Business: THE GREAT RUSH FOR NEW PRODUCTS

The two most powerful words you can use in a headline are FREE and NEW. You can seldom use FREE, but you can always use NEW—// you try hard enough.

—David Ogilvy,

Confessions of an Advertising Man

THE whoosh, pop and grind of thousands of fanciful contraptions echoed through Manhattan's cavernous Coliseum. The occasion was "Patexpo '69," a show designed to match up 300 inventors of new products with the men who can market them. As the visitors saw, modern man's ingenuity has lately produced a gun that fires a net to enmesh would-be muggers, skis with wheels for schussing on dry land, a timer that rations children's television viewing, tongs that carry melons without bruising them, and a keyless electronic lock that opens when hidden pressure points are pushed. There is even an ingenious array of glass tubes that waters indoor plants while a householder is away: Such an exhibit would have stirred little interest among major companies a few years ago, but this display attracted representatives of some of the nation's largest firms; they could not afford to stay away.

U.S. business today is rushing to develop more products with a shorter shelf life to satisfy the apparently insatiable and increasingly fickle consumer. Last year more than 9,500 new items were introduced in the consumer package-goods field alone, the area of greatest product turnover. Less than 20% met their sales goals; the cost of new-product failure to U.S. business is estimated to be well over $2 billion annually. Some highly promoted disappointments in recent years: Gablinger's Beer, Hunt's Flavored Catsups, Fact Toothpaste, Noxzema Medicated Cold Cream and Easy-Off Household Cleaner.

Crap Game. Undaunted, companies go right on turning out new products. Last week Honeywell introduced a $10,600 "kitchen computer" programmed to help the U.S. housewife plan her meals and balance her checkbook. Though Honeywell might sell some to millionaires who have everything, the product could be the precursor of much cheaper small computers for the home; other companies are already working on the idea. Singer recently announced that its Friden office-equipment division will bring out at least one new product a month for the next year. "Developing new products is like a gigantic crap game," says Boone Gross, former president of the Gillette Co. "The cost of failure—either by not getting into the game or by launching unsuccessful products—is astronomical. Yet the profits to be earned from successful new products are almost with limits."

Why is there such a voracious demand for new products? The growth of affluence, travel, education and technology, plus saturation television advertising, have contributed to greater consumption. Items to exploit the anti-Establishment values of the youth market—mod clothes, poster art—and the comfort-seeking wants of the increasing number of old people added further to the product crush. As new products proliferate, consumer confusion intensifies and brand loyalty erodes, leading to the creation of still more new items.