The Pet Rock

By: Aaron Jaques, Dacey Presnell, Charles Hyleman, and Jorie Langston
 Niche Market
- The Pet Rock was a small
business idea (novelty toy)
- The popularity grew through
newspapers, magazine articles, and
verbally between friends and family.
- The surprisingly successful business
idea even made an appearance on
the Tonight Show.
 The Pet Rock’s Success
- The pet rock succeeded during
Christmas time in 1975 because the
novelty toy did not have a specific
purpose.
- Dahl imported the rocks from Mexico.
- The toy came in a cardboard box
that mimicked a pet carrier –
complete with air holes and a bed of
straw – and included a 32-page pet
training manual with tips and tricks on
how to train your new pet to “sit,”
“stay,” and “attack.”
 Dahl’s Success
- In 1975 the most wanted
pet was a rock
- The Pet Rock sold for
$3.95
- Gary Dahl unloaded more
than five million of the pet
rock in six months
- He had made $15 million.
 Profits and Losses
Problem
Because a rock is an easy
object to obtain, many people
would just put a rock in a box.
Therefore decreasing sales.
Solution
Unfortunately, there was no
solution and the business of
selling pet rocks slowly faded.
The only reason one would
buy a pet rock is for the
packaging/included gag gifts.
 The Modern Day

What Happened? Where’d it go? What could happen?

The pet rock trend Martin Abrams bought The name may have been
started to die off after rights to Pet Rock but it trademarked, but anyone
Christmas of 1975. never regained mass could just repeat the idea.
popularity.
 Sources
- https://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/01/us/gary-dahl-inventor-
of-the-pet-rock-dies-at-78.html
- https://www.bcbusiness.ca/9-dumbest-fads-ever-to-make-mon
ey#:~:text=In%201975%20the%20perfect%20pet,with%20a%20cool
%20%2415%20million.
- https://mediashower.com/blog/writer-spotlight-all-you-need-is
-an-idea-the-pet-rock-marketing-campaign/
- https://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2016/05/deal-pet-
rocks/
Thank You
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