gone on to co-found the newly billion-dollar unicorn startup and meditation app, Calm.
Source: BBC News, Business Insider
What if you could wear a blanket? Scott Boilen, president of Allstar Products, had the same idea, resulting in the Snuggie. Since 2008, over 30 million Snuggies have been sold, raking in over $500 million.
Many people remember the silly commercials in the early aughts for Snuggies: a family at a sports game, all wrapped in blue Snuggies, surrounded by others bundled up in coats, beanies and scarves, cheering, arms raised.
But some others remember the Slanket, which appeared on the shopping channel QVC and airline publication SkyMall years before the Snuggie.
“We had seen products like these in catalogs for a while — even before the Slanket came out, I think,” said Boilen to The New York Times in 2009. “And we thought if we could put a clever commercial behind it and offer it at a better value price, then people would buy it.”
And clearly, it worked.
Source: CNBC, The New York Times
The Slinky, created by accident by Richard James, is now in the Toy Hall of Fame, with over 350 million sold and profits reaching $3 billion.
James dropped a tension spring he was working with and watched it slink away across the floor — and thus, the Slinky was born. In reality, though, it did not happen that quickly: James spent over two years developing just how long the toy would be and experimented with different formulas to find the perfect slink-down-the-stairs toy he imagined in his head. His wife, Betty, went on to helm the Slinky business when he moved to Bolivia to join a cult. Betty died in 2009.
In her obituary, The New York Times found that the number of Slinkys that have been sold could circle the world over 150 times.
Source: CNBC, The Atlantic, The New York Times
Gary Dahl, an advertising executive, was known to joke. After listening to his friends talk about the perils of taking care of a pet, he created the Pet Rock in 1975, putting nearly $6 million in his pocket.
He sold the rocks as "hassle-free" pets, complete with a pet training manual and a cardboard box fashioned after a pet carrier. The rocks were an instant hit and turned into one of the greatest fads of all time.
San Jose-based Dahl tried to replicate his Pet Rock success with other ventures, though everything else eventually flopped, including a book about the "untold story" behind the parody pet and another spoof on fitness.
Source: The New York Times, The Mercury News
Furby, the nonsense-talking, furry, hamster-mixed-with-an-owl electronic toy, took over the 90s, but its popularity dropped off quickly thereafter. However, Furby remained a hot toy long enough to make $500 million annually at its peak.
Fun fact: The National Security Agency banned Furbies from its office in 1999, according to a CBS article with the same date, saying the children's toy was a "Chinese-manufactured spy" with the capability to listen in on conversations pertaining to intelligence.
Furbies do not have the ability to record, according to Roger Shiffman, the man who heads Tiger Electronics, which makes the toy. They are known, however, to frequently glitch — talking, walking, and vibrating without cues, sometimes in the middle of the night.
Source: Thrillist, CBS
In the 1980s, Scott Stillinger invented the Koosh Ball — a rubbery ball with colorful fibers all over it. Hasbro bought the Koosh Ball for $100 million in 1997. Time magazine named it one of the greatest toys of all time.
The Koosh Ball came out of a want to have something in between the weight of a foam ball and a bean bag, according to a 1995 article in the Los Angeles Times.
As Stillinger's company grew, so did the size of the Koosh balls. You can still find over a dozen varieties of the Koosh ball today. And in 1995, business was already doing well: OddzOn, the original maker of the toy, said "millions and millions" have been sold at $5 a piece.
Source: Time, Los Angeles Times
Big Mouth Billy Bass, the famed talking fish known for hanging inside garages and living rooms, was created by Gemmy Industries in 2000 and went on to make millions. Though revenue was never disclosed, some reports estimate the decade's best gag gift made $100 million.
It took two years of tinkering for creator Joe Pellettieri to get Billy Bass just right — the moving head, the motorized tail and mouth, all in perfect harmony while singing "Don't Worry, Be Happy" and "Take Me to the River."
Today, you can buy an Alexa-enabled singing bass from Amazon for $40.
Source: Entrepreneur, TechCrunch, The Hustle
Ken Hakuta became a millionaire in 1985 for his Wacky Wall Walker — an eight-armed, slimy toy resembling an octopus, that, when stuck to the wall, looked like it was walking as gravity pulled it down. Millions were sold.
But Hakuta didn't come up with the idea for the toy itself. He bought the rights for the original Chinese toy his mother sent him for $100,000 and began marketing it in the D.C. area.
Sales crawled along until a reporter for The Washington Post stumbled upon his product and wrote about it. The buzz from the article began one of the greatest marketing fads of all time. Within just a few months, more than 240 million were sold, netting Ken about $80 million.
For years you could find the toy in cereal boxes, like Corn Pops, but today you can find them on Amazon and some independent toy stores.
Source: The Washington Post
The Chia Pet — clay figures filled with water and coated in seeds that sprout greenery — is a cultural icon. You can buy a chia pet of a dog, cat, bunny, or even the president. The company sells 500,000 every holiday season. At $16 a piece, that means millions of dollars every year.
The Mexican herb chia explodes with luscious springs of green when watered.
Creator Joe Pedott credits the idea to his home in San Francisco and an agent at his ad firm's butcher of the name, ultimately leading to its infamous jingle, "ch-ch-ch-Chia!" heard for years on commercials on television well into the 2010s. The toy was even included in a New York Times time capsule.
Source: Smithsonian Magazine
In 1963, Harvey Ball drew a smiley face outlined with a circle and filled with yellow for $45 to liven up buttons and badges. He never trademarked the design, though. Today, SmileyWorld owns the design, and makes over $250 million a year.
Ball first drew the happy face for his PR company's client, State Mutual Life Insurance. The only money he ever made from the simple sketch was the two-figure dollar amount they made selling it to the client.
Two brothers, Bernard and Murray Spain, stumbled upon the unrealized potential of the smiley. Wanting to start a novelty store, Bernard and Murray bought the legal rights to the mark along with the now infamous tag-line, "Have a nice day." The brothers began slapping the image on everything possible — including, most famously, the to-go plastic bag.
Source: VICE