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 started to Martin Abrams bought rights The name may have been
die off after Christmas of to Pet Rock but it never trademarked, but anyone
1975. regained mass popularity. could just repeat the idea.
 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-money#:~:text=In
%201975%20the%20perfect%20pet,with%20a%20cool%20%2415%20mil
lion.
- 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
Any Questions?